Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green | Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Governor Dan McKee and Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green have announced the launch of Rhode Island’s updated Attendance Leaderboard and a new Attendance Calendar Heat Map for the 2025-26 school year. The tools, now available on AttendanceMattersRI.org, provide daily and monthly updates on student attendance across all schools in the state.
The Attendance Leaderboard offers enhanced filtering and comparison features, allowing users to view district trends and compare current data with previous years. The Calendar Heat Map visually displays daily attendance patterns, highlighting periods when absences are more common, such as around weekends and holidays. This information helps school leaders plan interventions to address absenteeism.
Rhode Island has seen a significant decrease in chronic absenteeism since its peak during the pandemic, with a 12-percentage point drop statewide. Governor McKee stated, "The data clearly shows that daily attendance is vital to a student’s long-term academic success and to the success of our state. Every school day matters. Through our Attendance Matters RI campaign and the advanced data tools we’ve introduced, Rhode Island is continuing to lead the way in improving attendance and student outcomes."
Commissioner Infante-Green added, "In Rhode Island, we understand there is a strong connection between student success and consistent school attendance. Through collective action, our nationally recognized Attendance Matters RI campaign, and the use of cutting-edge data tools, we’ve made real progress in reducing chronic absenteeism in the Ocean State. We are proud to serve as a model for other states and remain deeply committed to promoting regular attendance and helping all our students thrive."
The tools are intended to help families, educators, community leaders, and elected officials identify trends in attendance so they can respond quickly to improve student outcomes.
Additionally, students are encouraged to participate in the Attendance Matters RI Student Video Contest by submitting short videos about why attending school is important. Winners will receive prizes provided by Hunt’s Photo and Video.
As part of ongoing efforts to highlight positive examples within schools, weekly recognitions will be given for high attendance rates at elementary, middle, and high schools across Rhode Island. For the week of October 27, 2025:
- Oak Lawn School (Cranston) led elementary schools with a 98.45% weekly attendance rate.
- Narragansett Pier School (Narragansett) led middle schools at 97.84%.
- East Greenwich High School had a 96.68% rate among high schools.
For most improved weekly average from the previous week:
- Lincoln Central Elementary School (Lincoln) saw a 2.91% increase.
- Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy Middle (Providence) improved by 2.99%.
- North Smithfield High School increased by 1.71%.
For the week of November 3:
- Oak Lawn School again led elementary schools at 97.75%.
- Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy Middle led middle schools at 96.79%.
- East Greenwich High School topped high schools at 96.60%.
Most improved were Cranston Early Learning Center (elementary), Woonsocket Middle School at Villa Nova (middle), and William E. Tolman Senior High School (high).
These recognitions will be updated each week on AttendanceMattersRI.org.
Governor McKee and Commissioner Infante-Green expressed appreciation for educators’, students’, and families’ dedication toward consistent school attendance.
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