Detroit Public Schools Community District is bringing back its “Perfect Attendance Pays” programme for the 2026-27 school year, giving high-school students a chance to earn $100 for each qualifying period of perfect attendance. The programme is also being expanded to students in grades 6-8, who can receive $50 for a qualifying period. The initiative comes as Detroit continues to grapple with high levels of chronic absenteeism and is part of a wider effort to encourage students to attend school regularly. During the previous programme, about 12,800 high-school students received at least one $100 Visa gift card. The district is now extending the incentive to younger students while also investing in transportation, attendance staff and other support aimed at getting more students into classrooms consistently.
Detroit school students earned up to $1,000 for perfect attendance
The programme rewards students who maintain perfect attendance during designated five-day qualifying cycles. Under the previous programme, eligible high-school students had to attend all their scheduled classes throughout the cycle to receive a $100 Visa gift card. The programme ran from January 5 through March 20, 2026, with 10 qualifying cycles, allowing students who met the requirement every time to earn up to $1,000.The structure is designed to reward consistent attendance rather than occasional appearances. Students who failed to maintain perfect attendance during one cycle could still qualify during a later cycle, giving them another opportunity to earn the incentive.The previous programme reached a substantial share of Detroit’s district high-school population. About 12,800 students received at least one $100 Visa gift card during the 2025-26 programme, according to figures reported by Chalkbeat Detroit. DPSCD had about 15,247 students across 26 high schools at the time, meaning roughly 84% received at least one reward. The number includes students who qualified for a single cycle as well as those who earned rewards during multiple cycles.
Middle-school students are joining the programme
For 2026-27, DPSCD is expanding the incentive beyond high school. Students in grades 6-8 can now qualify for $50 for a qualifying period of perfect attendance, while high-school students remain eligible for the $100 reward. The expansion brings the programme to students earlier in their school careers, giving the district another way to encourage regular attendance before absenteeism becomes a longer-term problem. The initiative is included among the district’s attendance priorities in its adopted $1.1 billion budget for 2026-27.
Detroit continues to face an attendance crisis
The programme comes against a backdrop of widespread absenteeism across the district. About 60.9% of DPSCD students were chronically absent during the 2024-25 school year, according to figures reported by Michigan Public. Chronic absenteeism generally means missing at least 10% of the school year. For a large urban school district such as Detroit, prolonged absences can mean students lose substantial amounts of classroom instruction and can fall further behind academically. DPSCD has therefore made attendance a central part of its broader school improvement strategy, combining financial incentives with transportation assistance, attendance personnel and other services.
High-school absenteeism has shown improvement
The district has reported a notable improvement in high-school attendance since its attendance efforts intensified. High-school chronic absenteeism fell from 64% in 2023-24 to 54% by the end of April 2026, according to figures cited in recent reporting. The change came during a period when DPSCD was using several approaches to address attendance, including the Perfect Attendance Pays programme. The gift-card incentive is, therefore one element of a wider push to bring more students into classrooms and keep them there consistently.
Millions are being invested in attendance
DPSCD’s $1.1 billion 2026-27 budget includes $13.9 million for efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism. The allocation supports a range of measures rather than being limited to student rewards. The funding covers initiatives including attendance agents, financial incentives for middle- and high-school students, wraparound services and yellow-school-bus service pilots. The district is effectively treating attendance as a problem that requires both motivation and practical support.
Transportation is another focus
Getting students to school can itself be a challenge, particularly for families who rely on public transportation. As part of its attendance strategy, DPSCD is expanding yellow-school-bus service to Pershing High School and Cody High School during the 2026-27 school year. The district’s transportation measures are intended to address some of the practical barriers that can keep students away from school. Financial rewards may encourage attendance, but reliable ways to get to the classroom are also important for students who face transportation difficulties.
The programme is part of a wider attendance strategy
DPSCD’s “Perfect Attendance Pays” initiative is designed around a simple idea: give students an immediate reward for maintaining a behaviour that can have long-term academic benefits. Rather than waiting until a student becomes severely absent, the district is using regular incentives to encourage students to keep attending. The approach also fits into the district’s broader Blueprint 2027 goals, which include improving attendance and reducing chronic absenteeism. The financial incentive is being used alongside other interventions rather than as a standalone solution.
Not every chronically absent student can benefit
The programme has also highlighted the difficulty of reaching students with the most serious attendance problems. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has acknowledged that the incentive has not yet reached some students with severe absenteeism, including those who miss dozens of school days. That creates a natural limit to a perfect-attendance reward. Students who are already able to attend regularly may find it easier to qualify, while those facing major barriers such as transportation problems, family circumstances or other challenges may struggle to meet the requirement. For those students, DPSCD’s additional attendance services and support programmes become particularly important.
Detroit is expanding the experiment
The 2026-27 school year marks another step in Detroit’s attempt to tackle chronic absenteeism through a combination of incentives and support. High-school students can continue to earn $100 Visa gift cards for qualifying periods of perfect attendance, while students in grades 6-8 are being brought into the programme at $50. The previous programme showed that the incentive could reach thousands of students, with about 12,800 high-schoolers receiving at least one reward. As DPSCD expands the programme, the district is betting that financial incentives, better transportation and additional student support can help turn more regular attendance into a lasting habit.
