Office of Attorney General, California Department of Justice, September 2014. In School + On Track 2013 highlighted the unacceptable rates of elementary school truancy using attendance records from the 2011-2012 school year. This year’s report indicates that those rates were not isolated or unique — truancy rates are persistent in California. In the 2012-2013 school year, the school year immediately preceding last year’s report, 1 in 5 elementary school students were truant, or 744,085 students. This marks an increase of 1.2% from 2011-2012. Because California takes an entire year to release its official truancy figures, official truancy rates are only available for years that predate the 2013 report. This year, due to a partnership with Aeries Student Information System, we have access to new estimated rates of absenteeism for disadvantaged student populations from the 2013-2014 school year. According to estimates based on a sample of California school districts, over 250,000 elementary school students were chronically absent in 2013-2014 — defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, adding up to roughly 18 or more school days. Even more troubling, over 50,000 elementary students were chronically truant, and over 40,000 missed at least 36 days of school in one year. Absences are also highest in the earliest years of school most critical for developing foundational skills like reading. As was true in In School + On Track 2013, we can only estimate these more severe indicators of attendance problems because California does not collect information on students’ total absences, chronic absenteeism, or chronic truancy.