Success Stories Related to Improved Attendance
Garfield Elementary
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,…
Grand Rapids: Progress With Challenge 5
When educators and community leaders in Grand Rapids, Michigan found that 36 percent of the students in the public schools missed nearly a month of school every year they knew they needed to turn around school attendance. Their response was a simple, actionable challenge to…
Hayward: A Comprehensive Approach
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.
Kent County: A Community Schools Approach
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…
New Britain: Focus on Kindergarten
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
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…
Oakland
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…
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