Student absenteeism is a barrier to learning and an issue that requires policy intervention. Students with disabilities are of particular concern, as they miss school more often than students in any other demographic group. Affecting a key attribute of school structures, policies promoting full-day kindergarten began as an effort to improve opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but no studies have provided causal evidence as to whether full-day kindergarten enrollment relates to school attendance. No studies have examined whether effects exist for students with disabilities in the long term. Using a nationally representative sample of children with disabilities in the United States (N = 2,120), we employed an instrumental-variable strategy that capitalized on state-level policy shifts of full-day kindergarten offerings as an exogenous source of variation. We found that full-day kindergarten structures related to a sharp increase in absenteeism for children with disabilities in kindergarten and first and second grades. We found no relationship to absenteeism for these children in later years of primary schooling. We discuss policy implications of these findings.

学生旷课是学习的障碍，也是需要政策干预的问题。残疾学生尤其受到关注，因为他们比任何其他人口群体的学生更经常缺课。影响学校结构的一个关键属性，促进全日制幼儿园的政策开始是为了改善弱势背景学生的机会，但没有研究提供关于全日制幼儿园入学率是否与入学率相关的因果证据。没有研究检查对残疾学生是否有长期影响。使用具有全国代表性的美国残疾儿童样本 ( N = 2,120），我们采用了一种工具变量策略，该策略利用全日制幼儿园课程的州级政策转变作为外生变量来源。我们发现，全日制幼儿园结构与幼儿园和一二年级残疾儿童缺勤率的急剧增加有关。我们发现这些孩子在小学后期的旷课没有关系。我们讨论了这些发现的政策含义。