A Note from the Executive Director

As we enter the final stretch of the school year, family and student engagement remain essential to every level of a tiered approach to improving attendance. When it is built into the daily operations of a school, it promotes a sense of safety and belonging. Tier 1 strategies, such as family communication, encourage better attendance for all students and can reduce chronic absence. Respectful caring conversations with students and families are essential to partnering with those needing Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions.

Public schools identified nearly 1.4 million students experiencing homelessness in the 2022-23 school year – a 14% increase over the previous year. And nearly half (48%) of those students were chronically absent. I’m pleased to announce that Attendance Works and SchoolHouse Connection released a report featuring case studies of districts and communities using creative strategies to reduce chronic absence among students experiencing homelessness. 

We also identified 10 top strategies for ensuring homeless students attend regularly.

Absenteeism in the early grades continues to be higher than pre-Covid. In a new guest blog post, researchers at the University of Delaware and American Institutes of Research found that high rates of schoolwide chronic absence among elementary students have academic consequences for all students in the school, not just those who are chronically absent. 

Wishing you a restful and enjoyable Spring Break!

Warmly, 

Hedy Chang

Founder and Executive Director

Announcing the 2025 Attendance Awareness Campaign slogan: Here Today, Ready for Tomorrow! This slogan lifts up how being in school regularly provides a strong foundation for a healthy and successful adult life. It also underscores the role that school attendance plays in strengthening the next-generation workforce.

We will soon release updated social media images, posters and key messages with this year’s theme in mind. 

Register today for the AAC 2025 webinar series! Each webinar will feature practitioners who are successfully reducing chronic absence. You’ll hear about practical steps, resources and examples of successful strategies being used by districts and schools. 

Webinars are on Wednesdays, at 12pm-1:30pm PT / 3pm-4:30 pm ET.

• April 2, Webinar 1: Teams Make all the Difference for Supporting Attendance 
• May 14, Webinar 2: Health, Well-being and Safety is Essential to Showing Up 
• August 6, Webinar 3: Student Connectedness Fosters Attendance and Engagement 
• September 24, Webinar 4: Family Engagement is the Foundation for Attendance and Learning

Ensure staff are prepared to discuss attendance in parent-teacher conferences while they establish and maintain two-way communication with families/caregivers. Find Making the Most of Your Parent Teacher Conference – A Step by Step Guide.

Begin work now on expanding access to engaging summer learning for chronically absent students. We’ve gathered resources to help families to sign up and show up, and materials to ensure staff can level up the program by promoting routines, facilitating relationship building, and connecting students and families to needed resources.

Wondering how immigration enforcement fears can impact school attendance and what you might do? The Attendance Playbook, developed by Attendance Works and FutureEd offers insights gained from similar experiences in the past and links to research showing the impact on attendance (see page 63).

Download our Guide to Using the Attendance Playbook. The playbook divides strategies into the three tiers of intervention, identifies the problem the intervention solves and highlights schools or districts that have used the strategy successfully.

Can afterschool programs improve school day attendance? Five exemplary afterschool programs, from California to Maine, have intentionally developed programming and strategies to re-engage students. Read Addressing Chronic Absenteeism: How Afterschool Programs are Building School-Day Engagement and Improving Attendance.

We were pleased to present during the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading's webinar examining the data and results from the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP). In this session, speakers delved into the Education Recovery Scorecard Project and examined data on the ways in which absenteeism is persisting and impacting learning recovery nationwide.

New Report: How Districts in 7 States Are Helping Chronically Absent Homeless Kids, The74, March 10, 2025

Absenteeism spiked in the pandemic. Texas schools want the state’s help to keep students in the classroom, The Texas Tribune, February 4, 2025

One Leader’s Plan to Cut Chronic Absenteeism—One Student at a Time, Education Week, February 3, 2025

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