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Absences in Early Grades Tied to Learning Lags

When Thomas B. Lockamy became the superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham County school system in Georgia three years ago, he didn’t set out to go after students who were missing too much school.

But while his initial focus was the reliability of data being collected at district schools, those concerns soon exposed a pattern of chronic absenteeism among some young elementary students living in high-poverty neighborhoods. Having solid data became the first step in addressing what a new report identifies as an underrecognized problem: chronic absenteeism in the primary grades.

“Common sense and research suggest that being in school consistently is important to ensuring children gain a strong foundation for subsequent learning,” says the report, "Present, Engaged, and Accounted For," from the National Center for Children in...