Oregon Department of Education staff spoke with principals from five Oregon schools that had low rates of chronic absenteeism compared to schools with similar demographics during the 2014-15 school year: Echo Shaw Elementary School, Free Orchards Elementary School, Dayton Junior High School, Valor Middle School, and North Marion High School. Each school takes a unique approach to encouraging student attendance, yet they share some common threads. This brief highlights the high correlation between attendance, absenteeism, and student outcomes. It focuses on students whose attendance rates are below 90 percent--students who are sometimes referred to as "chronically absent." It first examines how chronic absenteeism and student characteristics are correlated, and then looks at how chronic absenteeism relates to student success as measured by standardized test scores and high school on-time graduation rates. Findings include: (1) students who are in poverty and American Indian/Alaska Native students have higher rates of chronic absenteeism than their peers; (2) Female students have higher rates of chronic absenteeism than male students in later grades; (3) Fewer chronically absent students meet state standards on math and reading tests than their peers; and (4) Chronically absent students have a lower on-time graduation rate than their peers, lagging about 16 percentage points behind.