10 Ways to End Chronic Student Absenteeism

10 Ways to End Chronic Student Absenteeism l Miss Rae's Room l Social Emotional Special Education Learning

Low income students are 4 times more likely to be chronically absent!

Research has found that students who qualified for free lunch or for reduced-price lunch and students on IEPs were much more likely than their more affluent or non-IEP peers to miss a lot of school.

Research has also found that students who are chronically absent are at serious risk of falling behind in school, having lower grades and test scores, having behavioral issues, and, ultimately, dropping out.

Here are a few ways schools can combat absenteeism for ALL students...

1 implement an early warning system to identify at-risk students

2 improve the use of data to identify students at risk of chronic absenteeism

3 individualize support for such students

4 provide interventions within a case management model, where school personnel or program staff work with students, and often their families, on a range of issues

5 student mentors

6 principal-led school partnership meetings

7 build connections to community resources

8 host an awareness campaign

9 increase attendance incentives

​10 targeted conversations between a monitor and the student about topics such as progress in school and how to resolve conflicts and cope with challenges

What are some ways your schools support your chronically absent students?

By:  Miss Rae

Reference: U.S. Department of Education 2016; see summary in Gottfried and Ehrlich 2018