The Obama administration has announced two new initiatives designed to raise awareness about and combat chronic absenteeism in schools.
The Success Mentors Initiative, which will start in 10 districts, will focus on using school personnel to work closely with students to monitor their attendance, provide support, and connect them to other educational resources. The Absences Add Up public relations campaign will try to highlight the issue for parents.
Both efforts are part of the Every Student, Every Day campaign that the administration unveiled in October. It is designed to highlight and present solutions to the estimated 5 million to 7.5 million students the Obama administration says are chronically absent from school every year.
