This case study was originally published in Attending School Every Day: Taking Action, Making Progress in Oakland Schools in September 2014. “Every single day, every single minute counts.” Principal Nima Tahai constantly stresses the importance of attendance for staying on track in school to students,…

Hayward Unified School District in California’s Bay Area knew that many of its students were missing too much instructional time. But when it came to moving beyond case-by-case intervention and addressing the “attendance problem” more comprehensively across the district, Hayward officials needed some support.

Across Kent County in western Michigan, a network of nonprofits, educators, and state and county agencies has demonstrated that a collaborative, community schools approach can reduce chronic absence. Some of the 30 schools in the Kent School Services Network (KSSN) have cut absenteeism rates in…

Located just outside Hartford, Conn., the Consolidated School District of New Britain is one of the poorest school districts in the state. More than half its 10,500 students in pre-K through 12th-grade are Latino, with a substantial number of white and black students filling out…

New York City is embracing a community schools strategy to reduce chronic absenteeism and improve student achievement. Mayor Bill de Blasio considers his initiative establishing more than 100 new community schools (read the Strategic Plan for Community Schools) as central to ensuring the nation’s largest…

The Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, California, is a leader in tracking and addressing chronic absence, using a city-wide approach that has reduced chronic absence rates from 16 percent in 2005-06 to 11.9 percent in 2013-14. The entire 37,000-plus student school system is working…