Every Class Missed is a Lesson Lost: Addressing Absenteeism With Research

When students miss school, they miss out – and so do their classmates. And these days, many students are missing out. According to an analysis by FutureEd at Georgetown University, 23.5% of U.S. students were chronically absent in 2023-24. That's down from a peak of 29% during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's still 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Many factors contribute to this reality. The pandemic changed many people's sense of what it means to show up. Increasingly sophisticated tools for remote learning may leave an impression that attending class in-person is no longer as essential as it may have been in the past.

But, chronic absenteeism is a strong predictor of negative outcomes – including lower grades, disengagement, weakened relationships, and even dropping out of school. In short, showing up is a key first step to succeeding in school and beyond.

This webinar will explore some of the latest research on the subject of chronic absenteeism and examine how some schools and districts have been successfully addressing this issue with practical techniques – including capabilities in Intellispark that are making these processes easier to implement at scale.

Join Boston University Professor V. Scott Solberg for this important conversation.