Focus on Attendance Pays off

He could have put the money into salaries: $250,000 would pay for three classroom teachers. But instead Berkeley school Superintendent Bill Huyett, invested in an extra high school administrator and staff with a single focus -- attendance.

The investment paid off, writes Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Not only is attendance up, but the resulting Average Daily Attendance monies from the state -- $35 a pupil a day -- enabled the district to rescind layoff notices to 148 teachers.