In middle and high school, it's important to target messages toward students as well as parents. Schools can engage students with incentives, contests and strong messaging. It also helps to empower middle and high school students to develop their own strategies for getting to school and to monitor when absences add up. Find more approaches for secondary students on our website.

"Missing one goal a game can make the difference between winning and losing," Henry Wingo, Seattle Sounders FC Midfielder says in a PSA encouraging students to come to school every day. The Seattle Sounders, Rave Foundation, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the Office of the Governor, Washington state teamed up to record two PSA. View the PSAs. The videos are part of OSPI's expanded attendance awareness campaign. Find out more on the OSPI website.

Hedy Chang, Attendance Works' executive director will join a panel in Washington, D.C. on September 26 to discuss a new report from Future Ed analyzing how many states included chronic absence in their state plan for implementing the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The report and panel will also discuss the advantages and potential perils of making absenteeism part of an accountability system. Register and learn more.

Save the Date! Join us at the Early Warning Systems Community of Practice Fall Virtual Convening October 24-25, 2017, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Safe and Healthy Students and its National Student Attendance, Engagement and Success Center (NSAESC). Learn more.

We are delighted to welcome four national organizations as the latest to join the Attendance Awareness Campaign 2017!

• The Children's Health Fund Healthy and Ready to Learn initiative
• The Council of Chief State School Officers
• FutureEd, at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy
• The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families

Find out more about each organization on our AAM Partner page.

Points of Light's Corps 18 Program serves as a thought leader on volunteer solutions that address chronic absenteeism and overall student performance. Corps 18 collaborates with schools, communities and families to develop initiatives that motivate better attendance, such as parenting workshops, no-bully videos and family Science nights. Since 2014, 83 percent of participating students demonstrated improvement in attendance, academic performance and/or discipline, as a result of the Corps 18 Program. Points of Light is the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.

City Year believes that when schools and partners work together, we can tackle chronic absenteeism and ensure that all students have access to relationships with caring adults who inspire them to come to school. In a blog post Jim Balfanz, president of City Year, says that improving attendance is just one - though very important - part of holistic efforts to transform schools into places of learning, exploration and risk taking, where every student feels safe and connected to his or her school community. Read the blog.