Located in Arizona, Camelback High School serves roughly 2,100 ethnically diverse students in grades 9-12 in Phoenix Union High School District.

Working as a team, school leaders and staff successfully reduced the school’s chronic absence rate from a high of nearly 46% in the 2021-22 school year to 25% in 2023-24. While more current comparable chronic absence data aren’t available due to a change in how the metric is defined, every other school metric has improved: ninth grade on track, dual college credit attainment, FAFSA completion, graduation rate and scholarship money earned, said Principal James Arndt.

Arndt attributes this success to several key strategies including access to timely attendance data, teacher outreach to families and intentional support for incoming ninth grade students. The school was recently named a National Demonstration School for 9th Grade Success, and all students are scheduled into an advisory class that serves as their homebase.

Actionable attendance data to prompt timely and caring communication from teachers. Even though Arizona does not use attendance as an accountability measure for high schools, the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board set its own goals for attendance. In response, the district set up a system to provide every teacher with a report that lists all students who have more than three absences in their classes. This system is significant because teachers are not being asked to log in to run reports, instead they receive an auto-generated email that provides that information . Using Parent Square, teachers then reach out to families to remind them about the value of attendance and invite families to share any concerns. In addition, once a student has five full-day absences, their advisory teacher also receives a notice. These advisors also reach out to families to find out whether support might be needed. The school provided teacher training for the system, as well as a script that teachers can adapt for communicating with parents and a list of resources teachers can offer families .

Freshman House focuses on a strong start to high school. Building on research that shows that being on track at the end of ninth grade is important for academic success, Camelback has grouped its incoming ninth graders into smaller “houses” that share the same math, science and English teacher. Freshmen “success teams,” include a counselor, house coordinator, administrator and those three content teachers. The team meets weekly and is aligned to provide wraparound support to students. Team members look at student responses to a “Care survey” next to student grades and attendance to assess student progress and the degree to which students feel connected to and engaged in school. This information helps them to determine whether additional support or outreach might be warranted.

In addition, Camelback offers incoming ninth graders the opportunity to attend “Step up to High School,” an 11 day, 6 hours a day summer bridge program. The program is not focused on academics, but rather on how to navigate high school. According to Principal Arndt, “it’s about transcripts, it’s about picking electives, it’s about executive functioning and organization.” Principal Arndt calls this intentional focus on ninth grade success a “strong buffer” that “creates a sense of confidence and belonging” that carries students through their high school career.

Trusting relationships with adults allow students to take up support offered. Starting high school in smaller groups allows students to develop deeper relationships with peers and adults. According to Arndt, teachers who serve as ninth grade advisory teachers continue to work with incoming ninth graders “because we believe there is a skill set in working with ninth graders and we’ve picked those advisors on purpose. We want them to be the ones to welcome every new set of ninth graders.”

As students transition into 10th grade, they are assigned to an advisory teacher and counselor who will follow them to graduation. If students fall behind, counselors and teachers have a number of options to recover credits, including an online option and before- and after-school classes. According to Arndt, they lean into student-adult relationships that help students “believe in us” so they “actually take advantage of those opportunities.”

Wide variety of offerings engage students academically. All ninth-grade students take a class called “Freshman Connections” that provides opportunities to explore academic and career interests. The summative project for that class is an Education Career and Academic Plan that all high school students in Arizona must complete. Principal Arndt said he thinks it’s a good exercise for students to complete but acknowledged that the process may not click for some students until later in their school career.

The school hosts over 65 clubs and sports opportunities in addition to Career and Technical Education, World Language, and Fine Art classes accessible to all students. A partnership with the Arizona Community Foundation helps fund $20,000-$30,000 of scholarships for dual credit. Camelback students earn college credit through dual-enrollment classes. And although Principal Arndt acknowledged the desire to strengthen the schools’ CTE program, the school is planning to offer a program in Cybersecurity and Introduction to Artificial Intelligence soon. It will also continue to build on the success of the school’s DECA program that builds skills of emerging leaders and entrepreneurs. The school’s culinary program, which results in a food handlers card, is always fully enrolled, Arndt said.

