Consistent School Attendance Matters

Attendance is the leading indicator of high school graduation.

Chronic absenteeism may prevent children from reaching early learning milestones:

• Children who are chronically absent in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are FOUR TIMES less likely to read at grade level by the third grade.
• Students who cannot read at grade level by the end of third grade are FOUR TIMES more likely than proficient readers to drop out of high school.

Irregular attendance can be a better predictor of whether students will drop out before graduation than test scores:

• Even a single year of chronic absenteeism between 8th and 12th grade is associated with a SEVEN-FOLD increase in the likelihood of dropping out.
• Each week of absence per semester in ninth grade is associated with a more than 20% decline in the probability of graduating from high school.

Frequent absences from school can shape adulthood: 

• High school dropout, which chronically absent students are more likely to experience, has been linked to poor outcomes later in life, from poverty and diminished health to involvement in the criminal justice system.