It is with great pleasure and sincere hope that I provide the following white paper on chronic absence for your consideration as you finalize the development of California’s Race to the Top application. The paper includes specific recommendations on this critical issue, which has been largely unaddressed as a policy issue in Sacramento, and deserves your attention. Quite frankly, chronic absence, even in the earliest of grades, is one of the best predictors of high school dropout, and California needs to do more to identify students and schools in need.

Several weeks ago, this paper and an initial list of support was provided to your staff as time was of the essence. I am pleased to say that the following organizations have come together as partners to draw attention to this important work. They include: 

Applied Survey Research
Bay Area Council
Bay Area Partnership for Children and Youth
Brown Miller Communications, Inc.
California ACORN
California Family Resource Association
California School Health Centers Association
Children Now
Chronic Absence Project
CRESS Center, UC Davis
Dental Health Foundation
Education Trust - West
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California
League of Women Voters of California
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles County Education Foundation
Marin County Superintendent of Schools
Oakland Unified School District
PICO California
Portola Valley School District
Public Advocates
Santa Cruz County Office of Education

Thank you for your consideration and support.

Sincerely,

Hedy Chang

Subject

White Paper on Attendance Data and Early Warning Systems

In response to

Letter to the Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Secretary of Education, recommending that California’s application for Race to the Top federal funds include the use of chronic absence data to improve student performance. (January 12, 2010)