Table 1
Percentage of Students Who Reported Missing 3 or More Days of School in the Previous Month, 1994-2005
	Grade 4							Grade 8						Grade 12
	1994	1998	2002	2003	2005			1994	1998	2002	2003	2005		1994	1998	2002	2003	2005
Total	18	17	18	22	19			22	22	20	22	20		28.0	26.0	25.0
Sex
Male	18	16	17	21	18			22	21	19	21	20
Female	18	18	18	22	20			22	22	20	22	21
Race/Ethnicity1
White, non-Hispanic	17	16	17	22	18			20	21	19	21	19				25.0
Black, non-Hispanic	21	18	20	24	21			27	22	22	24	24				26.0
Hispanic	23	20	19	22	21			27	24	22	23	23				24.0
Asian/Pacific Islander	12	—	13	13	13			21	15	12	11	12				23.0
American Indian	—	—	24	28	25			—	—	32	32	29				—
English Language Learner2
Yes	—	23	20	20	21			—	26	23	23	23				32.0
No	—	17	18	22	19			—	22	20	22	20				26.0
Classified as having a disability
Yes	—	26	23	27	24			—	31	28	30	29			32.0
No	—	16	17	21	19			—	21	19	21	20			26.0
Language other than English spoken in home
Yes	19	18	19	22	20			24	22	21	22	21
No	18	16	17	22	18			21	22	19	21	20
Student Eligibilty for free or reduced-price lunch3
Eligible	—	21	21	25	23			—	26	24	26	25			27.0
Not eligible	—	14	16	20	17			—	20	18	19	18			26.0
School Location
Central City	20	17	18	22	20			24	22	21	23	22
Urban fringe/large town	17	16	17	20	18			21	21	20	20	20
Rural/Small Town	17	18	18	23	20			20	23	19	22	19
Percent of students in school eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
10 or less	—	14	15	18	16			—	18	16	18	17
11 to 25	—	16	16	20	18			—	20	19	20	18
26-50	—	16	18	23	19			—	22	20	23	21
51-75	—	19	19	24	21			—	27	22	24	23
More than 75	—	19	21	23	22			—	25	25	26	25
"-"Not available or reporting standards not met (too few cases).
1Black includes African American, Hispanic includes Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian, and American Indian includes Alaska Native.
2In testing years previous to 2005, English language learners (ELL) were identified as limited English proficient (LEP).
3This information was not available for a small percentage of students (2 percent of the total population in 2005).
NOTE: From 1994 to 2000, students responded to the question “How many days of school did you miss last month?” After 2001, students were asked “How many days were you absent from school in the last month?” Accommodations were not permitted for the 1994 assessment, but they were permitted for all other assessment years reported here.
SOURCE: Student Absenteeism.  The Conditon of Education 2006.  U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.  http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2006/section3/indicator24.asp#info