BOSTON — Last year, more than a third of the students in Boston public high schools were chronically absent. An analysis of attendance data showed that schools plagued by absenteeism have the highest dropout rates.
At East Boston High School, half of the students missed at least 19 days, which is more than 10 percent of the school year, The Boston Globe reports. In the city, more than 7,400 high school students were chronically absent, according to the news source, which defines “chronically absent” as missing 10 percent of the school year.
The Boston School Department, however, considers students to be chronically absent only if they miss 20 percent of the school year, or 37 days. Nearly 1 in 5 high school students fell into this category.
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