A study by Harvard Professor Joshua Goodman into the effect of snow days on student progress recently appeared in the Washington Post. He concludes that official snow days do not appear to affect progress, but student absenteeism does negatively effect progress, especially math progress.
“The upshot is not that superintendents should shut down schools when the first snowflake falls,” Goodman said, “but that student absenteeism is a bigger problem than it usually gets credit for in national education debates.”
If schools get their arms around absenteeism it will do more for achievement than other common approaches like drill and practice.