Colorado is Making Progress on Absenteeism. Charter Schools are Leading the Way
Colorado students are showing up to school more often. New attendance data from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) shows chronic absenteeism declined across every grade level and nearly every student group in 2025–26, while the statewide attendance rate also ticked upward.
Statewide, chronic absenteeism fell to 27.0%, down from 28.4% in 2024–25 — the lowest rate in four years. Those improvements — while modest — are encouraging. But buried in the statewide numbers is another notable finding: Colorado charter schools continue to have substantially lower rates of chronic absenteeism than traditional public schools.
In 2025-26, traditional public schools had a chronic absenteeism rate of 29.0%. Public charter schools came in at 23.2%. That’s a nearly six-percentage-point gap. And this isn't a one-year anomaly.
In its 2024–25 State of Charter Schools Report, CDE concluded that charter schools had lower chronic absenteeism rates than non-charter schools in each of the previous three years.
The latest numbers extend that trend to a fourth consecutive year. More strikingly, the gap between the two sectors has remained remarkably consistent. And to make that four-year gap even more eye-opening, CDE reports that in Colorado charter schools serve more students of color and English language learners than non-charter schools across the state.
So, what might charter schools be doing differently?
Doing More with Less
Getting students to school starts with removing the obstacles that keep them from getting there.
Transportation is one of them. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools generally do not have the same obligation to provide transportation. Yet some make it a priority, despite operating in a broader funding environment where charter schools often have fewer resources for facilities and other needs.
That disparity is particularly stark in local capital funding.
Colorado charter schools received only about 3% to 3.6% of the roughly $15 billion in local bond revenue raised by school districts between 2015 and 2024. That disparity helped spur passage of SB 26-145 this year, requiring districts to consult with charter leaders before placing facilities bond measures on the ballot — a modest but meaningful step toward more equitable access.
Community Leadership Academy (CLA) in Commerce City illustrates how some charter schools are finding ways to overcome these limitations. CLA provides free bus transportation throughout the Adams 14 boundaries. With 87% of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, providing transportation doesn't simply expand school choice. It makes that choice accessible.
But transportation is only one potential barrier.
Addressing the Barriers Behind Absenteeism
For some students, getting to school consistently can be complicated by food insecurity, mental-health challenges, unstable housing, childcare responsibilities, work schedules, or other circumstances far beyond the classroom.
Several Colorado charter schools have built models specifically designed to address those barriers.
At Wyatt Academy in Denver, academic success is closely connected to meeting families' basic needs. The school describes itself not only as a place of learning, but as a community resource hub focused on nurturing the whole child.
Its Family Empowerment Center provides a food pantry, free laundromat, clothing boutique, family resources, social-emotional support, and restorative practices.
Clean clothes for the day. Food at home. Mental-health support. A trusted adult who can help a family navigate a difficult situation. None of these is an attendance strategy on its own. Together, however, they can remove some of the barriers that make simply showing up for school difficult.
Across town in Denver's Montbello neighborhood, Academy 360 has similarly embraced a wraparound approach.
The school provides individualized support and works with community partners to address the needs of students and families. In a 2023 Chalkbeat report, Executive Director Becky McLean estimated that 43% of the school's approximately 230 students received individual or group mental-health services through a community-based clinician, school psychologist, or social worker, or University of Denver graduate student.
For older students, the barriers can look very different.
The New America School, which has campuses in Aurora, Lakewood, and Thornton, serves more than 600 students each year. That includes young parents, students who previously dropped out, and students balancing school with full-time employment.
Its model is built around that reality.
Classes are offered from 8:15 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Students can enroll quarterly, attend free summer school, and receive after-school tutoring. The school even offers childcare reimbursement for student parents who maintain good attendance.
Because New America locations are Alternative Education Campuses, its absenteeism data shouldn't be directly compared with that of a traditional K–12 school. But its model offers a powerful example of a different approach to attendance: Instead of asking why students aren't fitting into the school schedule, the school adapts to the realities of its students' lives.
That flexibility gets at one of the defining characteristics of the charter model: autonomy.
Autonomy Meets Accountability
Autonomy gives charter schools room to respond differently to student needs. Accountability requires them to demonstrate that those approaches are working.
