Absences

Teacher effectiveness is the strongest school-related determinant of student success, but chronic student absence reduces even the best teacher's ability to provide learning opportunities. 

• The major cause of falling behind in Kindergarten and not meeting developmental benchmarks is absenteeism.
• Students who were low performing in Kindergarten are likely to be low achieving in first grade.
• Reading at Grade 3 is a learning milestone that is key to student achievement and development.
• Irregular attendance causes learning lags that hamper student achievement.

• A study of public school students in Utah found that an incidence of chronic absenteeism in even a single year between 8th and 12th grade was associated with a seven-fold increase in the likelihood of dropping out.

• A 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.

A pupil who is absent (excused or not excused) on ten percent or more of the school days.

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