Oct. 20 – A recent report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said chronic absenteeism among New York public and charter school students rose sharply as schools transitioned back to in-person learning after the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
Those numbers remained high, with nearly one in three students chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year, the report said. The rates were highest among middle school students at 34.1%, 7.6 percentage points higher than among elementary and middle school students.
“Chronic absenteeism has been associated with lower grades, lower standardized test scores and an increased risk of dropping out,” DiNapoli said. “Students who chronically miss class time often fall behind. Reducing chronic absenteeism will be essential to reversing pandemic-era learning loss. School districts must engage students, families and their communities in addressing this troubling problem.”
Chronic absenteeism is defined by the U.S. Department of Education as the percentage of students who miss at least 10% of days – typically 18 – in a school year for any reason, without excuse or for disciplinary reasons. New York State excludes suspensions and extended medical absences from the state’s calculation of chronic absenteeism.
DiNapoli’s report found during the 2022-2023 school year:
– Public schools in major cities (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers) and charter schools had the highest rates of chronic absenteeism in high schools: 64.2% and 52.1%, respectively. These secondary schools also experienced the largest increase in chronic absenteeism between 2018-2019 and 2022-2023. New York City high schools had a chronic absenteeism rate of 43.1% in 2022-2023.
—Chronic absenteeism rates are higher in high-needs school districts than in low-needs districts. High schools in high-needs rural districts had a chronic absenteeism rate of 33%, an increase of 10.1 points from 2018-2019, and high-needs districts had a rate of 40.9%, an increase of 8.6 points compared to 2018-2019. Low-needs districts had a chronic absenteeism rate in high schools of 13.4%, an increase of 4.9 points from 2018-2019.
—Racial differences also have consequences for chronic absenteeism. Asian or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (21.3%) and White (24.7%) high school students have much lower chronic absenteeism rates than Hispanic or Latino students (43.7%) and Black or African -American students (46.4%).
—Absenteeism rates are also higher among economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. In secondary schools in major cities, the percentage for these students in the period 2022-2023 was an “alarming” 71.2%, according to the report.
The impact of the pandemic
New York’s public schools and public schools were forced to quickly transition to remote learning when the pandemic impacted daily life in March 2020 and into 2020-2021, the report said. As a result, those school districts continued to use a combination of remote, in-person and hybrid formats: 61% of students were fully remote, 38% were in-person and 1% were hybrid. As parents, students and school staff grappled with the effects of the virus and its impact on learning, chronic absenteeism increased from 18.6% in 2018-2019 to 24.1% in 2020-2021. When full in-person learning resumed in 2021-2022, chronic absenteeism increased further, with 32.6% of students chronically absent – an increase of 14 percentage points from SY 2018-2019.
While the public health emergency remained in effect, many school districts implemented restrictions that prevented students who tested positive for COVID-19 from returning to school for a period of time. These restrictions likely had a significant impact on the increase in chronic absenteeism, the report said. Rates improved in 2022-2023, but remained significantly above pre-pandemic rates.
Policy efforts
According to the report, chronic absenteeism rates vary significantly among student subgroups. The state Education Department reports chronic absenteeism rates by race and ethnicity, as well as for economically disadvantaged students, English language learners and students with disabilities. Although New York initially set a long-term goal of reducing chronic absenteeism to no more than 5% of students in each subgroup statewide, the state suspended that goal in 2022-23 and 2023-24 in response to the post-pandemic. absenteeism rates.
The Ministry of Education has proposed eliminating the chronic absenteeism statistic altogether by 2025-2026 in favor of an attendance index. It also launched the “Every Student Present” initiative as a public awareness campaign to help parents, school staff and communities understand the impact of chronic absenteeism.
The department has recommended that school districts reduce chronic absenteeism by, among other things, expanding school breakfast programs as a way to get students to school every day and on time, engaging in frequent and positive communication with parents and guardians, and promoting good attendance and improvements in recognize school attendance. initiatives, the report said.
School districts such as Buffalo and Syracuse have also launched their own efforts, and federal funding through the Every Student Succeed Act and emergency aid for elementary and middle schools can also be used to address chronic absenteeism.
DiNapoli’s report emphasized the need for the state to continue tracking and publicly reporting chronic absenteeism at the school, district, and state levels to provide transparency and the opportunity to track the state’s progress in addressing measure this persistent problem. “Chronic absenteeism is one of the most important factors impacting some students’ ability to overcome pandemic-era learning loss,” the report concludes.
