In a state where chronic absenteeism just hit an all-time high of 27.7%, one rural district in northeast Arkansas has been quietly moving in the opposite direction for five straight years.

Hoxie School DistrictET, a 3,500-student system in Lawrence County, posted a 13.9% chronic absenteeism rate in 2023-24 — down from 28.8% in 2018-19. That makes Hoxie the only district in Arkansas to improve its chronic absence rate in every single measured transition: 2018-19 to 2021-22, 2021-22 to 2022-23, and 2022-23 to 2023-24.

No other district in the state can make that claim. Of the 222 districts with data across all four years, exactly one improved every time.

Cutting the Rate in Half

The numbers tell a clear story. In 2018-19, more than 1,000 of Hoxie's 3,532 students were chronically absent — missing 10% or more of school days. By 2023-24, that number had dropped to 492 out of 3,533 students.

The rate fell steadily: 28.8% to 23.1% to 18.3% to 13.9%. Each transition brought roughly a five-point improvement.

What makes the trajectory so unusual is its consistency. Most Arkansas districts that improved after the COVID-era spike saw their gains reverse in 2023-24, when the state's chronic absence rate jumped 10 points in a single year. Hoxie kept going down.

Against the Tide

The statewide context makes Hoxie's improvement even more striking. Arkansas's chronic absence rate has followed a volatile path: 14.3% in 2018-19, up to 26.9% in the COVID-impacted 2021-22, down to 17.7% in 2022-23, then back up to a record 27.7% in 2023-24.

In that final year, 208 of 240 districts saw their rates worsen. Only 31 improved. Hoxie was one of them — and the only one that had been improving all along.

At 13.9%, Hoxie's rate sits at exactly half the state average. Five years earlier, the district was twice the state average.

A Mid-Size District, Not a Statistical Fluke

Small districts can post dramatic swings because a handful of students can shift the rate several points. Hoxie does not have that excuse. With consistent enrollment around 3,500 students, the improvements are too large and too sustained to be noise.

Among districts with 500 or more students, Hoxie recorded one of the largest chronic absence improvements from pre-COVID to 2023-24, with a 14.9 percentage-point drop.

What Comes Next

Hoxie's improvement raises the obvious question: what is this district doing that others are not? Arkansas recently joined 13 states pledging to halve chronic absenteeism over five years. Hoxie has already delivered on that promise — cutting its rate from 28.8% to 13.9% while most of the state moved in the wrong direction.

The district did not respond to a request for comment.

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