TY  - JOUR
AB  - Greater attendance rates in the K-12 grades demonstrate motivation and discipline and contribute to other desired educational outcomes such as cognitive development. A growing number of states incentivize school districts to increase attendance by allocating funding based on the average number of students in attendance, or average daily attendance (ADA). Using statewide data from Texas, we assess the proportion of variation in student attendance not explained by student characteristics. We then estimate district effects on attendance and compare them to school, teacher, and student effects. We find that observed and unobserved student characteristics explain the vast majority of variation in student attendance and that districts have only minor effects on attendance. These results imply that school funding systems based on ADA may unfairly penalize high-poverty school districts.
AU  - Knight, David S.
AU  - Olofson, Mark
PY  - 2026
ST  - How Large are District Effects on Student Attendance? Implications for School Funding Based on Average Daily Attendance
TI  - How Large are District Effects on Student Attendance? Implications for School Funding Based on Average Daily Attendance
UR  - http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1436
ER  -