Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Collaborative

Rates of chronic absenteeism have doubled nationwide since 2019 and remain stubbornly high, leaving districts in every state scrambling to get students back into classrooms. Traditional approaches to managing absenteeism are not sufficient for the scale of this challenge and don’t align with new root causes of the problem.

EAB research identified that, for most districts, reducing absenteeism starts with rethinking the process for communicating with families about absences—focusing on partnership, not prosecution. Therefore, we’re now helping District Leadership Forum partner districts update their practices and adopt a sustainable, research-based process for boosting attendance in their schools.

By participating in this Collaborative, partners will receive:

• Four working sessions with district leaders from around the country, facilitated by EAB experts
• Every resource needed, including communication templates, project plans, and implementation guides
• Weekly office hours for thought partnership and individualized support from EAB

Sessions

Attendance is best suited for superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of student support services, directors of counseling, and those who manage principals. Registration is limited to three attendees per district.

• Wednesday, July 29, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Kickoff: Get an overview of the collaborative and review the research behind EAB’s three-tiered approach to reducing chronic absenteeism.
• Wednesday, September 16, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Crafting a Universal Campaign: Apply research and best practices to build a universal parent communication campaign that helps families understand when and why students should attend school.
• Wednesday, October 7, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Preparing Targeted Outreach: In this session, we’ll turn to preparing expectations for a school-wide plan for contacting parents with the right message at the right time when students begin accumulating multiple absences.
• Wednesday, November 4, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Planning for District-wide Implementation: Develop an action plan for deploying these new communication plans in your schools, including staff training, accountability structures, and year-round support.

*Districts who have participated in previous cohorts can register for this series, however, we will be teaching the same strategies.

Ready to sign up?

If you are a District Leadership Forum partner and interested in participating in the collaborative, log in and fill out the form below to register. If you have questions, please reach out to [email protected] or your Dedicated Advisor.

Not a partner? Learn more about how EAB serves district leaders through the District Leadership Forum.