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Absenteeism
Leveraging Modern Machine Learning to Improve Early Warning Systems and Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in Early Childhood
Topics: MethodsThis study focuses on improving the predictive power of early warning systems (EWSs) to decrease chronic absenteeism in early childhood. Using a demographically diverse sample of students followed from PreK to third grade in Boston Public Schools (N=6,698), we demonstrate how and why two modern… more →
Staffing Interventions to Support Students Experiencing Homelessness: Evidence from New York City
There is limited empirical evidence about educational interventions for students experiencing homelessness, who experience distinct disadvantages compared to their low-income peers. We explore how two school staffing interventions in New York City shaped attendance outcomes of students… more →
Instability in Foster Care: How Transitions Into and Out of Foster Care Relate to School Discipline
Topics: Student Well-BeingStudents in the foster care system tend to have lower educational outcomes than their peers, including more frequent disciplinary events. However, few studies have explored how transitions into and out of foster care placements are associated with educational outcomes. Using longitudinal data… more →
The relationship between student attendance and achievement, pre- and post-COVID
Topics: Student LearningTags: Absenteeism, Covid-19 recoveryWe examine the relationship between absenteeism and achievement since the onset of COVID-19. Applying first-differences models to North Carolina administrative data, we estimate that each absence was associated with a 0.0032 standard deviation (SD) decline in math achievement in 2022-23. As… more →
Attendance Practices in High-Absenteeism Districts
Topics: Student LearningEducational policymakers, leaders, and researchers are paying increasing attention to student attendance and chronic absenteeism, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though researchers have documented the consequences and causes of absenteeism, there is limited empirical evidence… more →
From Retributive to Restorative: An Alternative Approach to Justice in Schools
Topics: Student Well-BeingTags: Absenteeism, Counseling, Culturally responsive schooling, Curriculum, Elementary schools, High schools, Human capital, Juvenile justice, Learning environments, School climate and culture, School districts, School reform, Social and emotional learning, Student discipline, Student well-beingSchool districts historically approached conflict-resolution from the perspective that suspending disruptive students was necessary to protect their classmates, even if this caused harm to perceived offenders. Restorative practices (RP) – focused on reparation, accountability, and shared… more →
Driving, Dropouts, and Drive-Throughs: Mobility Restrictions and Teen Human Capital
Topics: Student Well-BeingWe provide evidence that graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws, originally intended to improve public safety, impact human capital accumulation. Many teens use automobiles to access both school and employment. Because school and work decisions are interrelated, the effects of automobile-specific… more →
School-Based Healthcare and Absenteeism: Evidence from Telemedicine
Topics: Student Well-BeingThe prevalence of school-based healthcare has increased markedly over the past decade. We study a modern mode of school-based healthcare, telemedicine, that offers the potential to reach places and populations with historically low access to such care. School-based telemedicine clinics (SBTCs)… more →
Leading Indicators of Long-Term Success in Community Schools: Evidence from New York City
Topics: Families and CommunitiesTags: Absenteeism, Student supportsCommunity schools offer supports such as health and social services, extended school days, and family education, to improve the performance of students whose learning may be disrupted by challenges related to poverty. In 2015, the New York City Community Schools Initiative was implemented in… more →
COVID-19, Online Learning, and Absenteeism in Detroit
Topics: Student Well-BeingTags: Absenteeism, Covid-19 recoveryHow much school students attend is a powerful indicator of their well-being and a strong predictor of their future success in school. Prior research has documented the myriad in-school and out-of-school factors that contribute to high levels of student absenteeism, many emerging from the root… more →
Beyond Chronic Absenteeism: The Dynamics and Disparities of Class Absences in Secondary School
Topics: Student Well-BeingStudent absenteeism is often conceptualized and quantified in a static, uniform manner, providing an incomplete understanding of this important phenomenon. Applying growth curve models to detailed class-attendance data, we document that secondary school students' unexcused absences grow steadily… more →
Are public housing projects good for kids after all?
Topics: Families and CommunitiesIs public housing bad for children? Critics charge that public housing projects concentrate poverty and create neighborhoods with limited opportunities, including low-quality schools. However, whether the net effect is positive or negative is theoretically ambiguous and likely to depend on the… more →
Health Equity, Schooling Hesitancy, and the Social Determinants of Learning
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceAt least 25 million K-12 students in the U.S.—disproportionately children of color from low-income families—have been physically out of school for a full year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These children are at risk of significant academic, social, mental, and physical harm now and in the long-… more →
The Effect of Immigration Enforcement on School Engagement: Evidence from 287(g) Programs in North Carolina
Topics: Families and CommunitiesDuring the past fifteen years, immigration enforcement increased dramatically in the U.S. interior. There is a growing recognition that immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior has spillover effects onto U.S. citizens. I examine the impacts of a type of partnership between Immigration and… more →
Growing up Homeless: Student Homelessness and Educational Outcomes in Los Angeles
Topics: Student Well-BeingHomelessness is rising among public school students in large cities across the US. Using nine years of student-level administrative data, we examine how homelessness affects students’ mathematics and attendance outcomes within the Los Angeles Unified School District, including the differential… more →
The Dynamic Effects of a Summer Learning Program on Behavioral Engagement in School
The evidence that student learning declines sharply (or stagnates) during the summer has motivated a substantial interest in programs that provide intensive academic instruction during the summer. However, the existing literature suggests that such programs, which typically focus on just one or… more →
Can Community Crime Monitoring Reduce Student Absenteeism?
Topics: Student Well-BeingTags: Absenteeism, NeighborhoodsIn this paper we study the impact on student absenteeism of a large school-based community crime monitoring program that employed local community members to monitor and report crime on designated city blocks during students’ travel to and from school. We find that the program resulted in a 0.78… more →
Are Power Plant Closures a Breath of Fresh Air? Local Air Quality and School Absences
Topics: Families and CommunitiesIn this paper we study the effects of three large, nearly-simultaneous coal-fired power plant closures on school absences in Chicago. We find that the closures resulted in a 7 percent reduction in absenteeism in nearby schools relative to those farther away following the closures. For the… more →
Using Behavioral Insights to Improve School Administrative Communications: The Case of Truancy Notifications
Topics: Student Well-BeingTags: AbsenteeismMany states mandate districts or schools notify parents when students have missed multiple unexcused days of school. We report a randomized experiment (N = 131,312) evaluating the impact of sending parents truancy notifications modified to target behavioral barriers that can… more →
The Effects of Absenteeism on Cognitive and Social-Emotional Outcomes: Lessons for COVID-19
Topics: Student Well-BeingIn March 2020, most schools in the United States closed their doors and transitioned to distance learning in an effort to contain COVID-19. During the transition a significant number of students did not fully engage in these learning opportunities due to resource or other constraints. An urgent… more →