Recent federal education policies and initiatives in the United States have emphasised the importance of college and career readiness and showing up in school. The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act provides federal funding for career and technical education (CTE) in the country, and key pieces of the act focus on…

Educational policymakers, leaders, and researchers are paying increasing attention to student attendance and chronic absenteeism, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though researchers have documented the consequences and causes of absenteeism, there is limited empirical evidence about what schools and districts are actually doing to…

Each school year, approximately 6.8 million students miss at least 15 days of school, putting their academic success at risk and making them chronically absent as defined by the federal government. This report provides case studies that detail specific ways cities are leading efforts to get students to school each day. Case studies for the…

The formulation of effective compulsory attendance laws has been one of the problems confronting legislators and school officials for the past 70 years. The most marked advance in enacting such laws has been made since 1890. Prior to that date only 27 States and the District of Columbia had compulsory laws, and many of these were inoperative. Now…

In the United States, education is not only free and public, but it is compulsory in all continental United States and in its principal outlying parts. The aim in this study is to present in a summary manner what appear to be the most interesting legislative features of compulsory education systems in the various States: (1) When did the States…