Legislatures in several states approved measures this spring aimed at tracking chronic absenteeism, intervening with at-risk students and improving attendance rates.

• Indiana now requires educators to address absenteeism in school improvement plans and adds chronic absence to school data reports.
• Illinois established a task force to examine “issues regarding truancy and excessive absences” and identify strategies to improve attendance. The legislation was inspired by a series of stories in the Chicago Tribune.
• California is including chronic absence as one of eight priorities for accountability in its new school funding formula, which allows more local control and adds funds for high-needs students to take into account the higher costs of educating them.

State legislative action targets chronic absence « Attendance Works.