Correction: An earlier version overstated the comparison window and used an incorrect statewide baseline. The figures and framing below have been rebuilt from the current Minnesota attendance and enrollment records.

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Moorhead Area^↗ET Public School District's chronic-absence rate fell sharply, then rebounded over the four annual observations in the current Minnesota attendance panel.

The district rate was 30.3% in 2020-21, dropped to 21.1% in 2021-22, and then rose to 28.8% in 2022-23 and 35.5% in 2023-24. The 14.4-point increase from 2021-22 through 2023-24 came across two consecutive worsening transitions, after an initial 9.2-point decline.

Reporting year	Chronic-absence rate	Students chronically absent	Enrollment
2020-21	30.3%	2,161	7,143
2021-22	21.1%	1,533	7,266
2022-23	28.8%	2,132	7,412
2023-24	35.5%	2,649	7,460

The latest count was 2,649 chronically absent students out of 7,460 enrolled. That was 1,116 more chronically absent students than in 2021-22, while enrollment increased by 194 over the same two-year span.

Moorhead's path diverged from the state

Minnesota's statewide rate rose from 21.5% in 2020-21 to 26.2% in 2021-22, then fell to 22.2% in 2022-23 and 21.4% in 2023-24. The state therefore declined by 4.8 points from 2021-22 to 2023-24 while Moorhead rose by 14.4 points; their directions opposed each other in both of those transitions.

Moorhead was 5.1 points below the state rate in 2021-22. By 2023-24, it was 14.1 points above the state rate. The district-to-state gap widened by 19.2 points across that period.

This comparison also puts the earlier drop in context. Moorhead began the panel 8.8 points above the state rate in 2020-21, moved 5.1 points below it the following year, and then finished 14.1 points above it.

School-level differences

The 2023-24 school records show a wide spread inside the district. Moorhead Alternative Learning Center had a 72.3% chronic-absence rate. Moorhead High School had a 65.4% rate, the second-highest among the eight Moorhead school records included in the analysis. The two rates were 6.9 points apart.

The school records show where the latest district pattern was concentrated, but they do not explain why the district rate changed. The attendance and enrollment records alone cannot distinguish among reporting changes, cohort composition, student circumstances, or school-level conditions.

The supported conclusion is narrower than the earlier headline: Moorhead's rate rebounded after a one-year decline and reached its highest rate in the four-year panel in 2023-24. The data establish the trajectory, not its cause.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education attendance and enrollment data. Rates divide each published chronic-absence count by the corresponding published total-enrollment row.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.