Attendance improves when schools engage students and parents in positive ways and when schools provide mentors for chronically absent students. 

When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating.

Students who live in communities with high levels of poverty are four times more likely to be chronically absent than others often for reasons beyond their control, such as unstable housing, unreliable transportation, and a lack of access to health care.

Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That’s just two days a month and that’s known as chronic absence.

Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.