Cleveland Browns Celebrate Improved Student Attendance
The Cleveland Browns and the U.S. Department of Education honored 45 students from The Intergenerational School for improved attendance during Attendance Awareness Month in September, the team said in a Nov. 11 news release. Linebacker Winston Reid and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon joined the event and presented the students with customized Browns jerseys bearing the students’ names. The students also received a tour of the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus and participated in an afternoon of hands-on football activities.
Reid said the students reacted with excitement when the jerseys were revealed, and the visit was intended to reinforce the connection between regular school attendance and future opportunities. McMahon emphasized that chronic absenteeism remains a national concern and praised efforts that combine sport and education to encourage daily attendance. The release noted that each student at the event was a Browns fan and that the outreach is part of a broader attendance campaign.
Stay in the Game! Attendance Network began in 2019 through the Cleveland Browns Foundation and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and is now managed by Battelle, the release said. The Network partners with 201 school districts and impacts about 611,000 students across Ohio, offering districts access to an online campaign playbook at no cost. Participating districts receive printed Browns-branded campaign materials and can use incentives such as player and mascot visits, video messages, personalized postcards and gameday experiences to support attendance efforts. Community improvement projects like turf field installations are also available as part of district attendance plans to engage students.
The release said statewide chronic absenteeism fell from 25.1 percent in 2024-25 to 23.9 percent in 2025-26, a 1.2 percentage-point decline that the Network calculates represents roughly 3.7 million additional hours of learning. The Intergenerational School has seen its chronic absenteeism rate drop from 40.6 percent in 2023-24 to 32.8 percent in 2025-26, the release added. The release also cited improvements at other districts, including Youngstown Community School and Caldwell Exempted Village, which reported notable reductions over the same period. The Network emphasizes that improved attendance correlates with academic outcomes, noting that students who are not chronically absent are more likely to read on grade level by third grade and to graduate on time.
Renee Harvey, the Browns’ vice president of community impact and foundation, said the initiative is designed to set students up for continued success by cultivating strong attendance habits early in the school year. McMahon described attendance as the everyday building blocks of learning and said missed days make it difficult for students to keep pace in subjects such as math. Assistant Secretary Kirsten Baesler praised the partnership between the Browns, state education leaders and the governor, saying visible support from community and government leaders helps reinforce the importance of showing up to school.
NFL Sports Blog Take
The Browns’ role in Stay in the Game! highlights the franchise’s continued focus on measurable community impact off the field, and the Network’s statewide reach — 201 districts and roughly 611,000 students — gives the program the scale to move attendance metrics. The documented declines in chronic absenteeism at the state level and at individual districts such as The Intergenerational School suggest the combination of data tools, branded materials and incentive-driven engagement can produce tangible gains. Player involvement and visible recognition, including Reid’s visit and personalized jerseys, create memorable reinforcement for students and families that may sustain improved habits. Ongoing tracking of district-level attendance and academic outcomes will be important to determine the program’s lasting effects.