Ruth Briggs King Unveils Goal to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in Delaware Schools by 50% over 4 Years

Georgetown DE – Lieutenant Governor nominee Ruth Briggs King has unveiled her goal to work with stakeholders across Delaware to reduce the instances of chronic absenteeism in our schools by 50 percent statewide over the next four years.

“This bold goal recognizes that chronic absenteeism contributes greatly to lower test scores and reduced achievement for our students, especially the most at risk populations in the state,” said Briggs King.

The former educator and member of the State House Education Committee noted that public schools in Delaware with the lowest proficiency rates in English and mathematics also have some of the highest absenteeism rates of almost 40 percent which is double the state’s rate in 2023 of nearly 21 percent.

Chronic absenteeism harms at-risk student populations with tremendous negative effects on African American and Hispanic populations. Even worse, chronic absenteeism among our early learners (Grades K-3) has nearly doubled since pre-pandemic levels to 19.7 percent.

“While we have made remarkable investments in early learning, which is laudable, it is rendered irrelevant if 1 in 4 of those students are missing a month of this instruction each school year,” said Briggs King. “Chronic absenteeism directly threatens their early learning achievement and wastes precious learning funds.”

The Briggs King “First Things First” Agenda for Delaware Schools will include:

• Remedies to address classroom disruption to empower teachers and school leaders to create safer and more effective learning environments.
• Statewide surveys in 2025 and 2027 of teachers, parents, and students to gather information to inform policies, actions, and investments.
• Invest in teacher retention and attraction of new teachers to Delaware schools.
• Develop innovative opportunities for teachers and school leaders to grow within the profession.

“We need to put first things first for our schools. As Lieutenant Governor, I’ll never stop working for better schools for all Delawareans so teachers can teach and students can learn, while parents always have their voice heard,” concluded Briggs King.

She spoke on this issue and its relationship to low test scores at a recent Caesar Rodney Institute forum on educational freedom.