Truancy Rates

Graph interpretation:
Truancy rates are on the rise for both Los Angeles County and California with the County generally leading.

What is a truant?
The California Legislature defines a truant as “a student missing more than 30 minutes of instruction without an excuse three times during the school year.”  A truant must report to the proper school authority per legislative mandate. The classification and referral intend to emphasize the importance of school attendance and to reduce interference with instruction.

Technical details:
Truancy rates are determined by the ratio of truant students to all students per academic year.  For example, the ratio of truants to all enrolled students in Los Angeles County was 622,909 to 1,586,942 during the 2015-16 academic year.  This ratio is equivalent to a 39.3% truancy rate, as seen in the chart above.

The most recent CA Department of Education’s data is from the 2015-16 academic year.