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Memphis school leaders say a door-knocking campaign and increased outreach has helped put the district on track to reduce chronic absenteeism for the first time since well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stacey Davis, the district’s director of attendance and enrollment, said in an October board meeting that almost one-third of Memphis-Shelby County Schools students were chronically absent last year, meaning they missed more than 18 days of class. But she expects that figure to drop to around 26% of students this year.
Davis’ estimate is based on attendance data from the first quarter of this school year, which shows less than a quarter of MSCS students at risk of being chronically absent. If those predictions pan out, it would mark an important turnaround for the district, which has seen absenteeism grow every year since 2017, according to state data. The gap between the state chronic absenteeism rate, which was 18.9% in 2023-24, and MSCS’ rate, 29.6% in 2023-24, has also kept widening in that time period.
Students who are chronically absent are less likely to read on grade level by third grade, and more likely to drop out of high school. Davis said MSCS has historically struggled with attendance most for kindergarteners and high schoolers.
But she told Chalkbeat Tennessee that the district has ramped up support to solve the issue this year, launching neighborhood door-knocking campaigns and spreading attendance liaison positions districtwide.
Those programs were outlined by MSCS leaders in a 2024 financial audit that pledged a $2.9 million investment in reducing absenteeism. Davis said the 78 attendance liaisons alone cost the district $4.4 million each year.
Last year, MSCS’ attendance liaisons only worked in one building. But this year, Davis said they will work in multiple schools to ensure the district is accurately reporting daily attendance data. That includes changing absences to tardies if students show up late and updating family contact information.
“It’s obviously a heavy lift, especially for our schools with 2,000 or 1,500 students enrolled,” Davis said. “But the data accuracy is key because this is the information that we’re reporting to the state for state funding.”
MSCS leaders launched the door-knocking strategy in July to boost enrollment numbers before the start of the school year. The district has lost 9% of its total enrollment over the past decade, far outpacing state declines.
After three rounds of home visits this summer, Davis said over 1,000 unregistered students signed up to attend MSCS. Daily attendance rates increased by around 5% compared to last year’s numbers in two of the targeted neighborhoods, Frayser and South Memphis. In Orange Mound, the attendance rate fell from 78% to 63%.
But Davis said the district gathered important information about family barriers to showing up.
“Parents were very open about what they needed, what they lacked, and we were able to provide that on the spot assistance and support for them,” Davis said. Most students needed updated immunizations or struggled with transportation, she added.
“Those are the two reasons that we’ve heard year after year,” Davis said.
Last week, MSCS board members adopted a resolution to expand bus services for students living within 2 miles of school. While the plan is a direct response to increased law and immigration enforcement in Memphis, Davis said it could improve attendance, too.
The attendance leader also said school-based liaisons are making more direct phone calls to families this year any time a student is marked as absent.
“We need parents to understand that if your child is absent, to send a note,” Davis said. “And to understand that chronically absent doesn’t mean unexcused absences; it includes excused and unexcused.”
Davis said district leaders are hoping to improve truancy rates, which strictly measure unexcused absences, and daily attendance rates by 2% this year as well.
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.
