Preschool absence is one of the strongest predictors of children NOT being ready for kindergarten.  “Chronic absence” was recently identified in the Head Start Performance Standards, but many staff don’t understand it or confuse it with "daily attendance" requirements.  Combatting chronic absence requires effectively using data, educating staff and engaging parents.  

In this session, we’ll review powerful research on the impact of child absence and parent misperceptions that impair their children’s preschool experience.  We’ll look at strategies for addressing chronic absence with examples from Head Start programs that are deploying analytics, games and continuous improvement to achieve great outcomes.