'Preventable gap.' How Texas misses the mark in tracking kids withdrawn for absences

Investigative Summary:

Despite decades of efforts to improve school attendance and truancy, a KXAN investigation found Texas doesn’t track student withdrawals due to unexcused absences. On top of that, schools are only required to report dropouts over 7th grade. Education experts and a state lawmaker have called for the state to address this blind spot that could be missing the reason tens of thousands of students leave school.

AUSTIN (KXAN) – It took about a year for teachers and administrators at Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders to see a “sharp decline” in one of their students. The high schooler had been “academically successful and engaged,” they said. Then she started missing school.

School officials would learn the girl’s mounting attendance problems reflected a chronic