Using newly released detailed data on absence from school, we find a 'Friday effect'--children are much less likely to attend schools in England on Fridays. We use daily level data across the whole of England and find that this pattern holds for different schools and for different types of absence, including illness-related authorised and…

In the United States, high school attendance and drop-out are important policy concerns receiving extensive coverage in the research literature. Traditionally, the focus in this work is on the summary of dropout rates and mean attendance rates in specific schools, regions or socio-economic groups. However, the question how stable those attendance…

Research shows that chronic absenteeism can affect academic performance in later grades and is a key early warning sign that a student is more likely to drop out of high school. Several states enacted legislation to address this issue, and many states are currently discussing the utility of chronic absenteeism as an indicator of school quality or…

The California Department of Education (CDE) released statewide chronic absence data in December 2017 via DataQuest, an interactive data portal. To better understand chronic absence at the school level, Attendance Works collaborated with the Center for Regional Change at UC Davis and Children Now to analyze the data available from DataQuest and…

Newark's high schools play an essential role in building the next generation of young minds for college and career readiness. Yet, high achievement may be unattainable if students miss too much school. Reasons for student absence vary. In Newark Public Schools, 48 percent of high school students were "chronically absent" in the 2015-16…

Newark's high schools play an essential role in building the next generation of young minds for college and career readiness. Yet, high achievement may be unattainable if students miss too much school. "Chronic absenteeism" is generally defined as missing 10 percent or more of enrolled days for any reason. Research has shown that when…

Sierra Leone was ravaged by a civil war between 1991 and 2002. Since the end of the war, it has witnessed an unprecedented increase in school enrollments. Although school enrollment has increased, the number of school age children who are out of school remains high. The focus of international agencies is on children of primary school age, yet a…

Communities face powerful challenges that require powerful solutions: a high-school dropout epidemic, youth unemployment, teen pregnancy. In an era of limited resources, those solutions must help communities to achieve more with less. A new kind of community collaborative--an approach that aspires to significant community-wide progress by…

This is the first edition of the "Mobile Digest of Education Statistics." This compact compilation of statistical information covers prekindergarten through graduate school to describe the current American education scene. The "Mobile Digest" is designed as an easy mobile reference for materials found in detail in the…

This applied research project, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, sought to explore the prevalence, consequences, potential contributing factors and possible responses to chronic absence in grades K-3. To deepen understanding of the issue, this project supported new analysis of national and local data on student attendance patterns, a…

The broad array of data presented each year in the "KIDS COUNT Data Book" is intended to illuminate the status of America's children and to assess trends in their well-being. By updating the assessment every year, KIDS COUNT provides ongoing benchmarks that can be used to see how states have advanced or regressed over time. Readers can…