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Drive With Data!
Research shows that children who miss 10% or more of the first month of school are more likely to be chronically absent by the end of the year! The Maryland State Department of Education analyzed attendance data from the 2023-24 school year and found that this pattern still holds true post-pandemic.
Effective approaches to reducing chronic absence rely on real-time, actionable student data to see which students or groups of students need additional support. Review September’s data and reach out to students and families who have already missed two or more days of school to build a relationship; prioritize students who were chronically absent last year.
Your school and district team should review chronic absence data broken down by school, grade, classroom, student group or neighborhood to detect barriers requiring system-wide solutions. Learn more about data informed teams.
Urban Institute has released a new analysis of state-level math and reading data, shedding light on post pandemic high school achievement trends. The findings highlight that in spring 2024, levels of absenteeism reported by students dropped slightly in 4th and 8th grades but continued to climb in the 12th grade.
In a new opinion piece in The74, we teamed up with Elaine Allensworth, executive director of the UChicago Consortium on School Research to field the question “Do students still need to go to school every day?” Our answer is a resounding yes, and we provide examples of how schools and districts are improving student attendance and engagement with data, outreach and support.
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