Correction (June 4, 2026): An earlier version of this article double-counted enrollment and chronic absence figures because of a data processing error that summed school-level rows instead of using each district's official total. All absolute counts have been corrected. Chronic absence rates were not materially affected, but the correction changed one finding: Winston-Salem/Forsyth has the second-highest chronic rate among the five largest districts, not the highest. Cumberland County is higher. The headline and Big Five section have been updated.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools peaked at a 43.4% chronic absence rate in 2021-22, when nearly half its 54,571 students missed at least 18 days of school. Two years later, the rate has come down to 32.1%, an 11.3-point improvement. It is also still 10.5 points above the district's pre-COVID rate of 21.6%, making it the second-highest among North Carolina's five largest districts by this measure.

The 53,711-student district has improved, but the pace is slowing. It cut its rate by 3.8 points in 2022-23 and 7.5 in 2023-24. About 17,263 students remain chronically absent, a number that exceeds the total enrollment of all but 21 districts in the state.

Second-highest among the Big Five

Among the five largest districts, Winston-Salem/Forsyth's 32.1% chronic rate is the second-highest. Cumberland County is higher at 33.5%, and the two have run close together throughout the recovery period. CMS (24.0%), Wake (20.6%), and Guilford (30.9%) have all managed lower rates despite facing similar post-pandemic challenges.

Before COVID, Winston-Salem/Forsyth already ran above the state average at 21.6%. The pandemic amplified a pre-existing problem: a district that was already above average became dramatically above average. Its peak of 43.4% exceeded the state peak of 31.2% by 12 points.

17,263 students chronically absent

The scale of Winston-Salem/Forsyth's attendance problem means that interventions need to reach thousands of students. Before COVID, roughly 11,552 of its students were chronically absent. The current number, 17,263, represents an additional 5,711 students who were not chronically absent five years ago but are now.

The improvement from 43.4% to 32.1% is real. But 32.1% means 17,263 students are still missing the equivalent of a month or more of instruction. The first 11 points of recovery came from students who came back on their own. The next 10.5 points will require reaching families who face deeper barriers, and doing it at a scale that serves more than 53,000 students.

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