This brief from the Center for Urban Education Leadership at the University of Illinois Chicago addresses chronic absence (CA), which has numerous causes and serious consequences for student learning outcomes. The brief discusses the root and proximal causes, consequences, and remedies of CA; what schools and large, urban districts can do about CA; and how districts can prioritize supports for schools whose populations are most likely to struggle with CA. This brief recommends that school districts focus on CA and, to improve learning outcomes, leaders should embrace principles of adaptive leadership and cycles of inquiry, better tailoring organizational capacity to the needs of specific families and schools.