Many studies have documented small negative relationships between teacher absences and student achievement. The purpose of our research was to explore relationships between teacher absences and student achievement in a large urban school district in the southeastern United States. The work emerged from a question directed to the Accountability Office by a member of the School Board. This study is unique in that both school-level and teacher-level teacher absences were used to predict student academic achievement. The results are mixed: In schools where average teacher absences were low, individual teacher's absence was statistically and negatively associated with student achievement; however, this effect was washed out in schools where the average teacher absences were high. Our findings blend nicely with those targeting factors of potential impact in predicting achievement across schools. (Contains 4 tables.)