Metro East Sun

Students in Madison County schools were truant 19.3% of the time in the 2021-22 school year, the Illinois State Board of Education reported. The truancy rate was lower than the previous school year.

There were 38,452 students enrolled in Madison County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 7,405 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 5%, 1.6% higher than the year before.

Statewide, Hardin County schools suffered the most truancy issues (38.4%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Monroe County schools successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (3.1%).

Students are generally considered chronically truant if they miss 5% or more of the total number of school days in a year without acceptable excuses.

In 2022, Illinois had more than 1.9 million students enrolled in nearly 4,000 schools across 852 school districts. There were more than 350,000 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting demographic changes. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped three percent between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last 5 years.

Schools	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
Albert Cassens Elementary	463	-
Alhambra Primary School	159	-
Alton High School	1,953	41%
Alton Middle School	1,283	35.9%
Bernard Long Elementary School	361	76.7%
Bethalto East Primary School	409	21%
C.A. Henning School	811	-
Caseyville Elementary School	315	9%
Central Intermediate School	364	10.2%
Civic Memorial High School	753	29.4%
Collinsville High School	1,921	23.4%
Collinsville Middle School	935	15%
Columbus Elementary School	377	-
Coolidge Junior High School	849	35.9%
Dorris Intermediate School	927	19.1%
East Alton Middle School	194	18.2%
East Alton-Wood River High School	561	14.7%
East Elementary School	400	36%
Eastwood Elementary School	426	27.7%
Edwardsville High School	2,310	11.8%
Eunice Smith Elementary School	283	41.2%
Frohardt Elementary School	411	54.1%
Gilson Brown Elementary School	249	38%
Glen Carbon Elementary School	337	-
Goshen Elementary School	432	-
Granite City High School	1,813	47.4%
Grantfork Upper Elementary School	83	-
Grigsby Intermediate School	765	46.6%
Hamel Elementary School	114	-
Hartford Elementary School	157	-
Highland Elementary School	507	-
Highland High School	904	5.1%
Highland Middle School	577	4.5%
Highland Primary School	590	-
Jefferson Elementary School	84	-
John A. Renfro Elementary School	517	4.9%
Kreitner Elementary School	358	16.8%
LeClaire Elementary School	326	-
Lewis and Clark Elementary School	329	36.3%
Lewis-Clark Elementary School	239	14.5%
Lewis-Clark Junior High School	198	15.6%
Liberty Middle School	951	3.3%
Lincoln Middle School	775	6.1%
Lovejoy Elementary School	247	37.4%
Madison Junior High School	125	49.6%
Madison Senior High School	161	68.7%
Marine Elementary School	131	-
Maryville Elementary School	389	53.6%
Maryville Elementary School	351	-
Meadowbrook Intermediate School	350	8%
Midway School	125	-
Mitchell Elementary School	391	48%
N.O. Nelson Elementary School	323	-
North Elementary School	574	39.4%
Parkside Primary School	321	6%
Prather Elementary School	674	-
Roxana Junior High School	377	12%
Roxana Senior High School	515	16.5%
Silver Creek Elementary School	728	1.9%
South Primary School	471	13.5%
St. Jacob Elementary School	216	-
Summit Elementary School	98	-
Triad High School	1,211	4.3%
Triad Middle School	884	3%
Twin Echo Elementary School	212	9.4%
Venice Elementary School	80	17.2%
Washington Elementary School	119	-
Webster Elementary School	305	-
West Elementary School	432	31.1%
Wilbur Trimpe Middle School	557	19.8%
Wilson Elementary School	393	50%
Woodland Elementary School	470	-
Worden Elementary School	283	-