New York City among districts with high student

9/6/2016
New York City among districts with high student absenteeism | Chalkbeat
TAKING ATTNDANC
New York Cit among ditrict with
high tudent aenteeim
 Chritina Veiga
@cveiga
cveiga@chalkeat.org
PULIHD: eptemer 6, 2016 - 6:00 a.m. DT
COMMNT
Chronic aenteeim, largel regarded a a prolem for chool ditrict erving poor tudent, i
actuall much more widepread.
Rich or poor, uran or rural, large or mall, 89 percent of all chool ditrict truggle with ome
level of chronic aenteeim, according to a report releaed Tueda  Attendance Work, a
national advocac organization.
PONOR
http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/09/06/new­york­city­among­districts­with­high­student­absenteeism/#.V87SgSgrJ4c
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9/6/2016
New York City among districts with high student absenteeism | Chalkbeat
till, half of all chronicall-aent tudent were concentrated in onl 4 percent of the countr’
chool ditrict, including New York Cit.
Uing federal data to pinpoint how man tudent mied 15 da or more of cla, the report
found that 3.5 percent of tudent in New York Cit were chronicall aent in 2013-14 — a
urpriingl low numer that the cit’ Department of ducation acknowledged wa an error. In
fact, 31 percent of tudent were chronicall aent, according to the cit’ own anali uing
the federal definition.
To calculate chronic aenteeim, the cit uuall ue the more roadl-accepted tandard of
tudent who have mied 10 percent or more of the chool ear — tpicall 18 to 20 da.
Under that tandard, the rate in New York Cit wa:
27.6 percent in 2013-14
25.5 percent in 2014-15
25 percent in 2015-16
Kim Nauer, education reearch director at the Center for New York Cit Affair, aid accurate data
collection i crucial for figuring out who mie chool, and wh.
“If ou track chronic aence and then ou look at the chool that have reall high rate … that
allow ou to deplo our reource to thoe chool,” he aid.
The picture wa further muddied on Frida when the New York Pot reported that Chancellor
Carmen Fariña had mireported the chronic aenteeim rate for Renewal chool  roughl 20
point at a preentation to tate official in Octoer. A pokeperon for the Department of
ducation acknowledged the error to the Pot, ut that mitake i unrelated to the federal
undercount.
http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/09/06/new­york­city­among­districts­with­high­student­absenteeism/#.V87SgSgrJ4c
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9/6/2016
New York City among districts with high student absenteeism | Chalkbeat
Hed N. Chang, executive director of Attendance Work, aid he wa confident the federal data
accuratel reflect large-cale trend and offered an explanation for wh ome of the numer
ma e off.
“The concluion nationwide are reall ound,” he aid. “Thi wa elf-reported data and it wa a
firt-time data collection.”
New York Cit ha een conidered a leader when it come to oth tracking and addreing
chronic aenteeim. Real-time data tem allow chool to flag individual tudent who mi
chool often, and the cit ha pioneered mentoring program that have een replicated acro
the countr.
An evaluation of program tarted under former Maor Michael loomerg found that tudent
were 52 percent more likel to ta enrolled in high chool, and poor, minorit tudent were 15
percent le likel to e chronicall aent.
Maor ill de laio ha alo taken on the iue, partl through the launch of dozen of
“communit chool.” Thoe chool receive extra funding for everthing from mental health
upport to additional taffer taked with keeping an ee on attendance.
Reearch ha hown that tudent who are chronicall aent are more likel to fail clae, e
upended and drop of out of high chool.
“We know that chronic aence i a huge, overlooked factor dragging down tudent
achievement,” Chang aid. “We need to figure out how to ring everone together to get kid to
chool.”
IN THI TORY: ATTNDANC, CHRONIC ANTIM, COMMUNITY CHOOL
: Chritina Veiga @cveiga cveiga@chalkeat.org
Chritina Veiga i a reporter for Chalkeat New York covering earl childhood education, chool
diverit and the Department of ducation. he previoul covered K-12 education for the Miami
Herald.
FOLLOW CHALKAT NW YORK
http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/09/06/new­york­city­among­districts­with­high­student­absenteeism/#.V87SgSgrJ4c
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