Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Report: Six Indianapolis charter schools share practices to address systemic attendance challenges

INDIANAPOLIS – (February 19, 2025) – Today, The Mind Trust published “Reducing Chronic Absenteeism,” a new report highlighting how six charter and innovation schools are reducing chronic absenteeism in their buildings. This research initiative was driven by the recognition that chronic absenteeism, defined as missing ten percent or more of school days in an academic year, has become a significant challenge for schools nationwide and has a direct impact on student achievement and well-being. The report identifies effective practices that can be implemented at schools of all types in Indianapolis and beyond.

“I am thrilled to celebrate the incredible efforts of Indianapolis charter and innovation schools as they make significant progress in tackling chronic absenteeism,” said Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust. “Through dedication, innovative strategies, and unwavering commitment to students, they are making a real impact, ensuring more students have the opportunity to thrive in the classroom and beyond.”

The report identifies several shared challenges across all six schools, which serve a combined 6,597 students. Challenges include inconsistent student transportation, the financial and operational responsibility of providing transportation services, limited access to healthcare, and mental health barriers. 

The report highlights six charter and innovation schools, each with its unique, effective approach to addressing chronic absenteeism:

• Allegiant Preparatory Academy intentionally builds a school culture of student agency and belonging, consistently monitors attendance as part of its commitment to continuous improvement, and actively collaborates with families to overcome barriers to regular school attendance. 
• Enlace Academy emphasizes positive school culture and loving relationships, shared responsibility for identifying and addressing barriers swiftly, and creating supportive external partnerships to alleviate student and family barriers.
• Herron Preparatory Academy focuses on cultivating strong relationships with students and families, establishing clear attendance expectations to foster a culture of success, and addressing barriers through targeted, strategic interventions.
• Indiana Math and Science Academy West (IMSA) proactively monitors attendance and responds swiftly, fostering a school culture of care and support, and balancing both rigor and fun, making school a place students want to be every day.
• Monarca Academy creates a culturally-relevant and supportive school community, implementing targeted and individualized outreach efforts, and teaching student agency and responsibility.
• Additionally, the report features Christel House Indianapolis as a “School on the Move”, highlighting its commitment to addressing attendance barriers head-on, even as it navigates ongoing absenteeism challenges. The network is relentless at fostering relationships and providing Whole-Child support, implementing restorative practices in place of suspension, and solving for barriers and providing ongoing support to students five years post-graduation. 

Exploring Strategies to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism

Following in-depth interviews that explored each school’s strategies for proactively addressing attendance barriers within their control, four themes emerged. Each school featured addresses chronic absenteeism challenges by: 

1. Cultivating Environments of Belonging

Each school emphasized the pivotal role of school culture in fostering students’ sense of belonging. Schools accomplish this through relentless relationship-building with students and families and recruiting a staff that is reflective of the school’s students. 

“I believe the biggest reason students want to come here is because they love their teachers. We have an environment where the students feel safe and welcome and where identity is something they talk about constantly, not separate from academics but as a part of academics.” ―Executive Director, Monarca Academy

2. Tracking Attendance Consistently

The schools highlighted in this report emphasized the importance of tracking attendance daily and implementing systems that assign clear responsibilities to each step underscoring the significance of attendance in achieving overall school success.  

“School culture and establishing standard protocols for attendance goes a long way. We take attendance seriously and tie that into our evaluation rubric for all of our staff. Everyone in the building is responsible for student attendance.” ―School Leader, Enlace Academy

3.  Responding Swiftly

Each school highlighted in this report emphasized the importance of regularly reviewing attendance trends and quickly identifying resources to address barriers as part of their continuous improvement efforts.

“We have social workers on staff K–12 who help connect families to the resources they need in order to get here. We’ve caught things through our advisory time like families not having enough gas money to drive their kid to school for the week. We’ve been able to offer resources like gas gift cards.” ―School Leader, Christel House

4. Collaborating with Community and External Partners

All schools spoke on the importance of viewing parents and families as genuine partners, recognizing them as essential contributors to the shared mission of providing an excellent education for every child. 

“We reach out to families when we notice an attendance trend to see if there are any barriers that we are not aware of. Sometimes families have a housing situation or fall into hard times so we can provide support like bus passes. We don’t want to slap parents on the wrist, we try to mitigate barriers.” ―School Leader, Allegiant Prep

Advancing the Work

While the schools featured in this report were excited to be recognized, many emphasized that their work is ongoing and continually evolving. As we look toward the future of education, one thing is clear: a path forward will require innovative strategies, partnerships, and supportive policy changes to address the multifaceted challenges identified in this report.

For more information about “Reducing Chronic Absenteeism” and to learn about each featured school’s unique contributions, please visit www.themindtrust.org/absenteeismreport.