In Tacoma, Wash., and 16 other cities across the nation, districts are boosting student attendance by sending home what they call 鈥渘udge鈥� letters when students miss too many days of school.
The letters include a tally of a student鈥檚 absences鈥攁 number that research shows parents usually underestimate. The letters also provide the absence average for the school and for the child鈥檚 grade level across the district.
Studies done in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Mateo, Calif., have shown the letters can reduce chronic-absenteeism rates by as much as 15 percent. After just one round of letters, Tacoma鈥檚 Lister Elementary School showed attendance improved for 62 percent of the students who received them.
