Case workers during the past two years have begun working with D.C. families to figure out what is causing problems in attendance problems and how they can help. The program, Show Up, Stand Out, is having some success, according to an evaluation of the first year’s results. Nearly 80 percent of the families involved in the program during the 2012-2013 school year improved their children’s’ attendance.

The D.C. Public Charter School Board has made it a priority to reduce expulsions and out-of-school suspensions in recent years. According to a recent report, the expulsion rate for D.C. public charter schools in the past school year was about half of what it was two years before, and the rate of out-of-school suspensions decreased by about 20 percent in one year.