Below is a list of research related to attendance

The reports on this page are listed alphabetically and examine the issue of chronic absence nationwide and in selected communities. Use the search box to find research using the author name. See the early education, elementary, secondary and other research categories on the right. To submit new research, please contact us.
4 Key Findings for High Schools
University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), November 2014. This brief is an excerpt from Allensworth, E.M., Gwynne, J.A., Moore, P., and de la Torre, M. (2014). Looking Forward to High School and College: Middle Grade Indicators of Readiness in Chicago Public School. University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR). This brief highlights a few key…
5 Key Findings for Middle Grades
University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), November 2014. This brief is an excerpt from Allensworth, E.M., Gwynne, J.A., Moore, P., and de la Torre, M. (2014). Looking Forward to High School and College: Middle Grade Indicators of Readiness in Chicago Public School. University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR). This report summarizes a few key…
A Better Picture of Poverty: What Chronic Absenteeism and Risk Load Reveal About NYC’s Lowest-Income Elementary Schools
Nauer, Kim. Center for New York City Affairs at the New School, November 2014. This report looks closely at New York City’s schools and documents the risk factors that plague struggling schools. Researchers found that more than 87,000 New York City children from kindergarten through third grade missed 10 percent or more of the school year in 2012-13. That number…
A National Portrait of Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades
Romero, Mariajose and Young-Sun Lee. National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University. October 2007. This brief reveals a significant level of absenteeism in the early school years, especially among low-income children, and confirms its detrimental effects on school success by examining children from across various incomes and race/ethnicity groups in a nationally representative sample of children entering kindergarten. Early…
A randomized experiment using absenteeism information to “nudge” attendance
Rogers, Todd and T. Duncan. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic, Washington, DC, 2017. This controlled randomized experiment conducted in collaboration with the School District of Philadelphia found that a single postcard that encouraged guardians to improve their student’s attendance reduced absences by roughly 2.4 percent.…
A Statewide Profile of Child Well-Being
During the 2014-15 school year, 12 percent of New Jersey’s children missed too much school. Economically disadvantaged students and students in special education were more likely to be chronically absent, with a rate of 17 and 18 percent, respectively. Among racial groups, black and Hispanic children had absenteeism rates higher than the state average.
Absences Add Up: How School Attendance Influences Student Success
Ginsburg, Alan, Phyllis Jordan and Hedy Chang. Attendance Works, August 2014. This state-by-state analysis of national testing data demonstrates that students who miss more school than their peers consistently score lower on standardized tests, a result that holds true at every age, in every demographic group, and in every state and city tested. The analysis is based on the results…