Excused absence

What It Means

An excused absence is a missed school day, or part of one, that the school accepts for a reason its rules allow, such as illness or a medical appointment. What counts as excused is set by your state's law and your district's policy, so the list differs from place to place. Excused or not, the day is still a day missed: the U.S. Department of Education's chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeismMissing so much school that it puts learning at risk, measured by the U.S. Department of Education as 10% or more of school days, excused or unexcused. See more measure counts absences for any reason.

How Parents Say It

• "I called the attendance line, so it's excused."
• "Does a dentist appointment count as excused?"
• "We need a doctor's note after three days out."

The Breakdown

Worked example. By mid-year, after 90 school days, a child has missed 6 excused days (colds and two appointments) and 2 unexcused days (a family tripFamily vacationA trip taken together by a parent or parents and their children, usually planned around school breaks, the children's ages and a shared budget. See more).

What the result means. The unexcused count is low, though truancy rules such as California's count unexcused occasions rather than a share, so check your state's rule. The total is what matters for chronic absenteeism, and at 8.9% the child is close to the Department of Education's 1010,000 stepsA popular daily step goal that began as the name of a 1960s Japanese pedometer; later studies find health benefits begin well below it. See more% line even though most days were excused.

Examples of state rules

These are examples, not the rules where you live.

Good to Know

Find your district's attendance policy, usually in the student handbook or on the district website, and check what counts as excused, how to report an absence (phone, email, portal or note) and how many days you have to do it. Washington, for example, requires schools to excuse absences for mental health symptoms as well as physical illness. Excused absences still count toward chronic absenteeism, which the Department of Education measures as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, so a long run of sick daysSick leaveTime off work an employer allows when you're ill, injured or caring for your health, paid or unpaid depending on the employer's policy and state or local law. See more is worth raising with the school early.

Related Terms and Categories

• Chronic absenteeism

  Missing so much school that it puts learning at risk, measured by the U.S. Department of Education as 10% or more of school days, excused or unexcused.

• Parent portal

  A school's secure website or app where parents sign in to see their child's grades, assignments, attendance and messages from the school.

• Emailing a teacher

  Writing to your child's teacher by email to ask a question, share news or raise a concern, ideally short, specific and polite, with one topic per message.

• Report card

  (1) The school's periodic report of a student's grades to parents; (2) the yearly public report on school and district results that ESSA requires states and districts to publish.

• School zone

  A marked stretch of road near a school where drivers must watch for children and obey the posted school zone speed limit, often at set times of day.

• Parent-teacher conference

  A short scheduled meeting between a parent and a child's teacher to talk about how the child is doing in school and how to help at home.

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