Parma's Absence Rate Fell 22.6 Points and Finished Below Ohio's Average

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Parma City^↗ School District's published chronic absenteeism rate fell from 46.5% in 2021-22 to 23.9% in 2024-25, a decrease of 22.6 percentage points. By the end of that comparison, Parma was below Ohio's corresponding statewide rate of 25.1%.

The improvement was concentrated in the first year after the high starting rate. Parma's rate fell to 24.2% in 2022-23, then stood at 23.3% in 2023-24 before rising slightly in 2024-25. These are historical attendance results, not a measure of students' attendance this fall.

A sharp decrease, followed by a smaller range

The initial decline was 22.3 percentage points. Most of the reduction between the first and last reports therefore occurred between 2021-22 and 2022-23. The subsequent rates stayed below a quarter of students, rather than continuing to fall at the same pace.

That is a more precise description than a continuous improvement streak. Parma's rate improved again in 2023-24 and then increased in 2024-25. The latest result still left the district substantially below its starting rate, but the small reversal belongs in the account of what happened.

The statewide rate also declined across the comparison, from 30.2% in 2021-22 to 25.1% in 2024-25. Parma moved from above that statewide rate to below it. In the last published year used here, Parma's rate was 1.2 percentage points lower than Ohio's.

The largest decrease in the qualifying comparison

Parma had the largest endpoint decrease among the 420 districts meeting the enrollment and data-availability rules shown in the comparison chart. The analysis compares the same districts' first and last published rates and uses their last-year enrollment to determine eligibility. It does not rank schools, or districts without both endpoint rates, alongside them.

This is a ranking of decreases, not a ranking of the lowest absence rates. A district can show a large decrease while retaining a comparatively high rate. Parma's own result also leaves a substantial attendance problem: its final rate was just under a quarter of students.

The endpoint ranking cannot explain the change. Attendance initiatives, changes in family circumstances and differences in reporting are questions for district evidence. The state rate series records the results; it does not establish which intervention produced them or how much of the initial decrease reflects circumstances shared across Ohio.

Nearby districts followed different paths

The selected Cuyahoga County comparison shows why it is useful to examine annual rates as well as endpoint changes. Lakewood City^↗ moved from 20.6% in 2021-22 to 26.8% in 2024-25. South Euclid-Lyndhurst City^↗ rose from 28.9% to 36.0%.

Other selected districts improved while finishing above Parma. Euclid City^↗ fell from 57.1% to 42.3%, and Maple Heights City^↗ fell from 52.3% to 42.6%. These districts illustrate different paths within the same reporting window; they are not a matched comparison that isolates a Parma policy effect.

What the record can establish

The available state absence series starts in 2021-22. It cannot establish whether Parma or these nearby districts have returned to a pre-pandemic baseline. It also does not turn total district enrollment into a count of students attending regularly; that is a different measure.

The supported finding is substantial on its own: Parma's rate fell sharply, remained well below its starting level in the following reports, and finished below the corresponding Ohio rate. The next useful question is whether the later, smaller fluctuation continues—and what district evidence can explain the initial change.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.

62 Ohio Districts Were at Their Four-Year Absenteeism High in 2024-25

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Ohio's statewide chronic absenteeism rate fell to 25.1% in 2024-25, its lowest level in the available four-year series. Yet 62 districts were at their own highest recorded rate within that same window.

Those districts represented 10.2% of the 607 districts with published rates in every year from 2021-22 through 2024-25. Their latest attendance enrollment totaled 134,077 students. The statewide improvement did not describe every district's experience.

What “highest” means here

The comparison uses each district's published rate across the full available series. A district is at its high if its 2024-25 rate equals its maximum, including a tie with an earlier year. That does not establish an all-time record, because this series contains no pre-pandemic rates.

Nor does reaching a high establish that a district worsened in every intervening year. A district can improve temporarily and then return to an earlier high. The annual direction has to be checked separately.

North College Hill City^↗ did worsen in every annual step in this window. Its 2024-25 rate was 57.1%, the highest among the districts at their four-year high. Other examples included Nelsonville-York City^↗ at 41.4%, Trimble Local^↗ at 37.5%, and South Euclid-Lyndhurst City^↗ at 36.0%.

More districts were at their low

The same complete panel placed 291 districts at their lowest rate in the four-year window and 254 between their high and low. No district belonged to both endpoint groups in this comparison.

The state rate declined from 30.2% in 2021-22 to 25.1% in 2024-25. That establishes improvement within the published series. It cannot establish a return to pre-pandemic attendance, because the earlier comparison years are absent.

The high-rate group included larger districts

Of the districts at their high, 47 had fewer than 3,000 students in the published attendance enrollment. Most were below that size threshold, but the group also included larger systems.

Willoughby-Eastlake City^↗ reported attendance enrollment of 6,601 and a chronic absenteeism rate of 28.4%. Lakewood City^↗ reported 4,314 and 26.8%. Hamilton Local^↗ reported 3,231 and 32.6%.

Those counts are the enrollment denominators in the attendance files, rather than a claim about live enrollment this school year. They show that the districts at their high were not exclusively small systems.

The records do not identify why these rates rose, which local responses were tried, or whether additional resources would change attendance. They do identify a set of districts whose latest results differed from the statewide decline, providing a starting point for district-specific questions.