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But overall levels of chronic absence do not paint the full picture. This analysis examines the levels of chronic absence experienced in schools. This matters because when a large number of students (20% or more) in a school are chronically absent, it has ripple effects. The churn in the classroom makes it more difficult for teachers to teach and affects the learning experience of all students. When students are in a classroom with chronically absent peers in the beginning of the year, they are more likely to become chronically absent themselves by the end of the year.

An elevated level of chronic absence in a school is a sign that the school may require adopting a more comprehensive approach and a more intensive level of support. Very high numbers of chronically absent students are beyond the capacity of a single social worker or counselor to address, which is a call for schools to consider their entire system.

After sharing how many schools are still struggling with 20% or higher rates of chronic absence, this analysis shows how these patterns can vary by state and how reducing elevated school-levels of chronic absence remains within our reach.

Chronic absence still too high in too many schools

The most recent data (2024-25), obtained from 31 states, shows that chronic absence rates remain far too high among U.S. schools. Nearly half (46%) of all schools in these states continue to have high (20-29%) or extreme (30% +) rates of chronic absence. The encouraging news is that this is a continued 3% decrease from 2023-24 and a substantial 21% decrease from 2021-22, when federal data for all states showed that nearly two-thirds of schools had 20% or more of their students chronically absent. Prior to the pandemic in 2017-18, only about a quarter of all schools had such high levels of chronic absence.

Looking at it in a different way, the percent of schools experiencing extreme levels of chronic absence (30%+) has almost been cut in half from 41% in 2021-22 to 23% in 2024-25. While all of these reductions are positive indicators, the percentage of schools with high and extreme chronic absence is still extremely elevated. (See figure 2).

High and extreme levels of chronic absence in schools vary across states

In nearly all states of the states for which 2024-25 data was available, states reported that school-levels of chronic absence remain higher than the level found pre-pandemic using federal data. And, while there is variation across the states, nearly all saw noticeable reductions in the percent of schools with high or extreme chronic absence from 2021-22 to 2024-25. Most, however, still have from 15 to more than 30 percentage points more schools with either high and extreme absence than in 2017-18. View a spreadsheet with state-by-state and national chronic absence rates.

School chronic absence levels especially high in higher poverty communities

AEI’s Return to Learn Tracker shows how higher poverty communities experienced higher levels of chronic absence both before and during the pandemic. Data from California suggest that higher poverty communities have an even more difficult time recovering from high and extreme levels of chronic absence post pandemic. Unpacking California’s Chronic Absence Crisis Through 2024-25: Eight Key Facts from PACE shows that high and extreme levels of chronic absence in California have barely decreased among the schools where the vast majority of students are considered socio-economically disadvantaged. Unfortunately, chronic absence can be especially harmful for students struggling with poverty, who are more likely to face multiple systemic barriers to regular attendance and have fewer resources to make up for lost learning opportunities in the classroom. (See figure 3.)

Bright spots: Reducing elevated school-levels of chronic absence is within our reach

Such elevated levels of chronic absence can overwhelm school staff, and negatively affect teaching and learning for all students, not just for those who aren’t in school. Addressing such high levels of chronic absence, however, is possible. It requires going beyond a single staff person or single strategy to engage the whole school. Especially in schools serving large numbers of students struggling with poverty, it requires enlisting the support of community partners in a comprehensive approach that addresses the underlying barriers to getting to school. Equally important, solutions require constantly using quantitative and qualitative data to assess what is working and what needs to be changed in order to motivate students to attend and engage while overcoming underlying challenges.

Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School

Consider, for example, the successful efforts of Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School in Hanford County, Maryland. Serving 440 children, pre-K through 5th grade, most (90%) of its students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. It has successfully reduced its chronic absence rate to 14.5% after it rose from 21% to 48% during the pandemic. According to school leaders, the key has been creating and communicating to staff and families a vision where attendance is seen as a top priority, while also assessing and modifying current resources and programming if they weren’t having the desired effect. This involves continuously analyzing data and measuring impact, and creating a culture of high expectations and shared responsibility. Working together, for example, the principal and community schools coordinator realized that their Rise and Shine program, designed to provide a bus ride to students who were chronically absent wasn’t achieving its goal. The presence of the bus incentivized poor attendance among students eager to be eligible for the ride, and didn’t address the challenges facing the students who walked to school and were more likely to be chronically absent. At the same time, professional development for teachers was making student engagement more difficult because it was taking teachers away from the classroom at critical times. Read our bright spot story to learn how this school turned the situation around.

Camelback High School

Another powerful example of dramatically improved attendance occurred at Camelback High School in Phoenix, Arizona. Serving over 2,100 ethnically diverse students in grades 9-12, this school reduced chronic absence from 46% in the 2021-22 school year to 25% in 2023-24. Key strategies included using actionable data to prompt timely and caring communications from teachers to families, building trusting relationships, and new Career and Technical Education offerings to boost academic engagement. The most essential ingredient has been a deep and lasting investment in ensuring that students are on track for success starting in the 9th grade. Camelback has grouped its incoming ninth graders into smaller groups who share the same math, science and English teacher. Freshmen “success teams,” include a counselor, house coordinator, administrator and the three content teachers. The team meets weekly and is aligned to provide wraparound support to students. Find out more in this bright spot story.

Both bright spot stories illustrate that a comprehensive, multi-strategy response is needed to move the needle on school-level attendance. A forthcoming report by the Everyone Graduates Center analyzing survey results from a nationally representative sample of school principals supports this approach. The survey indicates that principals in schools which implemented five or more evidence-based attendance improvement strategies were much more likely to report significant improvements in attendance when compared with schools which reported only using one or two strategies. The survey results also suggest that it is important for schools to tailor the strategies to the main reasons students in their community are absent. Just because a strategy has evidence of impact does not mean it is the right one for all schools. Doing a deep dive through surveys, focus groups or interviews into why students are not attending, however, was the strategy least employed by principals.

Sustained change requires systemic action

While schools are where the rubber hits the road, sustained change that has widescale impact requires districts taking a systemic approach. Stay tuned for a blog article discussing lessons learned from district-level “bounce back” bright spots. These “bounce back districts” saw a significant increase in chronic absence from 2019 to 2022, but have since returned to near pre-pandemic rates.

Methodology

This analysis draws upon both state and federal data in order to take stock of the current situation and compare it to historical trends. Federal data was the first widely available national chronic absence data source. It also consistently defines students as chronically absent if they were enrolled at least 10 days and missed 10% with days defined as missing .5 of a day. Federal data has typically been released every two years and is currently even further delayed as a result of reduced staffing at the federal level.

State data, which only became widely available in recent years, is now published at least annually in most states. The data for this brief draws from the state data from 31 states which had data available for the 2024-25 school year and released it for every school in their state. To ensure consistency, we used the data from the same 31 states to calculate national levels of chronic absence. These national figures show similar but slightly lower rates of chronic absence than when it is calculated based upon all available state data.

However, it is also important to note that state data is less consistently defined since states can set their own rules. Some states, for example, require students to be enrolled for a longer period of time to be included in their chronic absence counts and as a result report slightly lower levels of chronic absence. Because of this, we do not recommend comparing data across states, even as we are using it to review the results over time.

For a state-by-state view of these variations in rules around enrollment and attendance, see this table which accompanied our report, More Essential than Ever, State Taking Action to Improve Attendance.

By Hedy Chang, CEO and President, Attendance Works; Robert Balfanz, Director, Everyone Graduates Center, Johns Hopkins University; and Vaughan Byrnes, Senior Research Associate, Everyone Graduates Center, Johns Hopkins University.

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Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School is a small, suburban community school located in the city of Aberdeen, Maryland, that serves 440 children, pre-K through 5th grade. Just over 90% of students qualify as economically disadvantaged.

