By Zeph Capo, Hedy N. Chang, Denise Forte, Nat Malkus
As we all know too well, the pandemic intensified many of our society’s problems, bringing the greatest hardships to those who were already struggling. One of those problems is chronic absence from school, which has nearly doubled across all student populations—but is especially concerning among the students who are most reliant on school for meeting their academic, social, emotional, and nutritional needs.
To learn how to address chronic absence, we spoke with four leaders who are dedicated to resolving the barriers to attendance and offering opportunities that draw students to school: Zeph Capo, the president of Texas AFT and an AFT vice president; Hedy N. Chang, the founder and executive director of Attendance Works; Denise Forte, the president and chief executive officer of EdTrust; and Nat Malkus, a senior fellow and the deputy director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Read from the American Educator here.