Athena's Workshop

04/13/2026

Great research showing that high school athletes attend school more regularly when their team sport is in season and when it is not. Participation in structured, voluntary extracurricular sports gives students a greater sense of belonging, develops better relationships and keeps kids in school. Let's offer more sports.

We find substantial, plausibly causal in-season effects showing that participation in structured, voluntary extracurricular activities improves attendance and demonstrating the role of student agency in showing up to school.

02/23/2026

Noticeable drop in chronic absenteeism in a school district that combined a cell phone ban and lots of extra curricular activities. Great work!

The Spokane schools in Washington paired cellphone restrictions with expanded extracurricular activities.

09/25/2025

Parents are part of the problem and the solution for K-12 school absenteeism. This research into parent's attitudes about attendance can inform educators and policy leaders about what is important to focus on in getting students back to school every day. Parents need to understand that making up school work online is not the same as showing up in school. If it really was the same, there would have been a lot less complaining about online school during COVID.

Though chronic absenteeism has declined from its post-COVID peak, too many students are still missing too much school. Research shows that absent students fall behind academically and are more likely…

06/21/2025

Interesting post that mentions using data to improve attendance. One data point would be to look at attendance by grade level. It seems to be noticeably different in kindergarten, 6th, 9th and 12th grades.

More states are publishing chronic absenteeism data than ever before. Here's how their reporting can improve so schools can take action.

06/08/2025

Regular, personalized messages to families in rural communities with chronically absent students can make a difference. This study showed how it is done for $4 a student. Wow!

05/04/2025

Conference showcasing new research since the pandemic about chronic absenteeism. You can check it out online too.

Education researchers from AEI’s Chronic Absenteeism Research Working Group present findings from nine new studies on the causes, consequences, and characteristics of post-pandemic chronic absenteeism in the US.

04/03/2025

Want to see how individual states are doing tracking chronic absenteeism in public schools? FutureEd put together this nice tracker. Check it out.

State level chronic absenteeism data

01/28/2025

Even without "teeth" (monetary fines) taking parents and students to court for chronic absenteeism does seem to work for this school district. Interesting idea.

Districts across Oregon have struggled with a rise in chronically absent students. One district may have found a solution.

01/24/2025

Interesting ideas and thoughts from three former US Secretary of Education on what they think the new administration will do with the department. More workforce education through community colleges, getting the FAFSA web portal to work better and focusing on student achievement and attendance.

Though President Donald Trump’s first-term proposal to end the agency didn't materialize, he renewed the campaign promise last year.

01/02/2025

This local elementary school cut its chronic absenteeism rate from over 47% to under 10% in ONE year. The principal said the secret sauce was having personal meetings with the parents and addressing the issues that were causing the absences then following up with consistent, regular contact to make sure the students kept coming to school. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

A Baltimore County school seems to have found a solution to one of Maryland’s biggest education obstacles.McCormick Elementary, from the outside, looks like any

01/01/2025

Fresno, California launched an "attendance marathon" with cash prizes to local schools that improved student attendance. After just a few weeks, they can see some results. Good luck and keep it up good work.

Roughly 3 in 10 students in the school district were considered chronically absent last school year.