Lower Chronic Absence Rates at Playworks Schools

  • UC Berkeley
  • February 11, 2026

In 2025, UC Berkeley published a study on the relationship between Playworks programming and chronic absence rates at Title I schools during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. Results showed that schools with Playworks programming had lower chronic absence rates than schools without Playworks programming. These lower rates were statistically significant, even after accounting for characteristics like school size, enrolled students’ family income, and race/ethnicity.

Source

UC Berkeley

The research is currently under peer review with the Journal of School Health. Expected publication date March 2026.

View a fact sheet about the study

 

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