Research points to the critical importance of helping young children get into the habit of attending school every day. Good attendance in the early years is strongly correlated with reading proficiently by the end of third grade, graduating from high school on time, and success in adulthood. Chronic absence is an early-warning sign that intervention may be needed to ensure a child is on a path to success. Using data from the Iowa Department of Education on over 37,000 students, the Child and Family Policy Center has analyzed the prevalence of chronic absence among Iowa early-elementary students (K-3). The data show that a small but significant group of early-elementary students in Iowa is missing substantial amounts of school, and many of those students are facing other challenges in their academic and home lives. Key findings include: (1) Chronic absence rates were highest in kindergarten, then improved through third grade; (2) One-third of Iowa districts and nearly 40 percent of elementary schools have rates of chronic absence among kindergartners in excess of 10 percent; (3) Average daily attendance masks significant differences in rates of chronic absence among Iowa districts. Average daily attendance rates of 95 percent among kindergartners translated to chronic absence rates from 5 percent to over 18 percent; (4) Patterns of attendance established in kindergarten, coming to school regularly or not, are likely to continue in subsequent grades; (5) Iowa students who are chronically absent are over one and a half times less likely to be proficient in reading by third grade; (6) Chronic absence is more pronounced among racial and ethnic minority groups who experience constrained opportunity even before birth; (7) Low-income students were three to four times more likely than their peers to be chronically absent across all four school years documented in this report; (8) Students receiving special education services were two to three times more likely to be chronically absent than their peers; (9) English Language Learners were more likely to be chronically absent in the earliest years, but the gap virtually disappears by third grade; and (10) Boys and girls in Iowa are chronically absent in the early-elementary years at very similar rates. Sidebars present strategies for reducing chronic absence and five protective factors.