Academy 360 provides a striking example of both.
When the school opened in 2013, it earned Colorado's highest school performance rating. A decade later, its academic performance had fallen dramatically.
In 2023, Academy 360 received the state's lowest rating. Its third- through fifth-grade students scored in the 1st percentile on state math and literacy assessments, and its authorizer, Denver Public Schools, considered closing the school.
Ultimately, the Denver school board chose not to close Academy 360. Board members expressed concern about the disruption closure could cause in a community where 88% of students were students of color, 78% came from low-income families, and 24% had disabilities. The school also occupies part of a building that has become a hub for community organizations.
But remaining open came with an expectation of improvement.
School leaders developed a two-year academic improvement plan, hired a math instructional coach, and added a dedicated English language development teacher. Attendance was part of the strategy, too: Academy 360 set a goal of increasing average daily attendance from 87% to 90%.
Today, Academy 360 is once again rated Performance — the state's highest School Performance Framework category. DPS reported in early September that the school was safe from closure because of higher performance.
Its turnaround doesn't prove that better attendance alone caused stronger academic performance. Student achievement is far more complicated than any single measure. But attendance is an essential part of the equation: students cannot fully benefit from stronger instruction, additional academic support, or wraparound services if they aren't in school to receive them.
That connection becomes particularly interesting when viewed alongside statewide charter performance.
The Colorado League of Charter Schools' 2025 analysis of School Performance Framework results found that charter schools were 12 percentage points more likely than district-run schools to earn a Performance rating, and 88% of Colorado charter students attended a Performance-rated school.
Now, the latest attendance data adds another piece to the picture: charter students are also considerably less likely to be chronically absent.
Showing up Matters
Colorado's continued decline in chronic absenteeism is worth celebrating. But with more than one in four public school students still chronically absent, there is considerably more work to do.
The nearly six-point difference between charter and non-charter schools doesn't, by itself, tell us why charter students attend more consistently. Nor does every charter school have low absenteeism. Individual schools and the communities they serve vary considerably.
But four consecutive years of lower chronic absenteeism rates make the difference worth examining.
Transportation, mental-health services, family resource centers, flexible schedules, and childcare assistance demonstrate some of the ways Colorado charter schools are using autonomy to respond to the particular barriers facing their students and families.
There may not be one solution to chronic absenteeism because there isn't one reason students miss school.
That may be where the charter model has something valuable to contribute: the flexibility to identify what keeps students from showing up — and the accountability to find a better way to serve them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is chronic absenteeism?
The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of the school days in which a student is enrolled. Both excused and unexcused absences count toward chronic absenteeism.
How does chronic absenteeism differ from truancy?
Chronic absenteeism measures how much school a student misses, regardless of the reason. Truancy generally refers specifically to unexcused absences and is governed by Colorado's compulsory school attendance requirements. A student can therefore be chronically absent without being considered truant.
What is an Alternative Education Campus?
An Alternative Education Campus, or AEC, is a public school designed to serve a high concentration of students with particular educational needs or circumstances that may put them at greater risk of not graduating. These can include students who have previously dropped out, are significantly behind in credits, are pregnant or parenting, have experienced certain behavioral or disciplinary challenges, or meet other state-defined criteria. Because AECs serve different student populations, Colorado uses an alternative accountability framework to evaluate their performance.
Do Colorado charter schools have lower chronic absenteeism rates than traditional public schools?
Yes. In 2025–26, Colorado public charter schools had a chronic absenteeism rate of 23.2%, compared with 29.0% among non-charter public schools—a difference of nearly six percentage points. CDE data indicates that charter schools have had lower chronic absenteeism rates for four consecutive years.
What are wraparound services in schools?
Wraparound services address needs that can affect a student's ability to learn and attend school consistently. Depending on the school and community, these services might include mental-health counseling, food assistance, transportation, clothing, family support, healthcare referrals, childcare or connections to community organizations.
Why does chronic absenteeism matter?
Regular attendance gives students consistent access to instruction, academic interventions, relationships with teachers and peers, and other school-based supports. Chronic absenteeism can make it more difficult for students to keep pace academically and remain connected to their school community.