Educators tell us that students who miss 20 or more days of school in an academic year—and there are 85,000 of them in Maryland—have lower test scores, lower graduation rates and even lower chances of getting into college or of breaking the cycle of poverty.
WYPR’s Gwendolyn Glenn is spending the next year meeting with educators, students, parents, researchers and others to explore the causes and effects of chronic absenteeism and the solutions being offered by city and county officials.
Empty Desks is made possible through a grant from the
Open Society Institute—Baltimore.
Listen to Empty Desks stories:
Overview of absenteeismWhy Some Homeless Students Travel 2 Hours To SchoolGetting To School Is Harder Than You ThinkBaltimore Teachers Struggle To Keep Chronically Absent Students On TrackChronic Absenteeism--A Look At The NumbersIn City Schools, Climate Change Is Not About The WeatherIllness: A Barrier To Attending SchoolIn Ghana, School Absenteeism And Poverty Go Hand-In-HandOne School's Battle With Chronic AbsenteeismA Bright Spot In The Battle Against Chronic AbsenteeismOne-Of-A-Kind Daycare Center In Baltimore Helps Teen ParentsContact Gwendolyn Glenn at
gglenn@wypr.org