Des Moines
Des Moines Drops 17 Points in One Year — the Most Dramatic Turnaround in Iowa
In the spring of 2021, more than half the students in Iowa's largest school district were chronically absent. Des Moines Independent recorded a 52.4% chronic absenteeism rate that year — one of only t...
Five Districts, 27% of the Problem: Iowa's Chronic Absence Concentration
Correction (July 20, 2026): An earlier version said 327 districts reported data, described a nine-year concentration trend when district K-12 records are available for four years, and understated both...
Iowa Cut Chronic Absenteeism 5.8 Points During Its Attendance Law's First Full School Year
Correction: An earlier version described the latest rate as the best in the full record and included contextual claims the evidence did not support. The revised analysis uses stable district IDs and t...