What Works to Keep Students in School? A Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Reduce School Absenteeism

Background: Regular school attendance is foundational to students’ academic achievement, social-emotional development, and long-term career success. Yet chronic absenteeism continues to affect a substantial proportion of PreK-12 students in the United States, underscoring the urgent need for evidence-based interventions.

Methods: This meta-analysis synthesized findings from 13 randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies published between January 2020 and March 2025 and identified through six digital databases. All included studies evaluated interventions that reported school absenteeism as an outcome. Effect sizes were calculated using Hedges’ g and estimated with a random-effects model. To explain variability in effects, meta-regression analyses examined 10 moderators across the following four domains, guided by the ecological systems theory: study-level features (methodological rigor), individual-level characteristics, intervention-level characteristics, and contextual-level characteristics.

Results: The overall effect size was 0.091 (95% CI: 0.012–0.170), indicating a small but statistically significant reduction in absenteeism favoring intervention groups. Substantial heterogeneity was observed (I2 = 73%). Study setting emerged as the only significant moderator, with stronger effects in single-school implementations. Although other moderators were not statistically significant, variation in effect magnitudes suggests meaningful contextual and implementation differences.

Conclusions: These interventions produce modest but statistically reliable reductions in absenteeism, with implementation context significantly influencing effectiveness.