In every year since Hawaii began tracking chronic absenteeism data, Pacific Islander students have had the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group. In 2025, that rate is 40%, meaning two in five Pacific Islander students miss 15 or more school days per year.

The gap between Pacific Islander and Asian students, the group with the lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 11%, stands at 29 percentage points. Before the pandemic, that gap was 19 points. COVID widened it, and three years of recovery have not narrowed it back.

A Gap That Keeps Growing

The Pacific Islander chronic absenteeism rate followed the same COVID arc as every other group: a spike in 2022 (to 61%, the highest of any group), followed by three years of decline. But the decline has not kept pace with where the group started. In absolute terms, Pacific Islander students have recovered 21 percentage points from their peak, more than any other group. In relative terms, they have recovered 60% of their COVID spike.

The problem is where they started. At 26% pre-COVID, Pacific Islander students were already chronically absent at rates that would have been considered a crisis for most groups. The pandemic drove that rate to 61%, and the partial recovery has only brought it back to 40%.

The gap with Asian students, 29 percentage points, is the largest racial gap in Hawaii's chronic absenteeism data. It exceeds the Native Hawaiian-Asian gap (25pp), the gap between economically disadvantaged students and all students (8pp), and the special education gap (9pp).

A Stable Hierarchy

One of the more notable patterns in Hawaii's chronic absenteeism data is how little the order has shifted. In 2025, the racial ranking from highest to lowest rate runs:

1. Pacific Islander (highest)
2. Native Hawaiian
3. Hispanic
4. White
5. Black
6. Filipino
7. Asian (lowest)

The top three positions (Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, Hispanic) and the bottom two (Filipino, Asian) have held steady across all seven years of available data. The middle of the table is nearly as fixed: White and Black students sit close together, tying at 13% in 2021 before White edged higher again in later years. COVID did not reshuffle the hierarchy so much as stretch it. The groups at the top spiked more, recovered more slowly, and ended up farther from the groups at the bottom than when the pandemic began.

The 2025 Snapshot

In 2025, the chronic absenteeism rates by race and ethnicity are:

Group	Rate	Gap vs. State Avg
Pacific Islander	40%	+16pp
Native Hawaiian	36%	+12pp
Hispanic	26%	+2pp
White	21%	-3pp
Black	18%	-6pp
Filipino	16%	-8pp
Asian	11%	-13pp

The state average is 24%. Four of seven racial groups are above it, but the concentration of chronic absence among Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian students drives the state's overall rate disproportionately.

Why the Gap Persists

A gap that holds steady through a pandemic, a recovery, and several years of state intervention programs points to causes that sit outside the classroom. Geography is one of them.

On the Waianae Coast, where many Pacific Islander families live, health services are spread thin across a long stretch of coastline. A child with a fever can mean a parent takes a day off work and a long trip to reach a clinic, and a school day gets missed in the process. Access, distance, and the cost of a missed shift all show up in attendance data.

Hawaii reports Pacific Islander as a distinct racial category in its education data, a level of detail many states do not provide. In places where Pacific Islander students are folded into "Asian" or a combined "Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander" category, a 29-point attendance gap like this one would disappear into the average. In Hawaii, the data exists. The open question is what the state does with it.

The Hawaii Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.

Data source

Chronic absenteeism rates by race and ethnicity come from the Hawaii Department of Education's chronic absenteeism reporting, covering the 2018-19 through 2024-25 school years. A student is counted as chronically absent after missing 15 or more school days in a year.

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