Nearly 56% of New York City 12th-graders missed at least 18 days of school last year, an alarming new post-pandemic study has found.
And despite the full opening of city schools after the COVID-19 crisis, nearly 50% of black and Hispanic students were chronically absent.
By borough, Bronx kids missed the most classes, 48%, data show.
“Student absenteeism has become significantly worse in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says the study issued Friday by the government watchdog Empire Center for Public Policy. “Students simply aren’t coming to school with the same regularity as they did before the pandemic.”
Kids fail to show for various reasons — including jobs, caring for younger siblings or feeling disengaged from school. In some ways, COVID lockdowns and remote classes “normalized the idea of not attending,” the report says.
The citywide rate of chronic absenteeism — when students miss 10% or more of the academic year, or at least 18 days — hit 40% in 2021-22, as first reported by The Post, up from 27% pre-pandemic.
The new report — titled “School’s Out Forever,” after the Alice Cooper song — gives a demographic breakdown showing the problem is especially severe among kids of color and students with special needs, as well as high-school seniors.
Using city Department of Education data, researcher Ian Kingsbury compared absenteeism in 2018-19, before the COVID crisis, to 2021-22, after DOE schools fully reopened. Among his findings:
- By grade level, 12th-graders had the worst chronic absenteeism last year — 55.9%, up from 43.7% pre-pandemic. “It’s a number that’s difficult to fathom, and policymakers should be treating this as an emergency,” Kingsbury told The Post.
- By race in all grades, black students had the highest rate of chronic absenteeism — 49.8%, compared to 34.3% pre-pandemic; followed by Hispanic kids, 47.2% (up from 31.8%); white kids, 30.2% (up from 17.1%), and Asian-American students, 23.1% (up from 13.3%).
- After the Bronx, absenteeism by borough was worst in Manhattan, 42% (up from 27%); Brooklyn, 40% (up from 26%); Staten Island, 39% (up from 24%), and Queens, 36% (up from 22%).
- Among students with disabilities, a staggering 51.9% were chronically absent compared to 31.7% pre-pandemic. English learners: 41% (up from 28%). Kids in poverty: 45% (up from 30.4%).
“Absenteeism in New York City was worse than the national average before the pandemic, but the pandemic significantly exacerbated the issue,” Kingsbury found. “Only 96 of 1,518 schools kept their average daily attendance rates steady or boosted them from 2018-19 to 2021-22.”
The missed days contribute to learning loss, and put kids at risk of dropping out, delinquency and substance abuse, experts warn.
But in New York, kids don’t have go to class to pass. They can still graduate. Under DOE rules, students cannot be denied credit or promotion “based on lack of seat time alone.”
Administrators often pressure teachers to pass students who have skipped class and done little or no work. Despite the sharp drop in attendance, NYC’s graduation rate has risen — leaving many students unprepared for college or careers.
Some students take advantage of the loophole — and tell their friends, said James Hogue, a Forest Hills HS teacher.
“Students are aware of the deal they get — to not come to school and pass anyway — so why would they show up?”
Teachers told The Post they have noticed more empty seats.
“I sometimes see 11 students absent from a class of 33 or 34,” said Arthur Goldstein, who teaches English-language learners at Francis Lewis HS in Queens. “I haven’t seen that before. I think maybe, during COVID, they started to feel attendance wasn’t important.”
A Brooklyn high-school English teacher said staffers try to reach the absentees: “I have a whole list of students I personally wrangle to get to school.”
He added, “If the mayor focused on housing people, I’d have more kids in school. I have so many homeless students. And a lot of my students in public housing have been missing due to a lack of running water. Hygiene keeps them away. We have a washing machine at school.”
Guidance counselors and social workers tackle the problem, but a Queens high school teacher wants the city to hold more parents accountable if their children miss too many days.
“You have kids with major mental health issues that impede them from going to school,” she said. “Then you have kids who are just not coming to school. No one is making them.”
