Under the leadership of Governor Daniel McKee, the Rhode Island Department of Education has built a statewide coalition of mayors, business leaders, hospitals and other stakeholders beyond the state’s education ecosystem to get students back to school—a strategy that is yielding impressive early results. Eighty-nine percent of the state’s 64 school districts lowered their chronic absenteeism rates in 2023-24 from the previous year, as did 82 percent of Rhode Island schools.
In this FutureEd webinar, moderated by Policy Director Liz Cohen, we explore Rhode Island’s innovative cross-sector, data-driven approach to improve chronic absenteeism. The event features Governor Daniel McKee, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Angelica Infante-Green, Newport Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong, and Partnership Rhode Island Executive Director Tom Giordano.