10 Thousand Dollars: It Pays to Be Perfect

Amount a nine-year-old student from Hartford, Connecticut, won for perfect attendance. Meanwhile, Chicago students with no absences for the first three months of school are eligible for $500 worth of groceries or $1,000 toward a rent or mortgage payment.

With various forms of educational funding related to average daily attendance, schools are working hard to keep the numbers high, or suffer the fiscal consequences.