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Randomized trial reduced student absences in rural districts, indicating potential for cost-effective strategies.
Student absenteeism has remained high following the COVID-19 pandemic, and districts need low-cost strategies to improve attendance. During the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 school years, the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) conducted a randomized trial of a personalized messaging intervention that had promising results in an early pilot with eight rural districts. NCRERN worked with a student information system to test the intervention in 47 districts in 16 states. We find that the personalized messages reduced student absences by between 1.7% (p < .05) and 4.5% (p < .05) and cost, on average, $4.07 per student. While generally cost-effective, these effects represent a modest 0.2 to 0.5 days saved. We discuss implementation challenges and heterogeneous effects that suggest caution prior to full-scale adoption.
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Swanson et al. (2026) studied this question.
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