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"The Attendance Turnaround Report: How K-12 Leaders are Combatting Chronic Absenteeism"

Fixing absenteeism starts with understanding the barriers your dashboards can’t see. Grounded in real district experience, this report shows how teams uncover root causes of absenteeism and use those insights to remove blockers that keep students from class. Learn how leaders pair data with community voice to make targeted changes that strengthen engagement, support families, and protect district revenue tied to attendance.

Chronic absenteeism impacts student learning, school–community relationships, and the funding districts rely on. And many interventions fail because they treat the symptoms instead of the source. District leaders know the problem is bigger than “getting kids to show up.” To improve attendance, leaders must understand the important nuance to why students aren’t coming to school in the first place.

Drawing from insights shared by 145 education leaders (including superintendents, district administrators, and principals), The Attendance Turnaround Report reveals actionable methods districts are using right now to identify root causes of absenteeism and remove the blockers keeping students from class.

What’s Inside the Report

Why absenteeism is rising—and why leaders can’t afford to guess

Absenteeism has climbed sharply nationwide, and its impact is significant: lower academic achievement, weakened school climate, declining graduation rates, and real financial losses in districts where attendance drives funding. Some systems are losing millions each year.

But the reasons behind absenteeism vary widely from district to district, which means solutions must be locally informed. This report highlights the top contributors, including:

• Student disengagement and low motivation (reported by 81% of leaders)
• Insufficient parental involvement or support
• Economic pressures such as housing instability and poverty

These root causes don’t show up in dashboards or SIS data. They only surface when leaders ask the right questions, to the right groups, in the right ways.

The Proven Strategies Districts Are Using to Turn Around Attendance

This report highlights how forward-thinking districts are uncovering and addressing the root causes of absenteeism through four core strategies:

1. Community-Driven Insights

Leaders gather direct input from students, staff, and families to reveal what’s driving absences and surface barriers that don’t appear in central office data.

2. Engagement-Led Solution Design

Examples from districts in Massachusetts and Texas show how designing solutions alongside their communities leads to measurable results. These efforts produced a 9% reduction in chronic absenteeism and an $8M budget improvement.

3. Targeted, Human-Centered Interventions

Teams implement practical approaches that help identify issues early and respond quickly. These include incentive programs, increased parental engagement, home visits, stronger relationships with trusted educators, and early warning systems.

4. Instruction and Climate Improvements That Boost Attendance

Schools invest in rigorous, engaging instruction and more positive learning environments, creating learning experiences that motivate students to attend consistently.

Why This Matters for Superintendents and Senior Decision-Makers

This report isn’t another high-level summary of the attendance crisis. It’s a practical guide to improving it, rooted in real district experience.

You’ll walk away with:

• A clear understanding of the real causes behind low attendance in U.S. schools
• A framework for engaging your community to reveal local, nuanced barriers
• Concrete strategies you can adapt and apply immediately
• Benchmark data from peers tackling the same challenge
• Guidance on how leaders gather and analyze both qualitative and quantitative insights at scale.

Attendance is not a communications issue or a compliance issue. It’s a community issue. And leaders who understand the “why” behind their attendance data are the ones turning around the trend.

Ready to Identify Your District’s Root Causes?

This report gives you the starting point. If you’re ready to uncover real barriers in your schools, accelerate analysis, and build a community-supported plan, ThoughtExchange can help.

Download the report.
Understand your root causes.
Start your attendance turnaround.

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