The morning began like an ordinary school day, and then it turned into something the students will not forget. Forty-five students from The Intergenerational School in Cleveland, Ohio, arrived at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus at the start of the 2026-27 school year, and by the time they left they were wearing custom Cleveland Browns jerseys made just for them. The celebration was organised by the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network together with the U.S. Department of Education, and its purpose was simple: to honour children who had worked hard to improve their attendance, and to show them that their effort had been noticed far beyond their own classroom.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was there to congratulate the students in person, and Cleveland Browns linebacker Winston Reid joined her, touring the students around the campus. The event took place during Attendance Awareness Month, when schools and communities across the United States talk about why being present in class matters. In Cleveland, that conversation took a joyful form: students were thanked for their progress, welcomed into a professional football team’s home, and sent home with a reminder they could wear.
The celebration also told a larger story about partnership. The Stay in the Game! Attendance Network was launched in 2019 by the Cleveland Browns Foundation and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, and it is now managed by Battelle. It partners with 201 districts and impacts 611,000 students across Ohio. When a football club, a state education department, a research organisation and the U.S. Department of Education gather around the same students, the message is clear: attendance belongs to everyone.
What the Numbers Say About Ohio
Behind the jerseys and the smiles, the numbers from Ohio tell a hopeful story. Chronic absenteeism across the state fell from 25.1 percent in 2024-25 to 23.9 percent in 2025-26. That change of 1.2 percentage points may sound modest on its own, but its meaning becomes clear when it is translated into classroom time. The improvement represents 3.7 million additional hours of learning for students across Ohio, hours spent reading, solving problems, asking questions and working alongside classmates.
Those hours matter because learning builds day by day. A missed lesson is a discussion a student did not join, a question they did not ask, and feedback they did not receive. When missed days add up, a child can start to feel behind. When attendance improves, the opposite happens: students stay connected to their learning and keep their belief that school is a place where they belong.
Ohio’s progress sits within a wider national picture of gradual recovery, which readers can explore through the guide to chronic absenteeism improvements across states in 2025-26. The fall from 25.1 percent to 23.9 percent shows what steady, community-wide effort can achieve in a single school year. Two figures explain why attendance is treated as a priority: students who are not chronically absent are 3.9 times more likely to read on grade level by the end of third grade, and 12 times more likely to graduate on time. Reading on grade level by the end of third grade is a turning point, the moment when a pupil moves from learning to read toward reading to learn. The attendance in schools statistics guide sets out how attendance is measured and why it is linked so closely to progress in reading and learning.
Why a Football Team Cares About Attendance
It is fair to ask why a professional football team would invest so much energy in school attendance. The answer lies in what a football club means to a city like Cleveland. The Browns are not simply a team that plays on a Sunday. They are a shared identity and a source of pride that reaches into neighbourhoods, schools and family life. When the Browns say that attendance matters, children listen. The club can make a message about school feel exciting rather than routine.
The Stay in the Game! Attendance Network grew from that understanding. Launched in 2019 by the Cleveland Browns Foundation and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, and now managed by Battelle, it joins the energy and visibility of professional sport with the knowledge and reach of educators. The football side brings celebration and role models; the education side brings an understanding of what schools and families need. Together, they have built something neither side could have built alone. The presence of the U.S. Department of Education added a national dimension, signalling that the work in Ohio is being noticed at the highest level of American education.
A Secretary’s Message to the Students
Secretary Linda McMahon came to Cleveland to congratulate the 45 students in person, and her presence carried a message beyond any single speech. When the Secretary of Education travels to meet a group of schoolchildren, it tells those children that their effort has been seen at the very top of the country’s education system. It tells their families that the daily work of getting a child to school is valued, and it tells their teachers that welcoming pupils and helping them catch up is recognised as deeply important work. The students were honoured because they had improved their attendance at the start of the 2026-27 school year, not because they had never missed a day. That distinction matters: progress is something to be proud of, and every step toward better attendance is worth celebrating.
A Linebacker’s Welcome on Campus
Winston Reid, the Cleveland Browns linebacker who joined the Secretary for the day, brought a different kind of encouragement. A professional athlete knows what it means to show up, to train, to prepare and to be ready when the moment comes. Those habits are learned early, in school as much as on a practice field. Reid toured the students around the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, a place built around teamwork and shared purpose. For the students, meeting a Browns player in person and receiving a custom jersey is the kind of memory that stays vivid for years. The full account of the day is published on the Cleveland Browns official site, where the network and the U.S. Department of Education describe the event in detail.
Three Schools, Three Turnarounds
Statewide figures tell one part of the story, but school-level figures tell a more personal part: what improvement looks like in a real building, and how quickly change can happen when a school community works together. Three schools highlighted in the celebration illustrate that point.
The Intergenerational School in Cleveland
The Intergenerational School, whose 45 students were at the centre of the Cleveland celebration, has made striking progress. Its chronic absenteeism rate fell from 40.6 percent in 2023-24 to 32.8 percent in 2025-26, a fall of 7.8 percentage points over two school years. Behind those students stand families who adjusted morning routines, teachers who welcomed children back with warmth, and school leaders who kept attendance a priority. The school’s story shows that improvement needs steady attention, day after day, and a culture in which attendance is noticed and celebrated.
