Evansville reported two data points showing improvement: The chronic absenteeism rate for students in grades 6-9 dropped from 34 percent during the 2022-2023 school year to 29 percent during the 2023-24 school year. IndyEast shared trend data over 3 years. During the 2022-23 school year, IndyEast reported a chronic absenteeism rate of 56 percent for grades 6-9. The 2024-25 school year saw a drop to 30 percent, nearly halving the chronic absenteeism rate in 3 years.

SY = school year
Source: IndyEast Promise Neighborhood ad hoc reports

Consistent attendance is especially relevant for those invested in cradle-to-career approaches to academic and social outcomes. Both IndyEast and EPN staff note the importance of creating healthy and strong habits early on in children's school experiences to help regular attendance become a habit by the time children reach high school and postsecondary opportunities. Students who regularly attend school can build their understanding of complex concepts over time.

A child walks with adults down a school hallway in Indianapolis.
Photo Credit: IndyEast Promise Neighborhood

Uncovering Root Causes

Promise Neighborhoods like EPN and IndyEast are not just addressing attendance; they are transforming how communities understand and respond to the root causes of absenteeism. Students face a range of barriers to regular attendance, such as housing instability or not having an alarm clock. In Evansville and Indianapolis, teams use their local knowledge and trusted relationships to engage families, strengthen supports, and align services that meet students' needs.

For example, IndyEast has noted that increased student mobility affects attendance at its target schools. Because housing in the footprint has become unaffordable, families are forced to relocate to different neighborhoods. This relocation can strain or sever relationships with schools and supports, resulting in decreased student attendance. This insight spurred a successful partnership between the Thomas Gregg Neighborhood School and the John Boner Neighborhood Centers, which provide quality affordable housing for students and their families at the Union Apartments across the street from the school. The Centers also offer a variety of services and coaching supports for adult family members that help them build stability in finances and careers.

Community school coordinators host school-related events in the apartment building, creating connections between families with children in the same school. As a result, students associated with the program achieved lower chronic absenteeism rates than their peers in 2024, reversing a 14 percentage point gap from 2021, according to district administrative data shared by IndyEast.

Strategies to Tackle Chronic Absenteeism

EPN and IndyEast are taking a multilayered, relationship-centered approach to address chronic absenteeism. These strategies go beyond broad attendance campaigns. They are designed to build trust, respond to root causes, and make school a place where students want to be.

1. Relational support systems. Mentorship and connection are at the heart of many Promise Neighborhoods' strategies. When students feel a strong sense of belonging in their school relationships, they are more likely to see school as a place where they want to be. Many Promise Neighborhoods use evidence-based practices, such as the "Check & Connect" strategy, to build supportive relationships between staff and students. EPN and IndyEast community school coordinators, family navigators, and family and community engagement specialists are all working to implement programs that provide students with consistent, caring relationships with adults. Staff in these roles can notice the early signs of chronic absenteeism and support students through challenges. "When you have someone that you know is rooting for you at the school, it makes you more comfortable, it makes you feel safe. It makes you want to come to school because you know they're probably going to make you laugh or they're going to cheer you up," says Dione Reynolds, vice president of IndyEast. "If you get in trouble, or you know you're not having a good day, you know there's somebody there you can go to."
2. Universal communication and focused outreach. Communication with families of students experiencing chronic absenteeism is an intentional strategy to improve attendance. To Jamie Scott, senior director of family initiatives at Edna Martin Christian Center, a subgrantee of IndyEast, it is important to remind families that when students are not in the classroom, they miss valuable learning opportunities. EPN staff have also learned through a family survey that the messenger matters: families in Evansville, for example, prefer to hear directly from teachers rather than administrators. As a result, teachers now contact families after three absences to express care for the student's well-being and understand what support the student and the family need.
   When students are absent, EPN and IndyEast prioritize early, personalized outreach. For example, EPN uses data to identify what it calls the "moderate movable middle" students with occasional or moderate absenteeism—their attendance rate is between 80 and 91 percent, and they typically miss a noticeable but manageable number of days. These students are then offered additional mentoring support.
3. School culture and celebrations. Creating a positive and engaging school culture is another key strategy for EPN and IndyEast. Both communities use incentives to celebrate students and ensure that school is a place they look forward to being in. Although evidence supporting the use of awards to improve attendance in mixed, these Promise Neighborhoods have reported some benefits. According to Cyndie Luttrull, director of attendance for Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, EPN students who meet their attendance goals enjoy various celebrations throughout the school year. To Luttrull, offering "fun things that kids enjoy" is essential. One school in the district holds "Taki Parades," during which all students who have met attendance goals receive a bag of the popular tortilla chips, Takis, before parading throughout the school, with their fellow students and teachers cheering them on. Similarly, IndyEast schools hold monthly events that acknowledge steady improvement.
   

From Attendance to Belonging

The work in Evansville and Indianapolis shows what is possible when communities lead with relationships, respond to local realities, and build strategies that reflect the strengths of students and families. Chronic absenteeism is a signal that students are facing a challenge that needs attention. Promise Neighborhoods are meeting that signal with care, creativity, and commitment.

Neither Promise Neighborhood identified a single strategy that affected its success. Instead, both attributed decreases in chronic absenteeism to the culmination of many people's efforts toward a shared goal.

Kindergarten graduation in Indianapolis. IndyEast Promise Neighborhood

By engaging the community, using data to target supports, and building systems that celebrate progress, EPN and IndyEast are improving attendance and setting the stage for students to feel seen, valued, and connected. As other communities look to tackle chronic absenteeism, the lesson is clear: Start with relationships, stay rooted in the community, and make schools a place where students want to go every day.