1-115 - Chronic Absenteeism: Investigating Influencing Factors, Effects on Children’s Development, and Solutions

Session Type: Paper Session

Integrative Statement

Students’ school attendance, beginning as early as preschool, has a strong predictive relationship with later educational outcomes, including reading levels and dropout rates. Yet, chronic absenteeism has been shown to be a significant problem for 10-15% of the student population in the U.S. and thus is an important focus for investigation and intervention. Together, the papers in this session focus on those factors that influence absenteeism (e.g., race/ethnicity, SES, classmate absences), the effects of chronic absence on achievement and social-emotional development, and promising parent-focused strategies for improving young children’s attendance.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Mary Catherine Arbour, Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Individual Presentations

• Assessing Changes in Chronic Absenteeism Behaviors Over Time: The Role of Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity - Presenting Author: Kevin Gee, University of California, Davis; Michael A. Gottfried, University of California Santa Barbara

• Spillover Effects of Missing School on Achievement: Disentangling the Role of Classmate and Individual Absences - Presenting Author: Jacob Kirksey, UC Santa Barbara; Michael A. Gottfried, University of California Santa Barbara

• Associations of Early Chronic Absence with Achievement and Socio-Emotional Maturity - Presenting Author: Nicole Smerillo, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Arthur J Reynolds, University of Minnesota