Last year, in the 2024-25 school year, Hall’s Cross Roads reduced its chronic absence rate to 15%, down from the 44% rate two years earlier. This current rate is even lower than its prepandemic chronic absence level of approximately 22%. The school’s academic success has grown at the same time: student reading achievement has doubled within two years in part because the students are coming to school.

Karen Jankowiak became the principal at the start of the 2023-2024 school year and was joined by Amanda Coyne, community school specialist. Based on the data, addressing chronic absence became the priority.

During a webinar hosted by the Maryland State Department of Education, Karen Jankowiak and Amanda Coyne shared how they were able to build upon what already existed to make significant improvements. Below are key insights.

Leveraging a sense of urgency

The two new leaders noticed a lack of urgency around the school’s high chronic absence levels and low math and reading scores. “Attendance needed to be that first intervention,” said Jankowiak. “We had to create a sense of urgency, and it had to become part of the culture, not just the conversation.” The principal set out to shift the thinking around chronic absence and student achievement among the entire school community and outside partners. “We realized that we had to have high expectations for students, we had to have clear expectations for adults and we had to have accountability rooted in support but not fear,” Jankowiak said.

Jankowiak and Coyne involved the entire school and its attendance team in supporting the new culture. “The culture changed in our school because our leadership behaviors changed,” said Jankowiak. “And when I say leadership, it wasn’t just the proud principal or the community school specialist. It was shared leadership amongst our entire staff.”

This urgency around attendance needed to be shared with the school families as well. “It really was helping our parents understand the importance of attending school every day,” said the principal. They showed photos of high school students in graduation caps and gowns with families at back-to-school night. The goal was to help their families understand that when kids are chronically absent, they’re not reading, they’re not writing and they’re not doing math. The school shared with families that by allowing their child to miss school, it created a “Swiss cheese of learning for students,” which could mean they may not be able to drive a car, work at a job or graduate.

Assessing and modifying strategies

When the two leaders joined the school, many staff members were proud of the things that were being done but they hadn’t yet used data to assess if their efforts had the intended result. Jankowiak and Coyne made sure their conversations with staff were anchored on data. Attendance and chronic absence data is analyzed every single day at Hall’s Cross Roads.

A closer look at strategies offered surprising findings. For example, the Rise and Shine program, designed to provide a bus ride to school for students who were missing 10% or more days, actually increased absenteeism and tardiness. How? A closer look at the data found that many of the students who were chronically absent typically walked to school. When the non-chronically absent students heard their neighbors were offered a bus to school, they wanted to ride the bus too. Which led to families keeping their children home for a week to “qualify” for the rise and shine bus. The solution? Jankowiak and Coyne created a walking school bus for all students living within one mile of the site. “It was a very small fraction of what was paid for transportation, and kids are now enjoying walking to school,” Jankowiak said.

While the school had established a school-wide approach to Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) there didn’t appear to be significant improvements in behavior in the building. The school realized they had to do a better job explaining that the incentives were awarded for positive behavior. Students had chances to win prizes in their classrooms, pop-up assemblies and school-wide assemblies. The school moved away from offering all extrinsic rewards to creating an experience approach to rewarding students. Students began to pick experiences that highlighted their respectful and responsible behaviors. They could choose to be a cafeteria helper, morning greeter, office helper or participate in lunch with staff members. Families were now invited to assemblies to recognize their child’s positive behavior.

To date, 85.5% of students have not required adult intervention or what is often referred to as an office referral. Students of the Month are now celebrated in the hallways with their pictures. Students with perfect attendance are recognized at the PBIS assemblies; assemblies were scheduled for days with typically low attendance. Creating a culture of pride and student responsibility has improved attendance throughout the school.

In addition to PBIS modifications, educators ramped up activities to celebrate attendance improvements. Daily attendance percentages were announced and cheered. The school communicated the expectation that 95% of the students must attend each day; if this goal was achieved everyone was invited to a dance party. Students heard slogans including “Strive for 95” or “If you don’t want to be behind, don’t miss more than 9 [days].” Children with perfect attendance were recognized monthly with various incentives. Students with 95% attendance or better were celebrated quarterly with an experience, and students and families with 97% attendance or better were celebrated each semester with a field trip.

