Report finds one third of Arizona high school students chronically absent

Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism continues to be an issue in Arizona, and for the first time, a report has focused on high school students. And the numbers were found to be a bit surprising. 

Advocacy group Helios Education Foundation released their new report at the end of September 2025, which looked at absence rates between 2021 through 2024. 

Helios Senior Vice President Paul Perrault discussed what the data highlighted about high school students in Arizona. 

 “It went down a little bit to about 34%, but think about that: More than a third of every single student that’s at school is chronically absent, meaning they are missing 18 or more days of school a year.”

Perrault talked about which students missed the most school days.

“Students that were in lower-income schools, high poverty; we used free and reduced lunch as a proxy. If they had higher free and reduced lunch rates, those schools tended to have more students that were chronically absent,” Perrault said. 

The report found students of color, who were from low income backgrounds had the highest rate of absences. Native American students came in with the highest rates of absenteeism at 53% and Latino students came in second highest at 39%.

How one Valley high school works with absent students 

Julio Rubio is the principal at West Valley Carl Hayden Community High School. Last year, the absenteeism rate at his school was a whopping 61%. He discussed some of the challenges his students face.

“We understand that each community has different needs,” Rubio said. “We know that there are different barriers that prevent students from coming to campus. Some of those barriers include access to healthcare. Some of that could be because of a low socio-economic status. Many of our students have to work and support their families.

About 30 Carl Hayden staff members,  along with Rubio, stepped up to mentor chronically absent students. Staff members met with them on a daily basis for six weeks. Part of the program included incentives like gift cards when students met their academic and attendance goals. 

Rubio shared an experience he had with one of his mentees.

“It was a $75 gift card for a shoe store,” he said. “My student won the raffle for that shoe store. I was so excited to see him win that gift card because he wanted to get a new pair of shoes. The first week of school this school year, this kid came to find me and show me the new pair of shoes that he bought over the summer with the gift card that he won,” Rubio said with a smile on his face. 

Rubio said it was the little things, such as connecting and supporting students, that made all the difference. 

The program was a success with 93% of students meeting their attendance goals. Rubio will launch the program for a second year and will work to identify chronically absent students. He talked about what he felt made the program successful. 

“Our middle name is community. It is Carl Hayden Community High School, so we believe it takes the whole community to support our students. That is why I also decided to be part of the mentors that will take on some of the students and help them achieve their academic goals. Like I said it takes everyone, and at Carl Hayden, we all pitch in to support our students,” Rubio said. 

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Reporting by “Arizona Horizon” Education Solutions Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa. Her role is made possible through grant funding from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund and Report for America.

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