Impact Essex County

Why is this important?

School attendance is critical to a student's education. Elementary children who do not regularly attend school will miss out on developing key skills, such as reading and arithmetic, critical to future success in school and life. Secondary school children who do not regularly attend school are at higher risk of failing and dropping out, exhibiting delinquent behavior, and engaging in various forms of risky behaviors. School attendance is linked to success in academic and social outcomes both during school years and later in life.

How is our county doing?

In 2023, 23% of students were chronically absent in Essex County. This is an increase of 9 points from 2020 but a decrease from a high of 29% in 2022. Some local districts had above 30% in 2023, including Lynn, Haverhill, Lawrence, and Saugus. Chronic absence was very low at the Lawrence Family Development Charter (3%) and Topsfield School District (7%).

The largest increase in chronic absence rates from 2009 to 2023 was at Kipp Academy Lynn Charter (up 19 points), followed by the Saugus School District (up 18 points).

Notes about the data

Chronic absence is a different way of looking at school attendance from the more traditional measure of average daily attendance. Increasingly, educators and policymakers are tracking chronic absence as a more telling and insightful indicator. In any school or district, average daily attendance can be seemingly high (90% or higher) even though a small or moderate share of students are missing a lot of school.

Chronically Absent Students

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Essex County, MA	14%	14%	13%	13%	13%	12%	13%	13%	15%	15%	15%	14%	18%	29%	23%
Middlesex County, MA	11%	11%	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%	9%	10%	10%	10%	11%	13%	22%	18%
Massachusetts	14%	14%	13%	13%	13%	12%	13%	12%	14%	13%	13%	13%	18%	28%	22%
School Districts in Essex
Amesbury	10%	11%	11%	11%	11%	10%	11%	13%	13%	14%	11%	11%	16%	23%	21%
Amesbury Academy Charter Public	40%	41%	40%	38%	38%	67%	57%
Andover	6%	6%	6%	6%	6%	6%	7%	6%	7%	8%	6%	8%	7%	13%	11%
Beverly	12%	13%	12%	11%	10%	11%	12%	11%	12%	13%	12%	12%	20%	24%	20%
Boxford	2%	3%	3%	2%	3%	3%	2%	3%	4%	3%	3%	4%	2%	12%	8%
Community Day Charter Public School - Gateway					9%	2%	4%	2%	3%	4%	6%	6%	11%	17%
Community Day Charter Public School - Prospect	6%	4%	2%	3%	4%	3%	7%	4%	7%	6%	7%	8%	8%	17%	14%
Community Day Charter Public School - R. Kingman Webster					11%	5%	6%	2%	4%	5%	6%	9%	13%	24%
