Racial disparities in school attendance rates start as early as preschool and kindergarten and contribute to achievement gaps and high school dropout rates across the country, a report from Attendance Works and Healthy Schools Campaign finds. According to the report, Mapping the Early Attendance Gap (42 pages, PDF), at least 10 percent of kindergarteners and first graders miss 10 percent, or nearly a month, of the school year. Such absences can set a pattern of academic difficulties and poor attendance in later grades, and by middle and high school, chronic absenteeism is a better indicator of a student's likelihood of dropping out than eighth-grade test scores. Children from low-income families or communities of color and those with disabilities are disproportionately affected, due in part to chronic health conditions such as asthma and related issues such as anxiety, unhealthy housing, violence in the community, and lack of access to healthcare services. To address the gaps, the report calls for raising awareness that chronic early absence matters; mapping absence data; engaging stakeholders in determining the causes of absences; learning from positive outliers, such as schools and districts that maintain good attendance despite risk factors; and embedding interventions into existing initiatives.