Research tells us...

Common sense says...

Source: aha! Process

More about the research

Considerable research supports the intuitive link between chronic absence and school outcomes. Those children who miss a large portion of the school year are less likely to meet many of the milestones used to determine school success. Furthermore, research findings indicate that the matter of chronic absence influences students at all educational levels.

Survey findings have shown that parents tend to think absences in lower grades have fewer detrimental consequences for their younger children but could gravely impact the school course of their older children. However, research results point to the fact that the outcomes for chronically absent students are significant at every educational level and the goal of Every Student Present is to help these parents understand good attendance is a habit to build in our children from the very start of their schooling. As a result of research, we have learned:

• Students who are chronically absent in preschool are five times more likely to be chronically absent in second grade;
• Low-cost, parent-focused strategies improve attendance of students in kindergarten through grade 5.
• Chronic absence in kindergarten was associated with lower academic performance in first grade, the impact is twice as great for students in low-income families;
• Students identified as academically ready at the beginning of kindergarten but who were chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade scored 60 points below students with good attendance on third grade reading tests;
• Compared to children with average attendance, chronically absent students gained 14 percent fewer literacy skills in kindergarten; in first grade they had 15 percent fewer literacy skills and 12 percent fewer math skills;
• Course performance in the ninth grade was the strongest predictor of student graduation and chronic absence was the strongest predictor of course performance;
• Fifty percent of students who miss two or more days of school in September miss a month or more of school for the school year; and
• Among students who graduate, those who missed ten or more school days during tenth grade had a 25 percentage point difference in their post-secondary enrollment rates.