Danvers	12%	14%	12%	12%	13%	10%	12%	12%	10%	11%	12%	11%	13%	22%	19%
Essex Agricultural Technical	10%	6%	6%	4%	6%	6%	10%	8%	12%	17%	12%	6%	10%	22%	14%
Georgetown	9%	11%	9%	9%	10%	9%	9%	8%	8%	11%	7%	11%	5%	18%	15%
Gloucester	20%	20%	19%	19%	17%	17%	17%	16%	14%	16%	17%	15%	32%	35%	27%
Greater Lawrence Regional Vocational Technical	15%	13%	10%	6%	7%	7%	7%	7%	8%	11%	10%	12%	21%	21%	14%
Hamilton-Wenham	5%	7%	5%	5%	6%	5%	7%	5%	7%	6%	6%	6%	9%	12%	8%
Haverhill	25%	24%	23%	22%	21%	20%	22%	19%	21%	23%	20%	19%	29%	41%	35%
Hill View Montessori Charter Public	6%	9%	6%	3%	6%	3%	4%	2%	5%	5%	4%	11%	7%	33%	18%
Ipswich	8%	9%	6%	6%	6%	5%	6%	6%	6%	6%	5%	6%	4%	11%	8%
KIPP Academy Lynn Charter	2%	3%	1%	6%	6%	5%	9%	11%	13%	12%	11%	11%	35%	23%	21%
Lawrence	23%	22%	22%	19%	20%	18%	20%	19%	23%	25%	24%	20%	17%	44%	33%
Lawrence Family Development Charter	3%	2%	2%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	2%	0%	1%	2%	8%	7%	3%
Lynn	22%	21%	21%	20%	20%	19%	19%	20%	19%	20%	19%	17%	23%	42%	35%
Lynnfield	6%	5%	5%	4%	5%	4%	4%	3%	4%	4%	4%	5%	4%	15%	8%
Manchester Essex Regional	4%	5%	3%	3%	6%	5%	7%	6%	5%	6%	7%	8%	8%	16%	13%
Marblehead	7%	8%	7%	8%	8%	8%	7%	6%	7%	7%	8%	8%	13%	18%	13%
Marblehead Community Charter Public	7%	2%	5%	6%	3%	4%	6%	3%	5%	7%	6%	9%	4%	17%	10%
Masconomet	6%	3%	4%	4%	5%	6%	7%	8%	10%	8%	8%	8%	6%	16%	15%
Methuen	13%	16%	15%	14%	14%	13%	14%	14%	20%	18%	19%	15%	17%	35%	19%
Middleton	3%	3%	1%	3%	3%	3%	4%	4%	5%	5%	5%	5%	7%	21%	12%
Nahant	8%	12%	7%	13%	9%	5%	6%	7%	5%	4%	4%	12%	9%	22%	24%
Newburyport	7%	7%	7%	7%	8%	6%	7%	7%	7%	7%	7%	8%	5%	18%	13%
North Andover	10%	9%	9%	8%	9%	8%	8%	8%	9%	10%	10%	9%	10%	17%	13%
North Shore Regional Vocational Technical	13%	14%	15%	15%	13%	13%
Peabody	16%	14%	13%	13%	13%	13%	15%	16%	18%	18%	18%	16%	34%	33%	24%
Pentucket	6%	8%	7%	7%	6%	6%	8%	9%	9%	8%	9%	9%	6%	19%	16%
River Valley Charter	6%	7%	4%	6%	5%	7%	7%	4%	4%	5%	4%	4%	7%	24%	18%
Rockport	10%	11%	9%	10%	11%	10%	11%	9%	27%	15%	18%	35%	7%	19%	19%
Salem	22%	20%	20%	19%	21%	20%	21%	21%	24%	23%	25%	24%	31%	34%	25%
Salem Academy Charter	7%	10%	7%	13%	9%	11%	7%	10%	7%	7%	7%	8%	14%	23%	19%
Saugus	14%	16%	13%	11%	12%	12%	14%	16%	18%	19%	16%	15%	16%	37%	32%
Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter	11%	11%	10%	7%	6%	5%	7%	5%	6%	6%
Swampscott	10%	10%	6%	7%	9%	7%	9%	9%	12%	10%	12%	10%	19%	24%	19%
Topsfield	4%	4%	4%	3%	3%	2%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	10%	7%
Triton	10%	12%	10%	9%	11%	10%	10%	11%	13%	13%	13%	13%	17%	26%	22%
Whittier Regional Vocational Technical	5%	5%	4%	4%	3%	2%	3%	3%	3%	3%	5%	8%	13%	20%	13%

Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education

Number of Chronically Absent Students

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Essex County, MA	16,109	15,959	15,163	14,337	14,897	14,070	15,410	14,827	16,733	17,375	16,752	15,648	19,633	32,504	25,233
Middlesex County, MA	23,066	22,674	22,026	20,386	20,994	20,800	20,901	18,985	21,260	21,275	21,429	23,457	27,149	46,012	39,001
Massachusetts	132,330	133,030	128,045	119,171	121,256	117,556	123,304	117,272	128,756	125,932	122,760	123,348	161,329	252,494	202,849
School Districts in Essex
Amesbury	248	274	260	245	255	223	258	299	269	309	222	225	302	408	381
Amesbury Academy Charter Public	20	20	20	19	18	31	26
Andover	367	364	352	341	374	342	425	389	397	474	357	463	407	720	597
Beverly	489	572	489	459	447	489	522	484	552	563	557	559	927	1,099	906
Boxford	20	30	22	16	26	22	16	20	26	24	21	32	16	92	59
Community Day Charter Public School - Gateway					11	3	8	5	9	14	20	23	46	69
Community Day Charter Public School - Prospect	21	13	8	9	14	10	30	17	26	25	27	30	32	68	167
Community Day Charter Public School - R. Kingman Webster					13	8	12	5	10	17	21	36	50	93
Danvers	430	496	440	423	471	346	420	419	345	378	421	366	427	708	615
Essex Agricultural Technical	45	29	27	19	30	27	109	98	161	234	162	88	152	361	234
Georgetown	150	182	154	137	154	131	129	123	120	152	102	148	62	235	185
Gloucester	693	671	596	593	525	508	510	460	422	456	494	439	880	977	757
Greater Lawrence Regional Vocational Technical	176	159	117	75	89	98	89	101	124	158	151	186	343	354	235
Hamilton-Wenham	106	134	89	106	121	85	121	97	118	105	99	108	145	202	127
Haverhill	1,689	1,622	1,579	1,522	1,446	1,444	1,600	1,370	1,580	1,725	1,634	1,556	2,269	3,173	2,721
Hill View Montessori Charter Public	13	25	17	8	18	9	13	7	15	14	11	33	21	100	54
Ipswich	167	190	120	120	125	105	113	101	114	108	92	101	61	174	122
KIPP Academy Lynn Charter	7	9	4	29	31	38	72	112	151	166	159	173	562	370	345
Lawrence	2,835	2,653	2,812	2,490	2,563	2,485	2,806	2,597	3,159	3,489	3,264	2,656	2,209	5,562	4,233
Lawrence Family Development Charter	16	10	9	8	6	7	8	8	11	1	9	14	59	59	26
Lynn	2,894	2,848	2,845	2,678	2,856	2,746	2,885	2,959	2,937	3,057	2,945	2,719	3,632	6,621	5,448
Lynnfield	144	118	104	89	104	82	88	65	77	98	95	117	76	319	182
Manchester Essex Regional	58	70	52	46	87	69	99	88	71	76	101	112	106	203	160
Marblehead	241	262	237	241	270	254	230	205	230	217	238	237	338	473	338
Marblehead Community Charter Public	16	5	12	13	6	10	14	6	12	16	13	19	8	38	22
Masconomet	122	67	84	91	111	131	128	146	189	142	145	141	106	264	235
Methuen	990	1,121	1,053	958	995	895	973	963	1,345	1,262	1,281	1,035	1,077	2,228	1,249
Middleton	27	28	11	23	24	19	26	30	35	32	38	32	49	145	85
Nahant	20	27	16	26	16	10	10	11	7	6	7	19	13	35	37
Newburyport	167	160	152	152	183	147	162	154	158	161	150	185	113	378	272
North Andover	437	411	399	394	410	360	374	367	434	466	458	397	456	755	574
North Shore Regional Vocational Technical	59	64	70	70	62	61
Peabody	1,018	835	784	804	818	817	920	934	1,060	1,064	1,051	929	1,952	1,958	1,422
Pentucket	187	248	210	221	183	171	209	217	227	205	210	213	131	420	354
River Valley Charter	18	19	12	17	15	19	20	10	12	15	13	12	20	69	51
Rockport	95	110	87	95	99	99	103	82	251	134	159	296	53	143	138
Salem	978	877	927	875	914	850	878	783	902	864	933	883	1,139	1,246	924
Salem Academy Charter	21	32	22	39	32	41	25	43	33	33	36	38	70	114	93
Saugus	413	461	373	309	342	334	387	435	476	481	407	378	374	896	793
Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter	62	63	57	43	36	32	39	28	36	34
Swampscott	235	228	139	159	210	165	198	205	257	221	254	222	411	482	395
Topsfield	26	29	23	21	19	13	17	22	18	17	21	19	15	65	44
Triton	327	365	309	255	302	277	270	293	314	326	315	311	361	574	493
Whittier Regional Vocational Technical	59	59	54	46	38	26	34	39	45	40	60	99	164	256	160

Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education

INDICATORS	TREND \| ESSEX COUNTY
People 65 or Older Living Alone	Decreasing
Early Prenatal Care by Mother's Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Prevalence of Overweight Adults	Not Applicable
Preterm Births	Increasing
Infant Mortality Rate	Maintaining
Children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels	Decreasing
Children Living in Poverty	Increasing
Children Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Disengaged Youth	Maintaining
Live Births to Teen Mothers	Decreasing
Youth Arrests	Decreasing
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Establishments	Maintaining
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Employment	Maintaining
Tourism Spending	Increasing
Voter Participation Rate	Increasing
Charitable Contributions	Maintaining
Protected Land	Not Applicable
Days with Good Air Quality	Increasing
Beach Contamination	Increasing
Daily Water Use per Resident	Decreasing
Crimes Against People	Maintaining
Crimes Against Property	Decreasing
Drug-Related Arrests	Maintaining
Reports of Domestic Violence	Increasing
Incarceration Rates	Decreasing
Recidivism	Decreasing
Households Without Vehicles	Decreasing
Means of Transportation to Work	Not Applicable
Traffic Injuries and Fatalities	Maintaining
Households With Internet Access	Not Applicable
Change in Total Population	Increasing
Change in Population by Age/Sex	Not Applicable
People with Disabilities	Maintaining
Households by Type	Not Applicable
Single-Parent Families by Sex	Not Applicable
Single-Parent Families by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Change in Population by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Foreign-Born Population	Increasing
Language Diversity	Increasing
Change in Total Jobs	Increasing
Change in Jobs by Sector	Not Applicable
Change in Average Salary	Increasing
Change in Average Salary by Sector	Not Applicable
Average Salary by Sector	Not Applicable
Median Earnings by Occupation by Gender	Not Applicable
People Entering/Leaving County for Work	Not Applicable
Employer Size	Not Applicable
Self-Employment Revenue	Increasing
Business Ownership by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Unemployment Rate	Increasing
Unemployment Rate by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Prekindergarten Participation	Not Applicable
Female Enrollment in School	Not Applicable
Chronically Absent Students	Increasing
Per-Student Spending	Increasing
Bullying	Maintaining
Student Performance on Grade 3 Reading	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 8 Math by Student Group	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 English Language Arts	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 Math	Not Applicable
High School Cohort Graduation Rate	Increasing
High School Cohort Graduation Rate by Student Group	Not Applicable
Education Levels of Adults	Not Applicable
Bachelor's Degree or Higher by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Income in Relation to Poverty Level	Not Applicable
People Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Median Household Income	Increasing
Median Household Income by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Median Household Income by Household Type	Not Applicable
Living Wage Rate by Household Type	Not Applicable
Access to Financial Services, by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Households Receiving Temporary Assistance	Increasing
Households Receiving Federal Food Assistance	Increasing
Participation in Food Assistance by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Earned Income Tax Credit Participation	Decreasing
Economically Disadvantaged Students	Increasing
Median Home Value	Increasing
Cost of Homeownership	Increasing
Cost of Renting	Increasing
Homeownership Rates	Maintaining
Homeownership Rates by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Homeless Persons	Not Applicable
People Without Health Insurance	Decreasing
Medical Care Expenses	Increasing
Prevalence of Children with Asthma	Maintaining
Prevalence of Overweight Children	Maintaining
Diabetes Incidence	Decreasing
Chronic Disease Among Older Adults	Increasing
Cancer Incidence	Decreasing
Cancer Mortality Rate	Decreasing
Heart Disease Mortality Rate	Decreasing
Mortality Rate	Decreasing
People who Smoke	Not Applicable
Use of Illegal Drugs	Not Applicable
Youth Use of Illegal Drugs	Not Applicable
Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions	Not Applicable
Drug Overdose Mortality Rate	Increasing
Prevalence of Mental Illness	Maintaining
Suicide Rate	Maintaining
Children Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Single-Parent Families by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Change in Population by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Unemployment Rate by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 3 Reading	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 8 Math by Student Group	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 English Language Arts	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 Math	Not Applicable
High School Cohort Graduation Rate by Student Group	Not Applicable
Bachelor's Degree or Higher by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
People Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Median Household Income by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Participation in Food Assistance by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Homeownership Rates by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable

INDICATORS

TREND | ESSEX COUNTY