Abstract
Substantial research has clearly established the relationship between school attendance and indicators of student achievement over time in large, urban cities using longitudinal studies. However, there is an insufficient amount of literature that focuses on an immediate relationship in smaller, suburban areas with differing demographics. This quantitative correlational dissertation in practice studied the more immediate relationship between attendance rates and indicators of student achievement in third- through eighth-grade students within the small, demographically advantaged suburban Northern California public school district. The study calculated the Pearson’s correlation coefficient between attendance rates and indicators of student achievement for 576 students between third and eighth grade during the 2018-19 school year. The research results indicated that statistically significant positive correlations of varying strength existed for ten of the variable pairs being studied. These findings demonstrate the need for school districts to implement attendance improvement plans that align with best practices to improve student attendance. A district-specific action plan is proposed and will be presented to the target district’s board of trustees for approval and implementation.