Rogers Ranks High in Absenteeism; Other Schools Mid-Pack

Newport schools generally fell on the lower end of the scale in what the state Department of Education terms "chronic absenteeism," meaning students who miss more than 18 days of the school year.

WPRI Channel 12 recently reported that 17 percent of all students in Rhode Island were classified as chronically absent during the 2011-12 school year, with four Providence high schools reporting more than 50 percent of students on the list.

Rogers High School was listed 13th-highest in the state, with 41.06 percent, while the middle school and elementary schools all recorded less than 20 percent.

Dr. M. H. Sullivan School had 17.39 percent chronic absenteeism, followed by Cranston-Calvert School with 17.06 percent, and Frank E. Thompson Middle School with 16.93.

The two other local schools had fewer than 15 percent of their students in the chronically absent category — Coggeshall School [12.21] and William J. Underwood School [8.72] .

See the complete results here.

Tell us:

Why do you think Newport has such mixed results in getting kids to attend school? How do you think school attendance can be improved?

Have your say in the comment section below.