Margaret Reist | Lincoln Journal Star
Two years ago, 20% of Culler Middle School students missed so many days of school their absenteeism got a label: chronic.
Research shows that chronic absenteeism — when students miss at least 10% of school in a year, or about 18 days — is linked to poor academic performance and increased risk of dropping out.
So staff at Culler got to work. They assigned a counselor to each grade, and dedicated a social worker and the attendance secretary in building a system to identify at-risk kids early.
