Chronic absenteeism—defined as missing 10% or more of school days—surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly doubling during the 2021-22 school year. In 2023, about 1 in 4 students was chronically absent. Digital Promise announced in June 2024 the launch of Chronic Absenteeism: Insights and Innovations, a six-month program engaging 17 school districts nationwide, 15 of which are members of the League of Innovative Schools, in tackling the complex issue of chronic absenteeism and collectively serving 210,000 students. Together, the cohort uncovered root causes of chronic absenteeism in their districts and developed solutions through a blend of research, district-community collaboration, and multi-tiered approaches.
What set this effort apart wasn’t just the diversity of districts or the size of the cohort; it was the process. Each district developed a chronic absenteeism blueprint by conducting data analysis; identifying the systems, conditions and processes needed to improve attendance; and engaging students in the design and development of solutions. Through the cohort, we saw how the most powerful interventions were rooted in belonging—attendance improved when students felt seen and families were engaged as partners.
In an interview with the Springfield News-Sun, Digital Promise Senior Advisor and co-lead of the cohort Baron R. Davis said the six-month program was a success not just because of improved attendance rates, but because districts left with a new posture:
“One that sees chronic absenteeism not as defiance but as data. Not as a problem to be fixed, but as a message to be decoded… Districts emerged with an understanding of ways to shift their perspectives, gather new insights, and form deeper connections to their students and families who are navigating barriers.”
In New York, Hudson City School District has made notable progress in reducing chronic absenteeism by 12 percentage points this past year. Through intentional outreach and deep listening, they uncovered gaps in transportation, access, and family understanding of district logistics, which were preventing students from showing up to school. In response, they created a dedicated attendance hotline for families to communicate about absences or ask for help, and even purchased a van to help students get to school. As elementary principal Mark Brenneman shared, none of these insights would have come to light without intentional outreach to families in the Hudson community.
In 2024, the Center for Inclusive Innovation continued supporting 11 districts across the nation—nine of which are members of the League of Innovative Schools—in launching year two of their three-year Cybersecurity Pathways programs. This rapidly growing initiative not only provides students with cybersecurity skills and certifications, it also has a strong emphasis on providing access for students to see diverse representation across race, gender, and socioeconomic status in the field.
Located in rural East Central Alabama, Talladega County Board of Education (TCBOE) has seen tremendous success with their Cybersecurity Pathways program. In their first two years, TCBOE’s program has served over 200 high schoolers and showcased the skills students have built at national competitions—including winning third place in the National Cyber Summit’s Cyber Cup, outperforming several university and professional teams, and placing first in state and sixth in the U.S. for CyberPatriot 17. TCBOE’s success and leadership in the region has paved the way for a cybersecurity talent pipeline to take root, powered by bold collaboration between K–12 schools, postsecondary institutions, and local industry.
Through Digital Promise’s Center for Inclusive Innovation, the League of Innovative Students (LOIS) provides a platform for high school students to become catalysts for change. The spring 2024 cohort, which included 43 student-leaders from districts within Digital Promise’s League of Innovative Schools, developed their research and design-thinking skills through three priority projects to impact the national education landscape. Those projects involved researching the top challenges in education faced by their fellow peers; developing a national education framework for educational technology (edtech) to ensure products meet the needs of all students; and collaborating with product developers to co-create a feedback loop model for collecting input from learners to guide the research and design of edtech.
Read more about how to meaningfully engage students in education research and development.
