Getting students back to school: Addressing chronic absenteeism

Thomas S. Dee, Ph.D., is the Barnett Family Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education (GSE), a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and the faculty director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. His research focuses largely on the use of quantitative methods to inform contemporary issues of public policy and practice. The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) awarded his collaborative research the Raymond Vernon Memorial Award in 2015 and again in 2019. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the American Educational Research Journal, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Education Finance and Policy.

Amie Rapaport, Ph.D., is a research scientist and co-director at the Center for Applied Research in Education at the University of Southern California. She has spent the last 15 years helping school districts, state education agencies, foundations, and other organizations answer their own pressing research and policy-relevant questions. These projects have spanned various content areas, including project-based learning, STEM education, civics education, and educator professional development, among others. She leads teams of researchers on the design, implementation, and execution of both small and large experimental and non-experimental studies, including randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental design studies, descriptive studies and case studies.

Jessica Hull serves as the Executive Director of Communication and Community Engagement for Roseville City School District. She brings over nineteen years’ experience in school communications, including social media, crisis management, community engagement, and media and public relations.

She believes well-informed students, families and citizens are the greatest assets to a school system and focuses all communications to create dynamic, two-way conversations within communities. Mrs. Hull is currently serving as Immediate Past President of the California School Public Relations Association (CalSPRA) and is an active member of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA). For the 2020-21 school year, Jessica was recognized by NSPRA as the Front-Runner of the Southwest Region.

Zaia Vera, EdD, is an educational leader with a focus on humanizing education. She works with Sown To Grow to ensure that every student is seen and valued, and teaches Adult Social Emotional Learning Foundations at UC Berkeley. She is a former teacher, San Francisco Unified School District school principal, and Oakland Unified School District leader. In OUSD, Zaia co-founded the Oakland Teacher Residency to cultivate and support local and diverse educators to become credentialed teachers.

As the Head of Social Emotional Learning in OUSD, she strengthened the systems and structures to expand transformational SEL and support McKinney Vento/unhoused, foster and newcomer youth to build a sense of belonging at school.

Zaia holds two Master’s degrees in Psychology and TESOL, and a Doctorate degree in Education Leadership from the University of Southern California. Originally from West Virginia, but rooted in California, Zaia is expanding the Mexican American narrative.

Jennifer Hwang is a working mom with an active and precocious third grader, trying to balance a demanding career as a trailer producer and family life in Los Angeles. Like many dedicated parents, she is very tired but keeps pushing forward.

Betty Márquez Rosalescovers juvenile justice, youth homelessness and other education topics. Before joining EdSource, she worked on reporting projects for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley. Betty’s stories have appeared in The New York Times, Fusion, and local news publications across California.

She has worked in education and communications, earned a Master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in gender studies from UC Santa Barbara. Contact Betty Márquez Rosales.

Mallika Seshadri covers education in Los Angeles, including LAUSD, for EdSource. Previously, she interned with NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “National Desk” and covered higher education for the CalMatters College Beat.

Her reporting has been published by The San Francisco Chronicle, ABC, CBS and NPR member stations across the country. Mallika holds a BA with distinction in political science and global studies from UC Berkeley, where she served as the managing editor of The Daily Californian. She is currently pursuing an MA in Specialized Journalism at the University of Southern California, where she is a Selden Ring Fellow for investigative journalism. Contact Mallika Seshadri.