Finck, Julie Baker. Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, September 14, 2015. This report provides a detailed look at chronic absence in the Houston Independent School District for the 2014-2015 school year, when about 9.3 percent of students missed 10 percent or more of the school year. The report explores the impact poor attendance has on student achievement, classroom instruction and district finances. It illustrates chronic absence issues across grades and demographics, explains the interrelationship between chronic absence and reading achievement levels and offers an evidenced-based, community approach to increasing attendance rates, and ultimately achievement and graduation rates.