Reducing student absenteeism in the early grades by targeting parental beliefs
Citation
Robinson, C. D., Lee, M. G., Dearing, E., & Rogers, T. (2018). Reducing student absenteeism in the early grades by targeting parental beliefs. American Educational Research Journal, 55(6), 1163-1192. doi:10.3102/0002831218772274
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Abstract
Attendance in kindergarten and elementary school robustly predicts student outcomes. Despite this well-documented association, there is little experimental research on how to reduce absenteeism in the early grades. This paper presents results from a randomized field experiment in 10 school districts evaluating the impact of a low-cost, parent-focused intervention on student attendance in grades K–5. The intervention targeted commonly held parental misbeliefs undervaluing the importance of regular K–5 attendance as well as the number of school days their child had missed. The intervention decreased chronic absenteeism by 15%. This study presents the first experimental evidence on how to improve student attendance in grades K–5 at scale and has implications for increasing parental involvement in education.
Keywords attendance, parents, beliefs, intervention
Press
Journalist's Resource (2019) - Chronic absenteeism in elementary schools: An easy potential solution.
Education Week (2018) - Breaking Down the Myths That Lead Young Students To Miss School.
The Hechinger Report (2017) - Sending parents useful information about attendance, course progress has big effects, social scientists find.
Harvard Usable Knowledge (2017) - Parents as Allies in Reducing Absences.
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