New EPIC report: three decades of Michigan school finance—what’s changed, what $ reaches classrooms, and what that means for students. Read: bit.ly/47UWWPq

Congress is debating changes to the Department of Education’s budget that could impact how federal funds support #students. Urban's new #tool lets you explore how different funding scenarios might affect your K-12 school district. Access the #data today.

New paper! Using data from NC, we estimate that getting attendance rates back to pre-pandemic levels in 2023-24 could have improved state math achievement by 0.017-0.025 SDs in this year, or 13-19% of what would be needed for a full academic recovery. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Here’s how Pulaski Elementary-Middle School dropped its chronic absenteeism rate by 47 percentage points.

Want to see how potential changes to #education Title funding might affect #K-12 districts? Check out this nifty data tool from @kblagg.bsky.social and me! You can choose your own scenarios and see projected impacts to keep up with the policy proposals from Congress. www.urban.org/research/pub...

Like Carla Brown, the people who take care of Michigan’s youngest children — those between birth and 3 years old — receive low pay for a challenging job that plays a critical role in early childhood development, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Michigan’s chronic absenteeism rate drops but is still above pre-pandemic levels www.chalkbeat.org/detroit/2025...

Quick look at the data! The highest-absenteeism districts have continued to make the most progress, at this point improving upon their pre-pandemic baseline.

Michigan chronic absenteeism inches down but remains higher than pre-pandemic bridgemi.com/talent-educa...

Trump is seeking over $6 billion in cuts to K-12 public schools. House Republicans wamt to cut $4.7 billion in Title I funding alone. In @educationwork.newamerica.org's latest analysis, see how both budgets would impact each congressional district--and then #callyourrepresentative. #edusky #publiced

I'm hiring a postdoc to assist with creating a longitudinal dataset of state charter school funding laws. More info in the position description. Please share!

Great job with an awesome team doing impactful work (and Detroit is super cool too!)

For those interested in the growth of ESA vouchers and the new federal push for vouchers by Trump and Congressional Republicans, please read this thread about the important new voucher study & the NYT article about that study. reachcentered.org/publications...

Our paper on school choice and school-based transportation in Detroit is now published in EEPA! @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social

"students with access to a bus at a school—either a traditional or shuttle-style bus—were 4-5 percentage points more likely to enroll in that school...greater for traditional buses in higher-crime neighborhoods & for shuttle-style buses for farther-away choices" journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3...

Come work with us! We’re really excited about our research on attendance and chronic absenteeism. And we’d be really excited to work with you! Reach out if you have any questions. Detroit-based preferred, but remote might be possible. Start as early as Dec 2025 or later in Spring/Summer 2026.

📢 Job Posting! 📢 We are hiring TWO postdocs at Detroit PEER at Wayne State (detroitpeer.org)! We are looking for one quant/mixed methods expert and one qual/mixed expert to work with me & @jeremylsinger.bsky.social on attendance research. Apply by Oct. 10, but flexible on start date! Please share!

Using a large census survey, we found students are absent ~1 day more when they lack healthcare! #educationpolicy is #healthpolicy #absenteeism #attendance

Now published in the Journal of School Health, @wcastillophd.bsky.social and I drew upon national survey data to look at the relationship between missing healthcare when needed and student attendance. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Come work with us! We’re really excited about our research on attendance and chronic absenteeism. And we’d be really excited to work with you! Reach out if you have any questions. Detroit-based preferred, but remote might be possible. Start as early as Dec 2025 or later in Spring/Summer 2026.

Includes our new report on school attendance strategies in Michigan: detroitpeer.org/wp-content/u...

Visit our page to learn more about the STEP-CTE lab! -> www.step-in-cte.soe.umich.edu

Our survey instrument is now available on the EdIntsruments repository hosted by the @annenberginstitute.bsky.social. You can find it here: edinstruments.org/instruments/...

New Bedford Guide recently published an article, which referenced @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social and @jeremylsinger.bsky.social's book, RETHINKING CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM, and discussed how New Bedford schools are improving attendance.

NEW: We conducted a survey of all school leaders in Michigan in 2024-25 about their attendance strategies. Our report offers the most comprehensive evidence thus far of what schools are actively doing to reduce chronic absenteeism. @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social detroitpeer.org/wp-content/u...

The district is still far behind statewide averages, but researchers say it has shown consistent incremental growth.

Donald Trump wants to slash $5 billion in federal funding for rural schools, teacher PD, after-school programs, English learners, and migrant, at-risk, and homeless students. Our friends at LPI break down how much the Trump proposal would take from K-12 education in your state (&more from us soon!).

M-STEP results are up in four out of six grades in both English language arts and math.

I was glad to see Michigan on here as a state “that not only achieve[s] high rates of access but also high proximity” to “equity engine” colleges!

School started for the 2025-26 school year amid a number of challenges, including a state budget impasse and federal immigration crackdowns

Check out our new report on how Michigan schools are addressing the persistent problem of chronic absenteeism. @jeremylsinger.bsky.social has a great thread on our key findings. Please reach out with feedback or ideas for potential collaboration on future work!

NEW: We conducted a survey of all school leaders in Michigan in 2024-25 about their attendance strategies. Our report offers the most comprehensive evidence thus far of what schools are actively doing to reduce chronic absenteeism. @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social detroitpeer.org/wp-content/u...

Fascinating work by Deven Carlson, @t-h-a-d.bsky.social, James Carter, @rachelmarisa.bsky.social, Vitali Radsky, and Andrew McEachin on both the potential of school choice for the purpose of desegregation and the disappointing reality that most school choice systems tend to exacerbate segregation

In RETHINKING CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM, @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social and @jeremylsinger.bsky.social caution that school-based measures like punishments, parent fines, and even rewards can reinforce the social inequality that makes accessing school difficult. https://bit.ly/3GPGy7t

Really useful overview from RAND research on the current state of absenteeism in schools--what we know about trends, who's absent, and why. www.rand.org/pubs/researc...

My review of the literature on public school reopening decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic is now published! While these decisions are in the rearview, I hope this paper helps capture the findings (and more generally the research moment-in-time) on the topic.

What Can We Learn from the Research on Public School Reopening Decisions in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic? journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

New: The Education Department's cuts have left the niche, government-backed "industry" of education research in a dire state. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

HopSkipDrive says it helps schools solve difficult transportation issues involving long distances and vulnerable kids, while also putting parents at ease. But the rideshare service doesn’t necessarily come cheap.

HEP authors @jeremylsinger.bsky.social and @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social recently spoke to @us.theconversation.com about chronic absenteeism in Detroit and how it can be addressed. Read the piece here:

Schools rely heavily on Medicaid funding for student health services. Now, a $1T federal cut may put those critical supports at risk. 🔗: https://f.mtr.cool/oceosryezm

Michigan lawmakers are divided on a number of issues, including whether the state should continue funding free school meals for all students.

To prepare for the start of a new school year, pick up a book that delves into how to solve pressing issues in education, such as RETHINKING CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM by @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social and @jeremylsinger.bsky.social: https://bit.ly/3GPGy7t

Michiganders support action on teacher pay: 75 % say starting pay should rise, tagging a “fair” salary at $54.6k, a raise of about $13k. There is also strong support for raising average teacher pay, with support for a raise of about $2,400.

Detroit's mayoral candidates are talking about chronic absenteeism, and I'm really thrilled with how they are framing the issue. Both contenders in the general election have offered a holistic (or as @sarahlenhoff.bsky.social and I often say "ecological") view of absenteeism. 1/2

The top two vote-getters in Detroit’s mayoral primary each say they want to play a role in improving education in the city. Here’s how they would do that.