Closing the Gap: How one school decreased chronic absenteeism and increased average daily attendance across all grades.

Naiyma Moore-Allen • Cahn Fellow 2022

Chronic absenteeism poses a significant challenge in school settings with detrimental impacts on student academic achievement and overall well being. During this project we conducted a comprehensive examination of chronic absenteeism at an urban school in the heart of Brooklyn. The primary objective was to identify effective strategies to decrease chronic absenteeism rates, ameliorate student attendance with the goal of improving student achievement. As an elementary school, we understand that attendance matters. It matters, because we have an enormous responsibility to provide routine and structure for our youngest learners that will help them navigate school and life. We are also cognizant, that because we serve young children, that, in many cases, they are not old enough to get themselves to school. Therefore, more often than not, they rely solely on their parents and guardians for a safe passageway to and from school.  

Like many schools across the nation, our school has experienced significant challenges around student attendance coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our school, however, was already experiencing an uptick in chronic absenteeism prior to COVID. Closing the gap with NYC has been an ongoing struggle dating back to the 2018-2019 school year with reports showing periods where the gap widened as depicted in Appendix A.