Attendance is an Academic Intervention: Here’s Why

Educators are working overtime to get students back on track for academic success, and districts nationwide have invested in resources like new curricula, high-impact tutoring, and additional staff. But despite these new instructional investments, on average student academic performance is not where it needs to be, and it’s no coincidence that persistently high chronic absenteeism rates accompany these lagging results. What if we began with improving attendance and let academic achievement follow? If you’re still skeptical, read on to discover the clear connection between attendance and academics. 

‍Learning Is Difficult When Students Aren’t in School 

Perhaps for students who are ravenous readers and spend their weekends exploring museums and the library stacks, school is just a cherry on top to their own robust independent studies.  But for the majority of students, especially those who are already behind, attending school is essential to their literacy, numeracy, and college and career success. This is evident in two recent findings:

-Abysmal NAEP Scores: The Nation’s Report Card is out, and the results are not glowing. Despite the substantial investments districts have made in instructional resources, students are still lagging in reading and math. NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr says in this piece: “We should care because students who are lower performers are more likely to be absent, and their scores are the lowest… if students aren’t in school, they can’t learn, and that is what these data underscore.”

-High Impact Tutoring & Attendance: While some have been encouraged to see tutoring make a positive influence on attendance, research suggests it's not quite enough. As noted in this article, "the critical lesson we learn from this analysis is that some students may be too disengaged from school to take advantage of even well-designed tutoring programs. It’s useless to hire tutors for students who don’t show up." 

‍Scores Decrease Even Before the Chronic Absenteeism Threshold

When analyzing NWEA MAP text scores alongside absences, our team at EveryDay Labs found that students who miss more school scored worse on math and language arts standardized tests. The graph below illustrates these findings:

When looking closely, you may notice that with every absence, students perform just a little bit worse on their exams, and most staggering, the sharpest decline in scores happens right before students become chronically absent. This underscores how much every day matters, even before students reach the chronically absent threshold. If you're spending the majority of your efforts on severely chronically absent students, you may also want to consider more proactive initiatives to keep more students on track for academic success.

Chronic Absenteeism Impacts Students with Good Attendance 

As educators work to get students back in class and catch them up on what they've missed, it comes with a cost to students with good attendance. The strain on school resources and educators affects all students, including those who regularly attend school. Research shows that even students with strong attendance in classrooms with poor attendance see declines in their academic performance and executive functioning skills.  

If your district is facing poor academic achievement, you may want to take a closer look at your attendance initiatives to ensure more students are benefiting from the curricular resources you have in place. Otherwise, those investments may have all been for naught. 

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