Testimony Before the Council of the District of Columbia Committee of the Whole on Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy Oversight
By Nicole Travers
Good afternoon, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee. My name is Nicole Travers, and I am the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at the DC Charter School Alliance, the local non-profit that advocates on behalf of public charter schools to ensure that every student can choose high-quality public schools that prepare them for lifelong success.
Thank you for inviting us here today to discuss the critical issue of chronic absenteeism and truancy in our schools. It’s been heartening to see policymakers, partners, school leaders and families come together to design solutions that ensure greater student academic success across DC and we are happy to report that our community has taken major steps in the right direction on this problem. There has been some progress in reducing chronic absenteeism and truancy in our schools, but much work remains to make sure all students are in the classroom.
The Progress We’ve Made
A significant part of our success has been through our collaboration with the Mayor’s office and I want to take a few moments to lift up someone who has been especially aligned with us on this effort. Abdu’l-Karim Ewing-Boyd, the Director of Strategic Initiatives for PK-12 at the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education, has been diligent in ensuring that charters are well represented on the various committees of the Everyday Counts Task Force.
In July, we hosted our 2025 DC Charter School Alliance Attendance Summit where LEA leaders focused on revitalizing attendance strategies and strengthening Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) frameworks in preparation for the 2025-2026 school year. Nearly 100 participants representing half of all LEAs in the DC charter sector attended the Summit and walked away with revitalized school-wide attendance improvement plans, new partnerships and renewed momentum. The agenda included a multitude of sessions as well as a data informed panel of LEA leaders sharing tested methods to tackle absenteeism. Attendees also received various resources from representatives of the Health and Wellness Division at OSSE and participated in engaging breakout sessions led by our community partners that emphasized the different types of support a child may need.
Another core part of our program to support leaders is ensuring that they have the opportunity to learn from one another and sharpen their tactics by exchanging their experiences in real time. To that end, we bring LEA leaders together during our Student Support leader sessions. These monthly meetings allow staff to collaborate and problem solve across similar roles within the sector. Over 70% of our LEAs regularly engage and leverage the space to share best practices and advice.
Improvements on the Ground
Among public charter schools, there has been a small decline in chronic absenteeism and a 2.1% decrease in chronic truancy from the 2023-2024 school year to the 2024-2025 school year. Charter schools made up 90% of the top schools for reducing chronic absenteeism and 100% of the top 10 schools for reducing truancy. Seventy percent of the top 10 schools for reduction in chronic truancy across the city were Friendship Public Charter School campuses. With the current school year well underway, we are doubling down on the most effective strategies and evaluating additional pathways to produce even more positive outcomes.
We know that there is a link between student achievement and school attendance, and several charter schools that have increased attendance have seen high rates of improvement on DC CAPE testing results:
● The Social Justice School (SJS) tackled chronic absenteeism and saw an 18 percent drop between the 2023-2024 to 2024-2025 school years. Last month, DC CAPE testing results showed an increase of 19.5 points in math and 6.6 points in ELA at the 3+ level.
● DC Scholars Public Charter School reduced chronic absenteeism by 5 percentage points and truancy by 6 percentage points and this year raised 3+ level DC CAPE scores by 10 percentage points in both subjects.
● Harmony Public Charter School decreased absenteeism by 10 percentage points and truancy by 8 percentage points. Students increased DC CAPE proficiency in math by 16 percentage points and ELA by 19.5 percentage points.
These are just a handful of the charter schools making impressive strides in attendance by leveraging innovative strategies and tools.
The Challenges that Remain
We are making headway but events that have coincided with the start of the new school year pose new challenges for our progress. The recent heightened federal presence in the District and the fear it's bred within our communities have led to safety concerns for students and families. Several schools report that some students are too afraid to attend school and risk interactions with law enforcement. This is particularly fraught for students of color, students from economically disadvantaged wards and young people from communities with higher immigrant populations. In just the past six weeks, our communities have mobilized walking buses, carpools, shuttles and safety patrols; raised funds for and connected schools with legal support; made wellness calls and visits, and provided food, clothing, and safe spaces. We are proud of this commitment to care but recognize that there are still some gaps.
School leaders and educators report that this environment has also taken a psychological toll on students. We are deeply concerned that increased fear and anxiety will make it harder for students to focus on learning. School leaders and educators are certainly doing everything in their power to keep students safe and informed but as young people navigate these conditions, there is a greater need for mental health support and safe transportation services such as DC SchoolConnect.
