Below is a list of key research related to attendance for Middle & High School
For the full list of research and reports, please visit the All Research page.
Most US middle and high schools start the school day too early. Students need adequate sleep for their health, safety, and academic success
Wheaton, Ann. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 6, 2015. Fewer than 1 in 5 middle and high schools in the U.S. began the school day at the recommended 8:30 AM start time or later during the 2011-2012 school year, according to data published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Too-early…
Moving Forward to Improve Graduation Rates in Baltimore City
Mac Iver, Martha A. Baltimore Education Research Consortium, Baltimore, Md. April 2011.A study of two first‐time ninth grade cohorts in Baltimore City Schools, followed forward to their on‐time graduation year and one year beyond, found that increasing ninth grade attendance and course passing rates is the most important lever for increasing the graduation rate. The probability of graduation increases steadily…
Navigating the Middle Grades: Evidence from New York City
Kiefer, Michael J. and William H. Marinell. The Research Alliance for New York City Schools, New York University, April 2012. This study examines achievement and attendance changes between grades 4-8. Among the findings are that students whose attendance falls during the middle grades are particularly at risk for not being able to graduate from high school. However, these students can…
Predicting High School Outcomes in the Baltimore City Public Schools
Mac Iver, Martha and Mattew Messel. The Council of the Great City Schools, Senior Urban Education Research Fellowship Series, vol. 7, Summer 2012. This study examines the relationship between 8th and 9th grade early warning indicators as predictors of graduation outcomes, as well as the relationship between 9th grade indicators and college enrollment outcomes. It suggests early interventions to prevent…
Predictors of Educational Attainment in the Chicago Longitudinal Study
Ou, Suh-Ruu and Arthur Reynolds. School Psychology Quarterly, v. 23, no. 2, p. 199-229, 2008. This study attempts to determine the graduation likelihood of a sample of 12-year-old students in the Chicago area who were at risk of not completing school due to poverty. Several variables, including number of absences, were significant predictors of high school completion. Absences across the…
Preventing Student Disengagement and Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in Urban Middle-Grades Schools
Balfanz, Robert, Lisa Herzog, and Douglas J. MacIver. Educational Psychologist, 42(4), 223–235 Copyright 2007, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. This article considers the practical, conceptual, and empirical foundations of an early identification and intervention system for middle-grades schools to combat student disengagement and increase graduation rates in our nation’s cities. It offers data revealing how four predictive indicators reflecting poor attendance,…
Principal Quality and Student Attendance
Bartanen, Brendan. Educational Researcher, Vol. 49, Issue 2, p 101-113. March 2020. This paper utilizes a value-added framework and draws on a decade of statewide data from Tennessee to determine principals’ effects on student absences, and finds these effects on student absences are significant and comparable in magnitude to their effects on student performance.
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