Attendance Works

For over eight years Attendance Works has been at the forefront of improving attendance in the U.S. We work in over two-dozen school districts, 32 states and in collaboration with 95 national organizations.

Broadly defined, chronic absence is missing so much school for any reason that a student is at risk of not reading in the early grades, failing middle school classes and dropping out of high school. Chronic absence data is best used for positive problem solving and early intervention rather than punitive action.

As a National and State Initiative, Our Vision is Two-Pronged:
1. Better federal, state and local policy and practices around school attendance.
2. Every school district in the country not only tracks chronic absence data beginning in kindergarten — or earlier — but also partners with families and community agencies to intervene as soon as poor attendance becomes a problem for children or particular schools.

Whether education takes place in a building or through distance learning, our objectives are to:
•Build public awareness and political will about the need — and our ability — to take action to ensure students are in class, or participating online, so they can learn.
•Foster state campaigns and partnerships by developing coalitions to advance state and local policies that promote tracking attendance for individual students, and reporting on chronic absence to ensure schools, especially if they are low-performing, will intervene to improve student attendance. With the support of eight national organizations, we also sponsor the national Attendance Awareness Campaign which began in 2012.
•Encourage local practice by providing technical assistance and tools to help communities, schools and school districts take a data driven approach to improve attendance and engagement. This includes creating peer-learning networks and using our website to provide free tools and resources to over 450,000 visitors each year.