This brief examines absences in September and students’ attendance over the rest of the year. Attendance should be addressed before it becomes problematic. Chronic absenteeism, missing more than 20 days of a school year, is an early indicator of disengagement. High absence rates have negative consequences not only for individual students, but also for classroom instruction and school climate.
In this brief examining absences in September and later school attendance, we found the September absences predicted later chronic absence (missing more than 20 days a year) after controlling for student demographic characteristics, service receipt, and attendance the previous school year (2011-12). Students who missed 2 or more days in September were significantly more likely to be chronically absent for the year. In fact,
- Students who missed 2 to 4 days in September were 5 times more likely to be chronically absent than students who were absent fewer than 2 days
- Students who missed more than 4 days were over 16 times as likely to be chronically absent than students who were absent fewer than 2 days
Read the full brief, available at the BERC website.