Unlikely Ed Allies Team Up to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism by 50% by 2029

In an unprecedented move, three prominent education advocacy and research organizations in Washington, D.C., united to declare an ambitious objective: reducing chronic absenteeism by half within the next five years.

For the first time, the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the left-leaning Education Trust, and the national nonprofit Attendance Works joined forces to address an ongoing challenge in K-12 classrooms that has persisted for four years since the start of the pandemic.

“This is not a problem for some schools. This is not a problem for some subset of students. This is a nationwide rising of a tide that’s going to harm [all] students,” expressed Nat Malkus, AEI’s deputy director of education policy studies.

Though predominantly affecting students of color and those in lower-income districts, the increase in chronic absenteeism—students missing more than 10% of school days annually—impacts districts of all sizes, demographics, and income levels. Chronic absenteeism soared from 13% in 2017 to 28% in 2022 and has remained elevated in 2023.

Studies have revealed that students with high absentee rates are more likely to fall behind academically and face a heightened risk of dropping out of school. The three organizations aim to revert to the pre-pandemic percentages.

“The goal is to get us back to a baseline where we knew we needed to do a lot more work anyway, but at least we can work towards that and do so aggressively,” stated Lynn Jennings, The Education Trust’s senior director of national and state partnerships.

Topeka schools Superintendent Tiffany Anderson supported the achievability of the goal during a panel discussion held by Ed Trust, AEI, and Attendance Works in D.C. this week to launch their initiative. The school district with 12,858 students successfully reduced chronic absenteeism by engaging with families through home visits. In Topeka, any student absent for more than two days without parent contact prompts a visit.

“You cannot serve needs you don’t know. So the key is understanding … it works,” she emphasized.

At the panel event, numerous experts emphasized the necessity of a tiered strategy to address an issue resistant to various interventions. Schools must establish communication and trust with families to discern the reasons for student absences—similar to initiatives in Topeka—but then actively eliminate those obstacles.

Anderson discovered, through conversations with Kansas families, that chronic health conditions like asthma affected student attendance. Consequently, she collaborated with a local hospital to provide on-site pediatrician services.

Some schools, as noted by panel experts, stall at the initial tier of understanding families’ challenges in getting their children to school without implementing solutions. Another suggested remedy was highlighting career pathways to make schooling more purposeful for students and essential for their future, as discussed by panelists, including Caitlin Codella Low, the vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Attendance Works introduced a six-step roadmap at the event to guide states towards a 50% reduction in chronic absenteeism and plans to develop resources for state leaders moving forward.

“Our work over the past 10 years shows us that state leaders are uniquely positioned to take on this challenge,” they remarked. They believe that these three organizations are well-positioned to provide assistance.

Founder and executive director of Attendance Works, Hedy Chang, emphasized the practical aspect her organization brings, offering advice, tips, and resources for states and districts to take action. The Education Trust contributes an advocacy perspective, ensuring school districts remain accountable through data. The American Enterprise Institute supplements the conversation with a conservative audience and data-backed insights.

Malkus’s Return to Learn Tracker, where he consolidates and evaluates attendance data from over 14,700 school districts and charter schools nationwide, will serve as the central tool to aid states in tracking progress towards the five-year objective.

“We’ve got to take a long-term approach, and we’ve got to use our data to call everyone,” Chang stressed. “It needs all hands on deck.”

Denise Forte, president and CEO of Education Trust, acknowledged the significance of the inter-organizational collaboration, underscoring that despite historical policy disagreements between her and Malkus, this issue necessitated a unified approach.

The pressing nature of the matter spurred a shared sense of purpose among all three groups.

“We’re in a pretty partisan world. People feel so divided on so many things,” Chang remarked. “But we can’t risk our children’s future by being divided on this one.”

The 74.