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**Weekly Update**

**A newsletter from The Hechinger Report**

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**In this week's edition:** In Colorado, one school district is tackling chronic absenteeism among its youngest learners [link removed]. Education research organizations say a proposed 100-page sweeping overhaul of federal grant rules could curtail studies of achievement gaps and the type of long-term research that led to the science of reading [link removed].

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Credit: Elena Lacey for The Hechinger Report

**Why are so many kindergartners chronically absent?**

Just beyond the front doors of Namaqua Elementary School, past a banner that reads “attendance matters — every school day counts,” a stuffed wildcat in sunglasses sits in the lobby, observing the comings and goings of students. 

The school mascot is called Wyatt, and the students are told that he monitors attendance. Are the children arriving on time? Did they make it to school today?

Wyatt is one prong of the elementary school’s strategy to reduce chronic absenteeism, which is common even among the youngest students. Nationally, the grade with the worst attendance record before high school is kindergarten, a year that some families view as optional and low-stakes but educators treat as foundational for establishing healthy habits, routines and relationships.

Each week at Namaqua, the classroom with the best attendance wins Wyatt’s “Beat the Bell Challenge.” As a reward, the stuffie pays a visit to the winning classroom, and students get to select a coupon for their prize; options include pajama day, extra recess and lunch with the teacher. 

It’s simple but effective, said Angie Geraghty, the school principal.

“We joke that we want the kids to have FOMO, like they’re missing out on something if they’re not in school,” Geraghty said. (Moments later, almost as if to underscore her point, children could be heard erupting in squeals and cheers in the gymnasium, where a “mad scientist” was presenting during a schoolwide assembly.)

“Because if they’re not here,” she added, “we can’t teach them.”

Like schools all over the country, Namaqua has struggled with high rates of chronic absenteeism, especially for the youngest learners, in recent years. Statewide, Colorado has one of the highest rates of kindergarten missing school; 29 percent of these students were chronically absent in the 2024-25 school year — defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year. That compares to 24 percent for all the elementary grades combined. 

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****Education researchers warn political review of federal grants could reshape what gets studied****

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The research behind the influential “science of reading” movement was built over decades through federally supported research spanning cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics and classroom studies.

Education research organizations say a proposed 100-page sweeping overhaul of federal grant rules, which would add a new review by political appointees, could make it harder to produce similar important bodies of evidence in the future. 

The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says its proposed changes are intended to strengthen accountability, transparency and oversight of taxpayer-funded grants. The May 29 proposal would revise the rules for issuing and overseeing grants, including those awarded by the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation, two major sources of federal education research funding. OMB wants the final rule to take effect by Oct. 1, according to the proposal.

But in letters submitted to OMB on July 13, the deadline for public comment, education research groups argued that some provisions could have unintended and harmful consequences by narrowing the questions researchers study, giving political considerations too much influence in funding decisions and disrupting research already underway. The education groups are asking not only for changes, but for the entire overhaul proposal to be withdrawn. 

Objections specific to education research were detailed in three letters from the National Academy of Education, signed by 19 other education and science organizations; the American Educational Research Association (AERA); and the Knowledge Alliance, a group representing about 20 organizations that conduct education research.

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****OPINION: How a small town in rural Maine built a public school that serves a whole community****

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We did not just build a school. We built a case for a new way forward.

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"In Skowhegan, we did not want to just build a school; we wanted to build a case for a new way forward that shows what high-quality early education can look like in practice when systems align." [link removed]

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****Reading list****

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Tracking Trump: His actions on education [link removed]

The latest: The Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule that limits how long international students can remain in the U.S. to four years.

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