Bloomberg – Editorial Board
“U.S. schools have made great strides over the last two decades in improving student performance and behavior. In-school crime is down, as is fear for personal safety, while graduation and college enrollment rates are up. One malignancy, however, has stubbornly resisted treatment: chronic absenteeism. According to new data from the U.S. Department of Education, 13 percent of all students — more than 6 million in total — missed at least 15 days of school in 2013-14. The repercussions of so many missed days are clear. Children chronically absent in the first years of elementary school are much less likely to read at grade level by age 9, which in turn makes them four times as likely to drop out of high school…Having accurate nationwide data on the scope of the problem is big step forward. The hard job of improving attendance, however, falls to states and localities. There are encouraging signs, though no one should underestimate the difficulty.”(more)