Ensuring PD supports quality instruction

When they looked at how professional development (PD) for teachers was scheduled, they found it resulted in challenges for quality instruction. Rotating PD and coaching were regularly happening in the school, and teachers were pulled out of their classrooms while a substitute teacher led the class. This didn’t allow for consistent instruction in those classes.

The school made a number of refinements to its PD delivery, such as not having coaching cycles happen during the day, as well as looking for other opportunities to pay teachers for PD before or after school. “It was about protecting the time when kids were in school and sharpening the instruction,” the principal said.

Recognizing there is no silver bullet

The successes at Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School illustrates how reducing chronic absence is possible. This didn’t involve brand new interventions or the adoption of a single silver bullet strategy. Rather it was made possible by strong leadership at the school and a well-organized attendance team, with everyone dedicated to improving student outcomes by taking a holistic approach.

The school attendance team included a full-time pupil personnel worker, community school specialist, behavior coach, Title I teacher specialist, school counselor and a Judy Center family coordinator. This team met weekly and were assigned grade levels to monitor attendance. Homeroom teachers used an Attendance Tracker to help the team identify reasons for absences and help facilitate family support.

Moving the needle on attendance also involved leaders regularly reviewing their data to examine whether interventions were working, identifying the barriers to regular attendance, and refining approaches to address the barriers they see in their local community. They also used their data to see how resources could be aligned to ensure school is a place where students wanted to be and had the supports in place to overcome barriers to attendance. School leaders worked to ensure both staff and families understood that regular attendance is key to learning and well-being, and were engaged in addressing chronic absence as an urgent issue. To learn more, watch a recording of their presentation.

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Hosted by Attendance Works, the Institute for Educational Leadership and campaign partners, the webinar featured this year’s AAC theme, Your Presence Matters!. The session webinar explored why a positive school climate that fosters belonging, trust and engagement is essential to improving attendance. Speakers made it clear that when students feel seen, valued and connected, they are more likely to show up and stay engaged in learning.

Hedy Chang, CEO and president of Attendance Works, noted that improving attendance starts with investing in the positive conditions for learning so students feel physically and emotionally safe, supported and connected. Hedy highlighted the need for a comprehensive, prevention-oriented strategy that uses actionable data, strong partnerships, and shared responsibility across schools, districts and states.

Angelica Infante-Green, commissioner of elementary and secondary education in Rhode Island, shared how the state has reduced chronic absence by building a statewide attendance campaign that combines real-time data, coordinated communications and broad community partnerships. Rhode Island’s strategy includes a public data dashboard, outreach from the governor and elected officials, student and family surveys and campaigns that help families understand how absences add up over time. She emphasized that improving attendance is a “team sport” requiring schools, families, health providers, business leaders and community partners to work together.

Elizabeth Cook, director of The 50% Challenge at Attendance Works, cited research by GENYOUth showing that belonging is a key condition for meaningful engagement in school. This unreleased research is a nationally representative survey of more than 1,500 students, which found that belonging and community were the top wellness factors connected to attendance.

District leaders from Bancroft-Rosalie Community Schools in Nebraska described how relationships and relevance are helping students take ownership of their education. Superintendent Jon Cerny, along with Karin Vogt and Kyle Elsasser, shared how personalized learning plans, career pathways, dual-credit opportunities and work-based learning experiences help students see the purpose of school and connect learning to their futures. They also pointed to the importance of student activities, mentorship, incentives and a strong sense of community in helping students feel connected and motivated to attend.

Leaders from Mobile County Public Schools in Alabama, including Terrence Mixon and Denise Reimer, described a districtwide approach that keeps attendance at the forefront through data monitoring, attendance teams, monthly local school attendance certification, family outreach and strong community collaboration. Their strategies include parent organizers, school-based mental health supports, bullying prevention programs, peer mentoring and incentives that encourage students to stay engaged. They emphasized early intervention, removing barriers and building strong relationships with students and families before attendance challenges become more serious.

Find a list of links to the resources shared in the chat box during this webinar.

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