According to a recent study, a principal can have just as much impact on student attendance as he/she does on student achievement — especially in high-poverty schools where unexcused absence rates can be almost twice that of other schools.

While the study itself doesn’t address how to improve absenteeism, there are some good ideas in this article about the study. It’s well worth a quick read.

Bartanen, B. (2020). Principal Quality and Student Attendance. American Educational Research Association. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0013189X19898702