An Evaluation of a National Program to Reduce Student Absenteeism in High School

Starting in the 2016/17 academic year, high school students in Norway who missed more than 10 percent of hours in a given course without a medical excuse could not receive a final grade. Across all students, the new policy reduced total absence by 21-28 percent, and chronic absence by 29-39 percent. This behavioral response was largely sufficient to avoid the academic penalty for absence over the 10 percent threshold. We also find the policy had a positive impact on teacher awarded GPA for groups with larger baseline absence and greater absolute changes in attendance.