Newport County presents a tale of two education systems when it comes to chronic absenteeism, with rates ranging from among the state’s best to second-worst, according to a new report from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.
Newport’s chronic absenteeism rate of 34.6% for the 2024–25 school year ranked second worst among all Rhode Island districts, trailing only Woonsocket at 41.6%. But elsewhere in the county, Jamestown posted the state’s lowest rate at 4.3%, while Little Compton came in third-best at 7.3%. Both districts serve only elementary and middle school students, as high schoolers tend to have higher absenteeism rates.
The county’s other communities fell closer to or below the statewide average of 22.1%: Portsmouth at 12.4%, Tiverton at 18.4%, and Middletown at 20.3%.
The disparities highlight what RIPEC researchers found statewide — that student demographics explain much but not all of the variation in chronic absenteeism, defined as missing at least 10% of school days. Newport’s rate was 4.9 percentage points higher than what the organization’s demographic analysis predicted, suggesting local policies and implementation play a significant role.
“Research consistently shows that high absenteeism undermines academic outcomes and can have lasting effects on students,” said Michael DiBiase, president and CEO of RIPEC. “Even with the progress made over the past several years, our chronic absenteeism rate of 22.1% remains a serious issue requiring continued state attention.”
The report points to Central Falls and Providence as models for improvement, both of which reduced absenteeism by more than 20 percentage points from their pandemic-era peaks through coordinated, data-driven strategies and family engagement. RIPEC’s analysis found Central Falls outperformed its demographic-predicted rate by 10.1 percentage points — the best performance of any district in the state.
RIPEC recommends that the state require all districts to adopt evidence-based attendance policies, establish a uniform statewide definition of attendance, and create a second accountability tier for students missing 20% or more of the school year. Legislation that would have mandated such reforms — the Attendance for Success Act — failed to advance in the 2024 General Assembly session and was not reintroduced in 2025.
The full report is available at RIPEC.org.