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Robert Balfanz

Principal Investigator and Researcher

Robert Balfanz, PhD, is a research professor at the Center for the Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, where he is the director of the Everyone Graduates Center.

He has published widely on secondary school reform, high school dropouts, early warning systems, chronic absenteeism, school climate, and instructional interventions in high-poverty schools. He focuses on translating research findings into effective school interventions. His work was featured in PBS Frontline’s The Education of Omarina.

Dr. Balfanz is the first recipient of the Alliance For Excellent Education’s Everyone a Graduate Award and the National Forum’s to Accelerate Middle Grade Reform Joan Lipsitzs Lifetime Achievement award. In 2013 he was named a Champion for Change for African American Education by President Obama and he is also an education fellow for the Middle School Matters program at the George W. Bush Institute.

He holds a B.A. in history from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in education from the University of Chicago.

Everyone Graduates Center Roadmap to Evidence Based Reform for  Low Graduation Rate High Schools

Everyone Graduates Center Roadmap to Evidence Based Reform for Low Graduation Rate High Schools

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that states and districts implement evidence based reform ...

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Preventing Missed Opportunity: Taking Collective Action to Confront Chronic Absence

Preventing Missed Opportunity: Taking Collective Action to Confront Chronic Absence

Chronic absence is a national crisis that cannot be ignored. A day lost to school absenteeism ...

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2016 Building a Grad Nation Report

2016 Building a Grad Nation Report

The 2016 Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout ...

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The White House Launches New National Effort and Ad Council Campaign to Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism and Drive Student Success

The White House Launches New National Effort and Ad Council Campaign to Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism and Drive Student Success

February 19, 2016, the White House and the U.S. Department of Education announced two groundbreaking ...

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Want To Make A School Better?

Want To Make A School Better?

Bob Balfanz cites chronic absenteeism as “the biggest thing in school improvement that people have ...

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Every Student, Every Day

Every Student, Every Day

Every Student, Every Day: A Virtual Summit on Addressing and Eliminating Chronic Absence. Sponsored by ...

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2015 Building a Grad Nation Report

2015 Building a Grad Nation Report

Too many students are trapped in failing schools or in communities of intergenerational poverty with ...

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A Rising Tide of Graduation Rates

A Rising Tide of Graduation Rates

John Bridgeland, former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council & CEO of Civic ...

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Building a Grad Nation 2015 Executive Brief

Building a Grad Nation 2015 Executive Brief

The Building a Grad Nation Executive Brief highlights the national high school graduation rate trends, depicting ...

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