Percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-grade students who reported missing 3 or more days of school in the previous month, by grade and selected characteristics: Various years, 1994

Student Effort and Educational Progress: Tables

Student Absenteeism

Table 24-2. Percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-grade students who reported missing 3 or more days of school in the previous month, by grade and selected characteristics: Various years, 1994–2005

	Grade 4					Grade 8
Characteristic	1994	1998	2002	2003	2005	1994	1998	2002	2003	2005

Total	18	17	18	22	19	22	22	20	22	20
Sex
Male	18	16	17	21	18	22	21	19	21	20
Female	18	18	18	22	20	22	22	20	22	21
Race/ethnicity¹
White	17	16	17	22	18	20	21	19	21	19
Black	21	18	20	24	21	27	22	22	24	24
Hispanic	23	20	19	22	21	27	24	22	23	23
Asian/Pacific Islander	12	‡	13	13	13	21	15	12	11	12
American Indian	‡	‡	24	28	25	‡	‡	32	32	29
English language learner²
Yes	—	23	20	20	21	—	26	23	23	23
No	—	17	18	22	19	—	22	20	22	20
Classified as having a disability
Yes	—	26	23	27	24	—	31	28	30	29
No	—	16	17	21	19	—	21	19	21	20
Language other than English spoken in home
Yes	19	18	19	22	20	24	22	21	22	21
No	18	16	17	22	18	21	22	19	21	20
Student eligibility for free or reduced- price lunch³
Eligible	—	21	21	25	23	—	26	24	26	25
Not eligible	—	14	16	20	17	—	20	18	19	18
School location
Central city	20	17	18	22	20	24	22	21	23	22
Urban fringe/large town	17	16	17	20	18	21	21	20	20	20
Rural/small town	17	18	18	23	20	20	23	19	22	19
Percent of students in school eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
10 or less	—	14	15	18	16	—	18	16	18	17
11–25	—	16	16	20	18	—	20	19	20	18
26–50	—	16	18	23	19	—	22	20	23	21
51–75	—	19	19	24	21	—	27	22	24	23
More than 75	—	19	21	23	22	—	25	25	26	25

— Not available. ‡ Reporting standards not met (too few cases).
¹Black includes African American, Hispanic includes Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian, and American Indian includes Alaska Native. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin unless specified.
²In testing years previous to 2005, English language learners (ELL) were identified as limited English proficient (LEP).
³This information was not available for a small percentage of students (2 percent of the total population in 2005).
NOTE: From 1994 to 2000, students responded to the question “How many days of school did you miss last month?” After 2001, students were asked “How many days were you absent from school in the last month?” Accommodations were not permitted for the 1994 assessment, but they were permitted for all other assessment years reported here.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years, 1994–2005 Reading Assessments, previously unpublished tabulation (December 2005).

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