The school system tracked the attendance of students who missed even a small amount of school--roughly one week each marking period. They found those students were signif-icantly more likely to drop out or not graduate from high school on time.

Ninth grade is an especially important year. Only 63 percent of ninth graders who missed one week of school each marking period graduated on time four years later.

When teens miss class, they miss out on important learning. So stress the importance of going to school every day.

Also check your teen's absences from class. Be sure that he is not only in school, but also in his math class!

Reprinted with permission from the September 2009 issue of Parents Still make the difference!® (High School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2009 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. Source: Consortium on Chicago School Research, "What Matters for Staying on Track and Graduating in Chicago Public High Schools," University of Chicago, http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/07%20What%20Matters%20Final.pdf.