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A school-based material needs intervention for chronic absenteeism: a state-wide staggered interrupted time series
Rebeccah Sokol1,2, Michelle Degli Esposti3, Bryan G Victor4
1University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI, USA rlsokol@umich.edu.
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
|November 19, 2025
Summary
Pathways to Potential (P2P) reduced chronic absenteeism by 7.88% in Michigan schools. This program helps students by addressing needs that interfere with attendance, preventing many from missing crucial learning opportunities.
Area of Science:
- Education Policy
- Public Health
- Social Work
Background:
- Student absenteeism is a growing concern in the USA, affecting 14%-30% of K-12 students annually.
- Chronically absent students face academic and social challenges due to missed learning.
- Michigan's Pathways to Potential (P2P) program, initiated in 2012, places caseworkers in schools to address student needs impacting attendance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of the Pathways to Potential (P2P) program on chronic absenteeism rates in Michigan public schools.
- To assess the effectiveness of a school-based intervention designed to improve student attendance.
Main Methods:
- A quasi-experimental study involving 160 Michigan K-12 public schools implementing P2P between 2012 and 2016.
- Staggered interrupted time series (ITS) analysis using administrative data from 2008-2009 to 2018-2019.
- Random effects meta-analysis and meta-regressions to estimate overall effects and investigate heterogeneity.
Main Results:
- P2P intervention reduced chronic absenteeism by 7.88% (IRR=0.92).
- The program prevented an average of 21 students per school per year from being chronically absent.
- Greater effectiveness was observed in schools with higher P2P dosage, in the eastern region, with wealthier and less racially diverse student bodies.
Conclusions:
- The school-based P2P intervention is a feasible and effective strategy for reducing chronic absenteeism.
- Standardizing the program while allowing flexibility to meet diverse student needs could enhance consistency.
- P2P offers a promising model for addressing barriers to school attendance and improving educational outcomes.
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