{"id":236182,"date":"2025-09-18T10:56:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/236182\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:56:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:56:17","slug":"one-third-of-nyc-public-school-students-chronically-absent-last-school-year-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/236182\/","title":{"rendered":"One-third of NYC public school students chronically absent last school year: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a focus on pandemic recovery fades from public discourse, New York City\u2019s school attendance crisis<\/a> remains in full effect, according to new data released Wednesday.<\/p>\n

About one-third of public school students<\/a> were considered chronically absent last year, defined as missing at least 10% of school days, the Mayor\u2019s Management Report found.<\/p>\n

The data reflect a slight improvement after the absenteeism percentage hovered in the mid-30s<\/a> during the prior two school years \u2014 and more significant progress since chronic absenteeism peaked at 41%<\/a> in 2021-22.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a far cry from where observers hoped the city\u2019s education system would have rebounded to by now, several years after pandemic-era school closures. In the decade leading up to COVID-19, roughly one-quarter of students<\/a> were chronically absent each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so incremental as to be almost meaningless,\u201d David Bloomfield, a professor of education law and policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, said of the marginal year-over-year gains.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s stubbornly high absenteeism rate mirrors worrisome trends observed across the nation<\/a> \u2014 and may indicate a permanent rupture in families\u2019 views on the importance of school attendance, barring intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere seems to have been a cultural shift that attendance is optional,\u201d Bloomfield added. \u201cWhat else can account for such huge number of families and children not making school attendance routine?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(Shutterstock)\"About one-third of public school students were considered chronically absent last year, defined as missing at least 10% of school days, the Mayor’s Management Report found. (Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

In the report, officials said that to boost attendance, schools last year continued to conduct \u201cextensive\u201d outreach, worked with community groups, and followed up daily with students and their families. Asked if the Adams administration is still focused on the issue, or if the high no-show rates represent a new normal, City Hall defended its response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proof is in the pudding \u2014 chronic absenteeism has dropped to its lowest level in four years,\u201d said Zachary Nosanchuk, a spokesman for Mayor Adams. \u201cThis is a historic success, but we won\u2019t stop here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her first year leading the Big Apple\u2019s school system, Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos has tried to tackle the problem as part of a body of work she calls \u201cNYCPS Cares,\u201d which connects families \u2014 including those whose kids struggle with attendance \u2014 with existing city resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents want to send their kids to school. If kids aren\u2019t going to school, there is a barrier keeping them from school,\u201d Aviles-Ramos told the Daily News<\/a> in April. \u201cInstead of, \u2018Why haven\u2019t you sent your kids to school?\u2019 we\u2019re asking, \u2018What are the things that are keeping you from sending your kids to school? And how can we help you?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The Education Department also provides schools with training and guidance on how to reduce chronic absenteeism, such as by tapping staff to call students if they\u2019re absent or holding weekly meetings of \u201cschool attendance teams\u201d to monitor trends and intervene early. Officials also promote the use of \u201cSuccess Mentors,\u201d or adults who guide students and identify the reasons they\u2019re not in class.<\/p>\n

Plus, a citywide campaign to promote the benefits of regular attendance will launch soon, a spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

As Adams\u2019 reelection bid continues to poll in the single digits, it will likely fall to a new administration to reaffirm a focus on returning chronic absenteeism to, at least, its prepandemic levels.<\/p>\n

Democratic nominee and mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani has yet to release a full education plan. However, he has thrown his support behind a pilot program, \u201cEvery Child and Family Is Known,\u201d<\/a> which fosters one-to-one relationships between children in homeless shelters and caring adults. Students in shelters are twice as likely to be chronically absent<\/a> as their classmates, according to a program description.<\/p>\n

Andrew Cuomo, the mayoral candidate polling second, but significantly behind Mamdani and running as an independent, says he would convert schools with high absenteeism to \u201ccommunity schools\u201d<\/a> that offer support services, among other initiatives.<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s Management Report offers an early indicator of how chronic absenteeism rates shifted last year, though more complete attendance data \u2014 broken down by race, disability, poverty and homelessness \u2014 are expected to be released in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Bloomfield, the education professor, stressed the importance of school attendance in not only academic progress, but also child development and eventually workforce readiness.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Society] depends on people getting up and going to work and attending to their duties, their obligations,\u201d he said. \u201cShowing up is a big part of adult success, and that\u2019s taught through school attendance \u2014 regular school attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 17, 2025 at 2:47 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a focus on pandemic recovery fades from public discourse, New York City\u2019s school attendance crisis remains in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":236183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,407,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-236182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-county","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115224942065095225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}