Does Having Effective Teachers Improve Attendance? Evidence from the Teacher Incentive Allotment in West Texas

• In Event: Understanding Absenteeism Across the South: Patterns, Policies, and Practice

Abstract

Background
Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism (missing 10%+ of the school year) has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges U.S. schools. In our district’s context, one in five students was chronically absent. Research has linked absenteeism to declines in academic performance, graduation rates, and workforce outcomes. Many well-studied interventions target students and families with little focus on the roles of teachers. Yet, emerging evidence indicates that teachers can influence attendance, raising the policy question of whether efforts to identify and reward effective teachers can also shape attendance outcomes. As the largest teacher performance-based system in the country, the Texas’ Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) is a unique policy we use to examine this question.

Research Questions
In partnership with a West Texas school district, we ask: (1) Do TIA-designated teachers reduce student absenteeism? (2) Which classroom practices and school attendance systems are associated with the TIA effect?

Methods
We use 2025–26 data for approximately 30,800 ECISD students linked to their teachers' TIA designation status, combined with a district-wide teacher survey (n = 341) cataloging classroom practices and school attendance systems. We employ regressions at the student-level to predict annual absence rates and likelihood of chronic absence (missing more than 10% of the school year), controlling for student demographics, prior-year absence, grade, and campus fixed effects. We interact TIA status with designation level (Recognized, Exemplary, Master), grade band, and student demographic indicators. Survey responses are merged to student records to estimate associations between the count of adopted practices and systems and student absences, and we test whether these associations differ for TIA and non-TIA teachers.

Results
pp = percentage point
Having a TIA-designated teacher reduces a student's absence rate by 0.45 pp (a 6.1% decrease) and chronic absenteeism by 2.1 pp (a 9.5% decrease). Effects are larger for students with teachers who are designated at higher levels (Exemplary and Master), from a 0.41 pp reduction in chronic absence for Recognized teachers to 2.93 pp reduction for Master teachers. Associations are strongest in high school (−5.2 pp chronic absence) and concentrated among vulnerable groups, including economically disadvantaged, emergent bilingual, homeless, and previously chronically absent students. Each additional classroom practice adopted lowers chronic absence by 0.56 pp; each school-level attendance system lowers it by 0.38 pp. Among TIA teachers specifically, school attendance systems are 2.5 times more impactful than they are for non-TIA teachers. Interestingly, we find no difference in the reported frequency and type of practices between TIA and non-TIA teachers.

Conclusion
Our study shows the promise in how performance-based teacher incentives may serve as a policy lever to address chronic absenteeism. The findings speak directly to state and federal debates over performance pay by showing effects that extend beyond tested achievement into attendance. This study calls for additional attention to how districts may leverage their most effective teachers to directly and indirectly support student attendance. Future work should examine the role of student-teacher assignments as well as peer coaching and teacher observations support schoolwide improvements in attendance.

Author

• Jacob Kirksey, Texas Tech University
  Presenting Author