On an early fall evening, hundreds of students, ranging from 1st-graders to high school seniors, filed onto the stage of a cavernous auditorium at a San Francisco Bay Area high school. One by one, they marched to the microphone to state their name and their milestone in achieving perfect attendance for at least a year: Some had made the goal for four years, some for seven years. One girl, a recent graduate, received a trophy in absentia, for 12.

Twelve years without a single tardy, let alone an absence.

The annual ceremony is among a host of incentives the Pittsburg Unified School District uses to encourage attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, defined in California as missing more than 10 percent of school days in a year for any reason — excused, unexcused or suspension.

The district was among those that earned a state award for its efforts last spring. David Kopperud, who heads the State Student Attendance Review Board, said Pittsburg, a suburban district about 30 miles east of Oakland, was selected because of the breadth of its interventions — rewarding students for high attendance rates, early identification of those who are slipping and intensive services for struggling families.

It comes as the state and nation turn to chronic absenteeism as a red flag that reliably predicts future academic trouble and may indicate pressing personal and family crises that can permanently hold students back.

Read the full article about the California school district targeting chronic absenteeism at edsource.org.