Many New Jersey school districts are taking steps to prevent chronic absenteeism.
Children who are chronically absent in preschool, kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to read at the proper grade level when they reach third grade.
By the end of third grade, the U.S. Department of Education warns, these youngsters are four times more likely than proficient readers to drop out of high school.
The news is particularly tragic for Trenton, where a new study by the nonprofit group Advocates for Children of New Jersey reports nearly a third of public school students habitually miss more than 10 percent of their classes.
Sadly, in some instances the decision of whether or not to go to school on a particular day is too often out the student's hands - or even the family's.
"Students in high-poverty district such as ours often face very real obstacles involving family responsibilities, difficulties at home, health problems and transportation issues that affect their daily attendance," notes Lucy Feria, interim superintendent for the city's public schools.
All the more reason to salute the teachers, staff and administrators at Hedgepeth-Williams Middle School of the Arts, who are reaching out - student by student - to reverse the debilitating effects of too many days out of the classroom.
From mailing postcards to student saying simply "Come back, we miss you," to sending an administrator to make a home visit to parents or guardians, the Gladstone Avenue school has deliberately switched from a system stressing punishment to one relying on early intervention and correction.
Trenton school exemplary amid 'chronic' absence study
Principal Adrienne Hill says she was moved to act last year when chronic absenteeism rates at her school hovered at about 22 percent. The new approach is showing success, with the number of affected students falling significantly in one year.
Other school districts are also thinking out of the box, with equally rewarding results.
In Lakewood, administrators identified a persistent problem: Many students were missing classes because they had to work to help their parents make ends meet.
Their elegant solution: creating an alternative school that operated later in the day to offer kids more flexibility to attend. Voila, absentee rates fell from 32 percent to 22 percent.
Hedgepeth-Williams and their counterparts haven't solved all the problems of habitual truancy in a year - they're too deep-seated and go way beyond the schoolyard's gates.
But they are taking to heart the mantra of Advocates for Children of New Jersey and other activists that too many days out of the classroom put a child's future at risk. That's a very powerful start.