New Book Gives District Leaders a Practical Framework for Improving Chronic Absenteeism—and a Comprehensive Look at State-Level Attendance Policies

New book, Mission: Attendance, by policy scholar and former Indiana State Board of Education General Counsel Dr. Michelle Gough, examines two decades of attendance data and legislation to give district leaders actionable insights for addressing chronic absenteeism and responding to evolving state-level requirements.

SACRAMENTO, CA—September 15, 2026—Approximately 23% of U.S. students were chronically absent in the 2024-25 school year, according to research from AEI. Persistently high numbers have encouraged state governments to enact new legislation. This academic year, district leaders are working to address high levels of chronic absenteeism while navigating evolving state attendance policies. To support educators, SchoolStatus has released Mission: Attendance—A Practical Guide to Solving K-12 Chronic Absenteeism, a new book by Dr. Michelle Gough, J.D., Ph.D., LL.M., an education policy expert and General Counsel at SchoolStatus. 

About the Author

As a lawyer, policy scholar, and practitioner, Dr. Gough has a unique perspective on school attendance, understanding both the policy, legal, and educational sides of the issue. She’s served as a legal and education-policy expert and has spent the last few years working alongside district leaders to address absenteeism. She has served in senior leadership roles in public agencies, including serving as the General Counsel for the Indiana State Board of Education and Agency Head at the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. She is a graduate of Georgetown Law, where she earned her Master of Laws, and Indiana University, where she earned both her Ph.D. in Education Leadership and Policy and her Doctor of Law.

About the Book

The book contains proven strategies drawn from over two decades of experience fighting absenteeism with an analysis of evolving state legislation. Dr. Gough then provides district leaders with a framework for responding to chronic absenteeism that allows them to meet state legislative requirements while meaningfully reducing chronic absenteeism across all district sizes and demographics. 

The book includes:

• A Framework Built on Data From Hundreds of Districts: At the center of Mission: Attendance is a three-pronged framework: Consistency, Visibility, and Trust. The framework clearly defines what sets successful districts apart: responding to absenteeism consistently across school sites, using data to understand where and why absenteeism is highest, and building trust with family partnerships to understand and address the real barriers to attendance.
• District examples that show what the framework looks like in practice, including:
  • Roseville City School District in California reduced chronic absenteeism by 62% in two years, from 26% in 2021-22 to 10% in 2023-24, and has continued to reduce chronic absenteeism districtwide every year since.
  • Joliet Public School District 86 reduced chronic absenteeism by 13.55% from 2023-24 to 2025-26, with improvement across all grade levels. They show a 52% SaveRate across all student populations, meaning that over half of families who receive one attendance intervention never require another. They also improved attendance by 44% for Hispanic students in 2024-25. 
• A Look at State-Level Attendance Policies: The book also acknowledges that state governments have become opinionated about how districts reduce absenteeism, with many requiring specific interventions, updated reporting practices, and codified plans for family engagement. 

The second half analyzes national trends shaping attendance legislation and then includes a breakdown of each state’s attendance laws. Together, these resources provide the policy context district leaders need to put the framework into action, helping them meet existing requirements, prepare for new legislation, and implement attendance strategies that produce meaningful change.

Some examples of the state legislation analyzed include: 

• Mississippi’s SB 2103, which redefines what counts as attendance and requires districts to submit a plan for positively engaging families to reverse chronic absenteeism.
• Ohio’s attendance-by-time mandate, which requires districts to track attendance based on time missed rather than days absent, providing a more precise picture of lost instructional time.
• Indiana’s rolling intervention trigger, which requires districts to initiate an attendance intervention when a student accumulates five or more absences within a rolling 10-week period.

Availability

Mission: Attendance: A Practical Guide to Solving K-12 Chronic Absenteeism is available in print and for Kindle through SchoolStatus at schoolstatus.com/book-purchase or on Amazon. The book includes companion tools, worksheets, and a robust breakdown of legislation affecting attendance in all fifty states.  

Media Contact

Annmarie Ely, Director
0to5 for SchoolStatus
267.454.4686
[email protected]