In 2022, chronic absenteeism among third-eighth graders at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District had nearly doubled since before the pandemic. In 2024, the district significantly lowered that number and stands out amongst districts nationwide that are struggling to keep absenteeism rates low.

This data, among other highlights, secured Monterey Peninsula Unified’s place as a success story in the Education Recovery Scorecard. A partnership between researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth, the scorecard tracks academic trends across districts following the pandemic. Monterey Peninsula Unified is one of nine success stories analyzed in the 2025 scorecard.

“Being recognized as a success story is truly a testament to the hard work of our educators, leaders, students and our community,” said Cresta McIntosh, associate superintendent of educational services. “It validates the really strategic and technical efforts we’ve been making behind the scenes to support and accelerate learning post-pandemic.

“While we continue to be really proud of this progress, we remain committed to equitable approaches to support our students, because although we’ve accelerated some learning, there’s still work to do,” said McIntosh.

The Scorecard

In 2022, project leaders and researchers Tom Kane and Sean Reardon, along with others, found that by the time states returned to regular testing in spring 2022, the average student in grades 3-8 had lost the equivalent of half a grade level in math performance and a third of a grade level in reading. The third and latest scorecard tracks how these same grade levels performed in spring 2024.

The latest scorecard used test results from around 11,000 districts in 43 states, about 80% of students in the country. Seven districts did not have high enough participation rates to get reliable data. Test scores were put onto a common scale to convert proficiency rates to “grade levels” of achievements based on research led by Reardon and colleagues in 2017 and 2021.

Researchers pinpointed nine districts across the country that stood out by improving student outcomes through innovative teaching methods, curriculum and other student support programs. Based on its steady student achievement, Monterey Peninsula Unified was chosen as one of these case studies.Reducing chronic absenteeism

The report highlights the district’s successful implementation of wraparound student supports, including its efforts to address the root causes of absenteeism. Monterey Peninsula Unified’s leadership development at the school and district level also contributed to the success of the new curriculum.

“We’ve really stood behind the fact that reducing chronic absenteeism is a critical part of our student learning recovery,” said McIntosh. “While we know it’s necessary to support our students in accelerating, we won’t be able to do that if our students aren’t in our classrooms.”

Through a nearly $1.4 million grant, the district created its intervention program Promoting Attendance through Collaboration and Compassionate Systems. The program takes a non-punitive, evidence-based approach to address the root causes of chronic absenteeism.

“Addressing chronic absenteeism requires uncovering and addressing the specific barriers that prevent students from getting to school and helping them show up prepared and in the right headspace to learn,” said Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh in a statement.

PACCS focused on some of these barriers, including transportation struggles, health concerns or general student disengagement, according to McIntosh.

The district provided telehealth services, technical assistance and increased family support to families whose children often missed school.

It also implemented a pilot program called EveryDay Labs that allows district leaders at each school site to access attendance rates and provide direct resources to families who have chronically absent students. According to the district, the five schools who have implemented the program have seen decreases in absenteeism.

Districtwide, the chronic absenteeism rate dropped from 26.9% in the 2022-23 school year to 16.07% in the 2023-24 school year.

Student outcomes

In 2019, third-eighth graders at the district were two grade points below the national average in math, and as of last spring, they had cut that gap by 0.17 of a point.

Reading performance grew .39 from 2019-2022 then took a sharp fall in 2022-24, which matched a nationwide decline in reading. Testing scores have begun to come back up and regardless of the fall, students are still doing slightly better than they were pre-pandemic.

Overall, the scorecard shows Monterey Peninsula Unified is doing better in math and reading compared to districts with similar socioeconomic status, demographics and size. With around 9,200 students, 66% of the district’s population is socioeconomically disadvantaged and around 76% are students of color.

Reardon and Kane’s data found the gap between districts with higher and lower levels of Black and Hispanic students had grown by 17%. The data further showed racial and ethnic disparities have been widening over the past five years with students of color continuing to fall behind academically.

McIntosh noted the recognition highlights the district’s data-driven Equitable Continuous Improvement efforts, which aims to support historically marginalized students specifically.

The district’s efforts were heavily inspired by research on the opportunity myth, which found students of color are often not provided with rigorous activity or grade-level access, despite those students believing they would be set up for career or college success.

The research also focused on opportunity makers, districts using high-quality standards-based curriculum and focusing on creating a sense of belonging, particularly for underserved communities.

“We really engaged deeply in that work,” said McIntosh.

Focus on leadership

Monterey Peninsula Unified was also highlighted for its focus on leadership development to bring a new math curriculum to life. In 2021, the district received a grant from UnboundEd and CORE Learning to build the capacity of its leaders to support curriculum implementation.

“We recognize that sustainable improvement in math instruction requires strong leadership at every level,” said McIntosh. “We believe that leadership is not a position but an action.”

With the grant, the district developed and invested in leadership opportunities for principals, instructional leaders and teachers to support each other in ensuring there was a deep understanding and strong implementation of the curriculum.

“Increasing our school leaders’ knowledge of the curricula has allowed them to have meaningful conversations about specific standards and instructional strategies with teachers,” said Diffenbaugh. “When principals and teachers speak the same language, they can collaborate to strengthen classroom instruction.”

Looking forward

“While we’re proud of the progress we’re celebrated for, there’s much work to do,” said McIntosh.

The district plans to build on this momentum through continuing to deepen math instructional practices, expanding on intervention and appropriate responses to absenteeism and ensuring coherence among every grade level so all students have equal opportunities.

“We’re really paying attention to who is thriving and being successful in accessing these opportunities,” said McIntosh, “and who isn’t and what we can do about that.”