This study used a quantitative survey in the form of an online self-administered questionnaire to explore and describe the views of school leaders on chronic absenteeism in New Jersey public schools. The first of its kind, this statewide survey was designed for the purpose of understanding how school leaders perceive the importance of equity in their decisions related to chronic absenteeism, the extent to which they express accountability in addressing this issue, the manner in which they prioritize student needs and resources for increasing student attendance, and how they may perceive rates of chronic absenteeism as an indicator of school quality or student success. The constructs of equity, accountability, perceived needs and resources of community stakeholders, and attitudes toward chronic absenteeism as a school quality or student success indicator were developed for the survey, which was emailed in an invitation in the fall of 2021 to all New Jersey superintendents and charter school directors. After receiving a 10% response rate, 42 complete cases were retained for analysis of the constructs, which were subject to robust exploratory factor analysis, reliability assessments, and tests on differences in ranks specifically geared toward small sample survey data. Significant findings linked different groups with varying levels of support for equity-related solutions in addressing chronic absenteeism to all other constructs. As a secondary input construct, attitudes toward chronic absenteeism also demonstrated significant differences among groups on scores for specific items under the construct of perceived needs and resources. Implications for future study, as well as the utility of the survey in broader applications, are discussed.

Keywords: chronic absenteeism, chronic absence, superintendent survey, equity, accountability.