Student Absenteeism: Three New Studies to Know
May 8, 2017
By: Sarah Sparks
Source: Education Week
For improving achievement, boosting student attendance seems like the lowest of the the low-hanging fruit: If you can’t get the kids to school, nothing else you do matters. But new research on chronic absenteeism reveals surprising details can make a difference in whether students make it to class.
The Every Student Succeeds Act has spurred more action on chronic absenteeism by requiring states to report chronic absentee rates and allowing districts to use it as another indicator for school accountability. Nearly all of the states that have submitted ESSA plans have included chronic absenteeism in their new accountability systems.
That, in turn, is spurring new research on the topic.
“I think that within absenteeism, a lot of the focus has been on documenting who’s absent and leaving it there…