Correction (September 30, 2026): An earlier version of this article, including its headline, said 22 Hawaii schools had returned to their pre-pandemic chronic absence rates, that 269 had not, and that the state had recovered 59% of its pandemic disruption. Those figures compared 2018-19 rates with 2024-25 rates, but Hawaii changed how it counts chronic absence in 2023-24, from students absent 15 or more days to students absent 18 or more days. The newer figure counts fewer students, so a school at or below its 2018-19 rate in 2024-25 has not necessarily recovered, and the 59% figure cannot be calculated. The article now compares years within each measure and explains the one comparison across the change that still holds. A duplicated opening section has also been removed.

Most Hawaii schools cut their chronic absence rates in 2024-25. Of the 293 schools with rates in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, 182 improved, 28 held steady, and 83 rose. Both years use the state's current measure, which counts students absent 18 or more days.

Whether schools are back to where they were before the pandemic is a harder question, because Hawaii changed that measure in 2023-24. Through 2022-23, it counted students absent 15 or more days. The comparison across the change works in only one direction, and in that direction the answer is clear: at least 268 of 290 schools had higher chronic absence in 2024-25 than in 2018-19.

Under the Older Measure

On the 15-day measure, the statewide rate was 15% in 2018-19, peaked at 37% in 2021-22, and fell to 30% in 2022-23. By then the state had given back 32% of its pandemic rise.

Schools improved broadly in that first year, too: 235 of 293 cut their rates between 2021-22 and 2022-23. But by 2022-23, only 8 of the 290 schools with rates in both years were at or below their 2018-19 levels.

Under the Newer Measure

The state's 18-day measure has two years of results. The statewide rate went from 25% in 2023-24 to 24% in 2024-25, and most schools improved.

The One Comparison That Crosses the Change

Every student absent 18 or more days was also absent 15 or more days. So a school's 2024-25 rate on the old 15-day rule would almost certainly be at least as high as its published 18-day rate. That makes one comparison with 2018-19 safe: if a school's published 2024-25 rate is higher than its 2018-19 rate, it is higher on either rule.

By that test, at least 268 of the 290 schools with rates in both years remained above their 2018-19 levels in 2024-25. At least 133 were above by double digits. Connections PCS had the widest gap, from 23% in 2018-19 to 59% in 2024-25.

The other 22 schools were at or below their 2018-19 rates on the newer measure. That does not mean they recovered. Their rates under the old rule could be higher, and the data cannot say by how much. The same logic applies statewide: the 24% of 2024-25 is at least 9 points above the 15% of 2018-19.

What Remains Open

The state's attendance files show that most schools are still improving on the current measure and that most remain above their pre-pandemic rates. They cannot show how far the 22 inconclusive schools have come, or what separates schools that improved in 2024-25 from those that did not.

Attendance figures come from the Hawaii Department of Education's school accountability reports, covering 2018-19 through 2024-25.

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