Attendance rates for each school district are calculated by adding up the total number of days attended by every student and dividing that by the total number of possible days for every student. All data can be found on MI School Data under student attendance.

Over the last three years, statewide attendance rates have increased each year, from 88.8% in 2021-22 to 91.3% in 2024-25, an increase of 2.5 percentage points, with an increase from 90.8% to 91.3% in the last year, according to a Wednesday press release from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). Over the last three years, chronic absenteeism rates have declined each year, from 38.5% in 2021-22 to 27.9% in 2024-25, a decline of 10.6 percentage points, with a decline from 29.5% in 2023-24 to 27.9% in 2024-25. The decline from 2021-22 to 2022-23 was previously reported as the largest in the nation. Michigan defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more days of school. That has been the definition since 2017, when Michigan adopted the U.S. Department of Education definition.

Locally, five out of seven school districts reported about the same attendance rate or higher than the statewide average.

ALPENA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

News Photo by Reagan Voetberg A roundabout in the back parking lot was added to Alpena High School during this year’s summer construction.

The attendance rate at Alpena Public Schools has increased for the first time in the 2024-2025 school year since the 2019-2020 school year, reporting an 87.3% attendance rate, an increase from 85.3% in 2023-2024. Additionally, 44.1% of students were chronically absent in 2024-2025, a decrease from 45.7% in 2023-2024.

ALCONA COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

The attendance rate at Alcona Community Schools was 91.3% in 2024-2025, remaining relatively stable in comparison to the two previous school years, reporting 91.1% in 2022-2023 and 91.7% in 2023-2024. A total of 31.5% of students were chronically absent in 2024-2025, an increase of about 2% from 2023-2024. That figure is still significantly lower than the 2021-2022 school year where 56.5% of students were chronically absent. However, there is still room for improvement to near pre-COVID numbers, which hovered around 15%.

ATLANTA COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

The attendance rate at Atlanta Community Schools was 90.8% in 2024-2025, a decrease from 91.65% in 2023-2024. Chronic absenteeism rates increased to 38.4% in 2024-2025 from 33.1% in 2023-2024.

HILLMAN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

The attendance rate at Hillman Community Schools was 92.5% in 2024-2025, an increase from 91% in 2023-2024. The percent of chronically absent students decreased from 33.7% in 2023-2024 to 27.3% in 2024-2025.

ONAWAY AREA COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

The attendance rate at Onaway Area Community School District was 93.3% in 2024-2025, increasing from 92.09% in 2023-2024. The percentage of chronically absent students was 19%, a significant decrease from 24.8% in 2023-2024.

POSEN CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS

The attendance rate at Posen Consolidated Schools was 93.9% in 2024-2025, a decrease from 94.8% in 2023-2024. A total of 15.5% of students were chronically absent in 2024-2025, an increase from 9.3% in 2023-2024.

ROGERS CITY AREA SCHOOLS

The attendance rate at Rogers City Area Schools was 93.3% in 2024-2025, increasing from 92.3% in 2023-2024. In 2024-2025, 19.8% of students were chronically absent, while 22.6% were chronically absent in 2023-2024.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.