Helping young people succeed in the classroom at a time when so many students are missing school presents a significant national challenge for educators and local leaders. According to a recent White House fact sheet, rates of chronic absenteeism, identified as students who miss at least 10 percent of school, reached 31 percent during the 2021-2022 school year. Chronically absent students are much less likely to read at grade level and to graduate from high school. Getting more kids into the classroom could, ultimately, have positive effects on college enrollment and educational attainment.

Schools, districts, and teachers need support and evidence-based solutions to help students who are chronically absent. AIR experts have studied the effectiveness of strategies and programs designed to mitigate chronic absenteeism and increase student engagement. Our experts also have worked with partners at the U.S. Department of Education and groups such as AttendanceWorks, to generate and share tools and resources that align with the 2024 Agenda to Improve Student Achievement.

Explore Chronic Absenteeism Data Across the U.S. 

Chronic absenteeism varies across states and among the schools and districts within states. AIR developed the COVID-19 and Equity in Education Chronic Absenteeism Explorer, a new interactive data tool that allows policymakers and educators to analyze pre- and post-pandemic student chronic absenteeism trends. Data are available at the state, district and school levels, as well as sortable by a range of school, community, and student characteristics.

Here are four ways education leaders can harness evidence to address attendance:

1. Strengthen positive communication with families.

Research shows that increasing effective communication with families, through positive text messaging, email and telephone calls, can help improve rates of attendance among students.

For example, one AIR study found that a text messaging strategy that started with basic messages, and then “adapted” to provide additional intensified messaging for families whose children had more absences, could improve attendance.

2. Improve student engagement and conditions for learning.

The ways students, families, teachers, and other school staff experience school affects student attendance, learning, and achievement. Research shows, for example, that there is less widespread chronic absence at schools where educators create and maintain a safe, supportive, culturally responsive, and engaging environment for learning.

Students who get to experience learning environments that are safe, supportive, and engaging are more likely to improve academically, participate more fully in the classroom, and develop skills that will help them be successful in school and in life. They also are less likely to participate in disruptive behavior, have issues with attendance like absenteeism and truancy, drop out, be suspended, display aggressive behavior, and engage in violence. View more AIR resources on conditions for learning.

3. Invest in early warning systems.

More states, districts, and schools are using research-based indicators to identify students displaying symptoms of risk of failing to meet key educational milestones, such as reading at grade level, on-time graduation, and college readiness and college persistence. By identifying these students early, educators can target interventions and supports to help students achieve success.

AIR led one of the first studies to evaluate the effectiveness of an early warning system process in schools—the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (EWIMS)—finding it to be a promising strategy to reduce the percentage of students with chronic absences and course failures. To help schools and districts establish and implement EWIMS processes and help students succeed, our experts created Implementation Guides for High School and Middle Grades. View more AIR resources on early warning systems.

4. Engage strength-based, community-focused supports and services.

Many public schools provide services and support that are connected across communities and neighborhoods. Often these services and supports are developed, implemented, and maintained by families, communities, and educators all working together to help students succeed and address areas where there are higher rates of chronic absenteeism.

One approach, known as Building Assets and Reducing Risks (BARR) is a comprehensive, strengths-based approach to education that aims to boost achievement for all students by improving a school’s effectiveness at building relationships, leveraging real-time student data, and capitalizing on the strengths of each student. Recent evidence has shown that BARR significantly reduced rates of chronic absenteeism within the schools where it was implemented. View more AIR resources on community-focused supports.