Schools Implementing Student Success Systems Outperform the Nation in Reducing Chronic Absenteeism

During 2022–23, the GRAD Partnership began working with schools across the country to implement student success systems in order to meet persistent challenges like record high chronic absenteeism and widening disconnections between families and schools. Student success systems were developed in partnership with over 300 educators, and build upon the successes of other student support efforts like early warning, MTSS, on-track, and PBIS to meet the post-pandemic needs of all students.  

New data assessing the impact of these efforts over two years show that middle and high schools implementing student success systems with the support of GRAD Partnership continue to achieve substantial progress in reducing chronic absenteeism and course failure rates. In fact, after two years of implementation, GRAD Partnership schools’ average chronic absenteeism rate fell below the estimated national rate for the 2023–24 school year.

• The average chronic absenteeism rate declined from 29% to 21%, a 28% reduction.
• The average course failure rate declined from 31% to 20%, a 32% reduction.

In ninth-grade classrooms, where early intervention is especially critical, results also showed meaningful improvement:

• The average ninth-grade chronic absenteeism rate declined from 31% to 26% over two years, a 14% reduction.
• The average ninth-grade course failure rate declined from 32% to 22% over two years, a 31% reduction.

Read the full report for more results, including measures of implementation that demonstrate the GRAD Partnership’s ability to help schools translate research-based practices into meaningful, measurable progress.