The Cherry Hill school district says it is moving to drive down its chronic absenteeism rate by working with students who have been consistently absent over the last three years.
District statistics from 2023-24 through 2025-26 showed just over 1,500 students make up the group that is absent for 10% or more of the school days in a year.
The district hopes to lower the rate by working closely with chronically absent students and their families, and giving the students a sense of belonging to motivate them to be a part of the school, said Scott Goldthorp, the district’s director of special projects and student services.
“While attendance isn’t working, ultimately attendance itself isn’t the ultimate outcome we’re looking for,” Goldthorp told the Cherry Hill Board of Education. “The larger goal is making sure students are connected to school, they have consistent access to supports, and that we’re able to connect them with opportunities and those supports that we do provide.”
Students can be chronically absent due to a number of factors including health, transportation, family circumstances, academic challenges, student engagement, and life transitions, Goldthorp’s presentation noted.
The Cherry Hill districtwide chronic absenteeism rate has consistently been lower than the state average, according to the New Jersey Department of Education’s School Performance Reports. In 2024-25, the most recent year with state-reported data available, the rate was 14% compared with the state average of 14.4%.
However, several grades showed rates higher than the state averages.
Although grade-level absenteeism data were not shared at the meeting, state data for 2024-25 showed chronic absenteeism rates for the sixth, seventh, eighth, and 12th grades in Cherry Hill exceeded the state averages.
The highest absenteeism rate that year was 25.8% for 12th graders, followed by 23.5% for pre-K. The state averages were 21% and 29.9% respectively.
Goldthorp emphasized the district’s approach to curbing absenteeism is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution.
“Sometimes attendance is an academic issue, sometimes it’s a family issue, sometimes it’s a health or transportation issue, and sometimes it’s about a student’s connection to school,” he said. “Our response, then, has to be both systematic and individualized.”
The New Jersey Department of Education limits what it defines as excused absences, according to the district presentation. Illnesses or physician appointments are not excused. However, religious observances, college visits, and “Take Our Children to Work Day” are among the excused absence reasons.
Nine Cherry Hill schools lowered their chronic absenteeism rates between the 2023-24 and 2025-26 school years, according to the district data. Two remained relatively stable and six increased.
Improving were Knight, Harte, Mann, Johnson, Sharp, Kingston, and Woodcrest elementary schools and Beck and Carusi middle schools. Increasing absenteeism rates were at Cooper, Kilmer, and Paine elementary schools, Rosa International Middle School, and both East and West high schools. Barton and Stockton rates were stable.
Administrators are studying schools that cut their absenteeism rates to replicate the successes elsewhere, the presentation said. In one elementary school, the principal worked with district leaders to reengage chronically absent students and their families. Tangible rewards every week kept the students motivated and their attendance improved, according to the presentation.
Absenteeism affects academic performance, the presentation noted.
About 21% of students in middle and high school who were not chronically absent in 2025-26 had at least one failing course. That percentage is more than double (44%) for the chronically absent students in Cherry Hill.
While about 19% of all students who were not chronically absent were involved with a disciplinary event, about 33% of chronically absent were exposed to discipline, according to the presentation.
“When those students feel they belong, they’re motivated and want to be a part of school,” Goldthorp said. “When students are here consistently, they have access to high-quality instruction, support … and that ultimately is student success, which is why we’re all here.”
