The program started in 2010 in 100 city schools. The report released Wednesday by the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Education found that the most effective component of the initiative was pairing students with mentors.
The mentors including retirees and social work students were assigned to students who had missed at least 20 days of school the previous year.
The report found that students who had a mentor gained an average of nearly two weeks in school per year.
New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the report validates the city's strategy of targeting absenteeism in order to boost student performance.
