Absences in Early Grades Tied to Learning Lags

Analyzing the U.S. Department of Education’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort, Hedy Chang and Mariajose Romero, found that more than 11 percent of kindergarteners and close to 9 percent of 1st graders are chronically absent. In schools serving poor children, the percentages are probably higher, according to their recent report, Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades. The authors found that going to school regularly in the early years was especially critical for children living in poverty. Among poor children, chronic absence in kindergarten predicted the lowest levels of educational achievement at the end of 5th grade. Download an Executive Summary of the report at http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/download_250.pdf. The full report is available at http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_837.pdf

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