Youngstown Community School
Youngstown Community School offers an even sharper example of how quickly things can change. Its chronic absenteeism rate fell from 40.7 percent in 2025 to 22.4 percent in 2026, a fall of 18.3 percentage points in a single year. That is a remarkable turnaround, and it shows what can happen when a school community decides together that attendance will improve, and then follows through with the daily work that makes improvement real. A change of that size does not happen by accident. It happens when families, teachers and school leaders share the same goal, and when students feel wanted and missed when they are away.
Caldwell Exempted Village
Caldwell Exempted Village provides a third example, from a different kind of community. Its chronic absenteeism rate fell from 25.10 percent in 2024-25 to 13.8 percent in 2025-26, a fall of 11.3 percentage points. That improvement took the school from a rate close to the state average to a rate far below it, and it shows that the work of improving attendance is not limited to large cities. Smaller communities, with their own rhythms and challenges, can achieve just as much when they focus on getting children into school each day. Taken together, the three schools tell a hopeful story: Cleveland, Youngstown and Caldwell are different places, yet each of them improved by a meaningful amount. Families in Ohio can read the guide to absences allowed in Ohio schools for the local rules around school absence.
What Other States Can Copy From Ohio
Ohio’s experience offers practical lessons for other states, and the first is about partnership. The network works because it brings together organisations that each bring something different: a football foundation brings visibility and trust, a state education department brings knowledge and reach, Battelle brings organisation across 201 districts, and the U.S. Department of Education brings national attention. No single partner could have achieved this alone.
The second lesson is about celebration rather than scolding. The Cleveland event did not focus on what had gone wrong. It focused on what had gone right, honouring students who had improved and sending them home with a jersey that would remind them of the day. That approach builds motivation and gives children a positive reason to come to school. A child who feels celebrated for showing up is more likely to show up again than one who feels criticised for being away.
The third lesson is about patience and keeping the focus on learning. The network was launched in 2019, and the improvements celebrated now have been built over years, not weeks. The figure of 3.7 million additional hours of learning turns an abstract rate into something concrete: hours in classrooms, learning to read, to calculate, to question and to create. When states talk about attendance in those terms, families can see the purpose clearly. Attendance is not an end in itself. It is the means by which children gain the learning that will shape their lives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network?
The Stay in the Game! Attendance Network is a statewide partnership in Ohio that works to improve school attendance. It was launched in 2019 by the Cleveland Browns Foundation and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, and it is now managed by Battelle. The network partners with 201 districts and impacts 611,000 students across Ohio, supporting schools and families in helping more children attend school regularly.
Which students were celebrated in Cleveland, and why?
Forty-five students from The Intergenerational School in Cleveland, Ohio, were celebrated for improved attendance at the start of the 2026-27 school year. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Cleveland Browns linebacker Winston Reid congratulated the students, toured them around the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, and surprised them with custom Browns jerseys. The celebration took place during Attendance Awareness Month and recognised progress rather than perfection.
How much has chronic absenteeism fallen in Ohio?
Ohio’s chronic absenteeism rate fell from 25.1 percent in 2024-25 to 23.9 percent in 2025-26, representing 3.7 million additional hours of learning. Individual schools saw larger falls: The Intergenerational School moved from 40.6 percent in 2023-24 to 32.8 percent in 2025-26, Youngstown Community School moved from 40.7 percent in 2025 to 22.4 percent in 2026, and Caldwell Exempted Village moved from 25.10 percent in 2024-25 to 13.8 percent in 2025-26.
Why does attendance matter so much for reading and graduation?
Attendance matters because learning builds day by day, and missing school means missing lessons, conversations and feedback that are difficult to replace. Students who are not chronically absent are 3.9 times more likely to read on grade level by the end of third grade and 12 times more likely to graduate on time. Those figures show how closely the simple habit of being present is linked to two of the most important milestones in a child’s education.
How can families keep track of their child’s attendance?
Families can keep track by checking school attendance records regularly, talking with their child about how school is going, and staying in touch with teachers when a day is missed. Keeping a simple record at home of days attended and days missed can help a family spot a pattern early and talk with the school about support. The aim is to notice small changes early, so a short run of absences does not turn into a longer one.
The Lesson That Travels Beyond Ohio
The celebration in Cleveland will be remembered by 45 students as the day they toured a football campus, met a Cabinet secretary and a Browns linebacker, and received custom jerseys made just for them. It will be remembered by their school as public recognition of work that had already brought chronic absenteeism down from 40.6 percent to 32.8 percent. And it will be remembered across Ohio as a moment when a statewide fall from 25.1 percent to 23.9 percent, and 3.7 million additional hours of learning, were given a human face.
Yet the deepest lesson travels beyond Ohio. Attendance improves when children feel that school is a place where they belong, when families feel supported, and when a whole community gathers around the simple act of showing up. The Stay in the Game! Attendance Network shows that this kind of effort can reach 201 districts and 611,000 students, and that it can produce real change in real schools, from Cleveland to Youngstown to Caldwell. For families everywhere, the message is the same one those 45 students heard in Cleveland: every school day is a chance to learn, to grow and to move forward.
Families who want to check how their child’s attendance is tracking can use the free attendance calculator at attendancepercentagecalc.com to work out the percentage in a few moments and keep the habit of showing up on track.
