School absenteeism is a major concern across Canada and beyond.
As researchers with the Canadian School Attendance Partnership, we have been exploring this issue for a few years, motivated by concerns raised by families, community agencies and school districts.
Canada is one of the few countries without a clear national picture of school absenteeism.
We draw on pieces of data to get an informed estimate of this. Our data comes from the OECD's global Programme for International Student Assessment, school district reports, news reports via freedom of information requests and from research studies.
