System 1 and System 2 Persuasion Tactics and Their Impacts on Secondary School Absenteeism

Public project summary

Chronic absenteeism: the state of lacking 10% or more of school days in a given academic year, has been an issue for as long as modern education. In 2016-2017, approximately 7 million students (16% of all students) were chronically absent. Henry M. Gunn High School has a ~5% chronic absentee rate, with some of those figures contributed by the aptly named "strategic absentees": those who cut a given class as to prepare for another. With no effective measures already in place, the aim of this proposal is to "nudge" students to attend class, without needing to impose any new campus regulators or constraints, while also actively comparing the efficacy of subconscious and conscious suggestion.