Researchers at the University of Nebraska have found that interventions in their state intended to improve attendance are effective with students who miss the most school, or at least 20 percent of the year. The researchers evaluated 12 absenteeism programs, across 137 schools, that used interventions such as matching a student with an adult at school and making phone calls to homes or referring students to counseling. The study, Absenteeism Interventions: An Approach for Common Definitions in Statewide Program Evaluations, is published in Justice Evaluation Journal. Find the research. A news summary in EducationDive provides research highlights.

Thanks to Read by 4th, 148 schools in the Philadelphia area have access to a toolkit chock full of flyers, posters and best practices to improve school attendance. Read by 4th created the toolkit in conjunction with the School District of Philadelphia, caring organizations and education professionals. Check out the toolkit.

Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington hosted an attendance video contest, provided winners a pizza party and featured the videos on the school website. Educators are spreading information about attendance through newsletters, posters, attendance facts shared in morning announcements, a community organization presentation during orientation, an attendance badge on the school website, and attendance tweets on the school's Twitter account.

Brookfield Elementary School in Oakland, California's annual poster contest asks students to depict why they love school and why it's important to be at school every day on time. Winners of the September attendance challenge earn a field trip, although the attendance challenges occur throughout the school year, especially during school breaks to remind families not to take extra days off.

In middle and high school, it's important to target messages toward students as well as parents. Schools can engage teens with clear messaging about the impact that missing too many days can have on students' ability to graduate. It also helps empower teens by encouraging them to develop their own strategies for getting to school and to monitor when absences add up. See resources for secondary students.

Do you have a chronic absence problem? Attendance Works has created the Teaching Attendance Curriculum, an online, interactive educational program designed to equip teachers and school support staff with an understanding of the issue, and the guidance and resources they need to reduce chronic absences in grades K-12. Each course contains videos, reflections and opportunities to apply concepts. Start learning today! Register.

The Data Quality Campaign's blog post, Chronic Absence Data Brings a Community Together to Support Students, highlights the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania's use of data to begin its successful Be There campaign in Allegheny County, (which includes the city of Pittsburgh). Empowered with data, Allegheny County community members collaborated around a shared vision of addressing chronic absence resulting in more students being in school every day. Find the blog.

Join Panorama Education and Attendance Works on Oct. 12, 2018, at 12 p.m. ET, in a webinar that explores how schools and districts are rethinking their approaches to chronic absenteeism. Speakers will share the ways districts can leverage school climate and social-emotional learning (SEL) to create positive school environments and foster the development of social-emotional skills that support increased attendance. Register here.

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Under #ESSA the vast majority of states (36 plus D.C.) adopted a chronic absence school accountability metric in their state plans. How can schools reduce chronic absence? Find out: bit.ly/1oqfID7

The new report Data Matters @attendanceworks @JHU_EGC shows how you can use #chronicabsence data to interrupt patterns of inequity & improve outcomes for all kids, particularly our most vulnerable Ss. All kids deserve an equal opportunity to learn & thrive.  https://bit.ly/2wusNE9 #SchoolEveryDay

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