Oregon charter schools, alternative programs and high schools tend to have the most students who are consistently absent from school, according to attendance data the Oregon Department of Education released Thursday.
Nearly one-third of Oregon's high school seniors are considered "chronically absent," meaning they missed at least one day out of 10, on average, last year.
More than one-third of the entire student bodies at some high schools were chronically absent, including Sweet Home High School, Taft High School in Lincoln City, and Portland's Roosevelt High School.
At some alternative and charter programs, there's a majority of students attending less than 90 percent of the time.
The most consistent attendance is among Oregon third and fourth graders, with only 12 percent considered chronically absent. After fourth grade, attendance becomes less consistent year-after-year.
The new analysis of chronically absent students looks pretty similar to data from the 2012-13 school year, with about 17 percent of students considered chronically absent across all age groups. But, attendance improved for kindergarteners and got worse for 12th graders.
Oregon's new data also breaks down absenteeism by ethnic group, and finds Native American students were the most likely to be chronically absent, with about 30 percent of students.
Copyright 2015 Oregon Public Broadcasting