Recommendations
First, there is a need for adequate staffing of nurses and mental health clinicians in schools. Undertreated mental health issues such as anxiety rank high among the reasons why students are absent from school. LEA leaders have shared with us that shifts in the School Based Mental Health Program this year have further reduced the number of schools receiving support from a
SBMH program clinician at the very time when students’ mental health needs are increasing. Students' main focus should be on learning and gaining the skills they need to grow and develop. Mental health clinicians and nurses/health technicians play a crucial role in mitigating crises and using appropriate interventions to create a safe school environment for all students. As of this year, there are 43 charter campuses without a mental health clinician or supervisor and 17 charter campuses who now have less than full-time, in-person coverage from a nurse/health technician. It’s important that students can easily access professional support when they need it the most.
As noted above, emerging concerns about attendance challenges are families’ unease about heightened federal presence as students come to school. Despite the end of the emergency order, many still have concerns about interactions with law enforcement including ongoing ICE activity. Under these conditions, many students and their families do not feel safe in their communities traveling to and from school. We urge the Mayor and Council to work together with schools and parents to develop a structured and coordinated response between city leadership and agencies.
We also want to share our appreciation to OSSE for taking our recommendations on the release of attendance data into consideration and increasing the frequency of data related to chronic absenteeism. However, there are still challenges with the timing of when the data is released, namely that schools are not able to benefit from it before the new school year begins. For example, attendance data for the 2024-2025 school year won’t be available until November. The release of data should be timed to equip school leaders and staff to identify the students most at-risk for chronic absenteeism based on their attendance patterns in the prior year, rather than three months into the next school year.
Lastly, we want to reiterate and encourage city leaders, elected officials, business leaders, and the faith community to work with school leaders and advocates to align on a joint public campaign on attendance. Families are looking for support but due to the current fiscal environment, many familiar programs and agencies have had their funding cut or reduced. The charter community welcomes the opportunity to design a strategy in partnership with agencies like the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), Departments of Parks and Recreation (DPR), Department of Human Service (DHS), and Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) to use levers that resonate with students and families. These tactics include but are not limited to PSAs on the radio, advertising at bus stops, guidance from medical professionals, and incentives from businesses that help make meaningful behavior shifts. A public campaign in conjunction with the advertisement of community resources to support the barriers that impact families and students can make the difference.
Moving Forward
In closing, addressing chronic absenteeism and truancy is a critical investment in our students' futures. Every day a student misses school is a missed opportunity for learning, growth, and connection. The long-term impact of absenteeism is clear: lower academic achievement, higher dropout rates, and diminished life outcomes. The good news is that we are seeing progress. But we must sustain and scale these efforts if we’re serious about equity and excellence in education. The DC Alliance looks forward to continuing our partnership with the Council, the Administration and our partners to ensure students are safe and in classrooms.
Thank you for your time and attention, and I welcome your questions.
Appendix
2025 DC Charter School Alliance Attendance Summit
During the Summit, attendees heard from Director Ewing-Boyd’s session on how they could implement EveryDay Labs, an evidence-based attendance analytics tool designed to strengthen communication and intervention with chronically absent students. Claudia Price and Jessica Duncan in the Health and Wellness Division at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) shared resources that attendees found very useful including:
● Too Good for Violence Kits, which helps students build social-emotional skills towards creating positive relationships;
● Our Minds Matter, a student mentorship program that fosters better school culture and belonging, and;
● ARROW grant working group, which advances innovative approaches to expand the school mental health practitioner pipeline.
We also hosted a data and strategy informed panel of LEA leaders from AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ingenuity Prep and Washington Leadership Academy that touched on key elements of enhancing attendance such as relationship-based strategies, tracking and encouraging Pre-K attendance and utilizing community support.
The summit was made possible by our community partners, some of whom led breakout sessions (full partner list included below). Some standouts from the agenda included:
● Attendance Interventions: Planning Ahead for Impact with Mikia Manley from EveryDay Labs;
● Strategies for Engagement Through Community Building and Restorative Practices with Lisa Shaw from SchoolTalk DC and;
● Supporting School Attendance for Students with Asthma hosted by Amari McDuffie of the Children’s National Hospital.
2025 Charter Attendance Summit Partner List:
● OSSE
● OSSE Health & Wellness
● DC Public Charter School Board:
● Our Minds Matter:
● DC Policy Center:
● EdStart Ops:
● Sped Co-Op:
● School Talk DC
● DC Collaboratives
