Although mandatory attendance is easily determined in a traditional, brick-and-mortar school, monitoring and enforcing attendance and truancy in an online environment is less obvious. Despite this challenge, virtual schools, especially those that are publicly funded, have a requirement to ensure that students who are enrolled are actually logging…

This report summarizes recent research on factors relating to excessive student absenteeism, the effects of absenteeism on pupil achievement, and the effects of instruction, positive reinforcement, and parent-school involvement on attendance. Actual proposals, policies, and programs from 16 school systems in 12 states are included. Much of the…