1 in 3 Edmonton public-school students chronically absent from class, data shows

Tens of thousands of Edmonton public and Catholic school students are chronically absent each year, according to data obtained by CBC News. Education experts say they are alarmed by the numbers, warning they could be an early symptom of deeper issues for those students.

Chronic absenteeism — when a student misses at least 10 per cent of the school year, or roughly 18 days — has been rising in Edmonton in recent years.

Attendance is worse in the city’s public schools: more than three in 10 students have missed that much class time each academic year since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, data shows. Although, a similar trend is playing out in Catholic high schools.

“That’s a serious number,” said Jacqueline Leighton, a University of Alberta professor of educational psychology. “As a parent, as a teacher, I would be very concerned.”

“For me, it would be feedback that there’s something in the environment of the school, in my classroom, that some students are not showing up for,” she said.

CBC News analyzed student absence data obtained from school divisions in major cities across the country, including the Edmonton public and Catholic school divisions.

The Edmonton data tracked four categories: chronic absenteeism, excused absences, illness, and unexcused absences.

The Catholic school data spanned the 2018-19 to 2024-25 school years. But the public school data only went back to 2019-20, because the data wasn’t collected how CBC News had asked for it the year prior.

Both school divisions experienced similar trends during the pandemic: chronic absenteeism rose, peaking in the 2022-23 school year, before dipping. But the number of recorded absences — excused or otherwise — have remained high.

“Schools across the globe — and particularly in Western countries — are really trying to address the attendance issues and really trying to understand [that] parents have more options,” said Joshua Childs, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin. He noted that education can now be delivered outside of a physical classroom.

Alberta’s Education Act states that youth from ages six to 16 must attend school. Although, myriad reasons could lead to a student missing class, such as illness, inadequate transportation, anxiety, bullying, or simply choosing not to go.

Available research, as well as reports from the Alberta government done a decade ago, suggest absenteeism can be an early indicator that something is going on in a child’s life. If not addressed, they’re more likely to drop out of school, which can lead to other issues in life.

“They are learning not only academic matters like math, reading, science, but they're also developing really critical social and emotional skills,” said Leighton.

“We could actually exacerbate the problems of whatever they lost during COVID if they continually do not show up in school,” she said.