Chronic absenteeism remains high in Harlem elementary schools

Tiwana Robinson’s grandchildren don’t want to go to school.

“They’re being bullied in school, picked on,” she said on a recent afternoon, waiting to pick up her pre-kindergartener at PS 36 in West Harlem. More than 60% of students there were chronically absent for the 2022-23 school year, the third-highest school in District Five. Robinson’s sixth grader goes to middle school nearby.

“It’s not just that they’re absent because we’re keeping them home. They don’t want to go to school,” she said. She plans to switch to home schooling after this year.

For District 5, the new academic year represents the chance to recover from a stubborn trend. The Central and West Harlem district faced the highest proportion of chronically absent elementary school children citywide in 2022-23, data from the Department of Education shows.

More than half of District 5 elementary school students were chronically absent compared to a third of elementary school students across the city, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year, about 18 days. Studies show chronic absenteeism heavily influences future school achievement, economic outcomes and overall well-being.

Before 2020, the district still led Manhattan in elementary school absenteeism, but attendance has declined further. Data for 2023-24 will be released sometime this fall.

Absenteeism has also risen across the country, according to the American Enterprise Institute.

Chronic absenteeism in elementary school can have detrimental effects, said Michael A. Gottfried, an applied economist studying absenteeism at the University of Pennsylvania. “I think about it as a trajectory and a pipeline,” he explained. “If we don’t get kids on the right foot to begin with, it’s going to be impossible later on.”

Illness due to children’s developing immune systems contributes to ele mentary absenteeism, Gottfried said; so does lack of safe and reliable transportation. Absenteeism often starts in kindergarten, especially with working parents.

“That’s partially why I think there’s been such a disruption since COVID,” Gottfried said. “You had kids who were just learning to go to school, and then three years later they still haven’t had that practice.” Parents working from home more could increase the likelihood that children stay home too.

Sarah Part, a senior policy analyst for Advocates for Children of New York, focuses on students with disabilities, those living in shelters or whose first language is not English — all of whom are more likely to be absent.

The organization calls for individualized student support, especially for high-risk students.

“Parents will see their children struggling and no one is listening, and no one is offering support,” Part said.

Alexandra Espaillat, a Public School 36 parent, grew frustrated with administrators in January when the school didn’t renew her child’s Individualized Education Program, which outlines special education services.

“Sometimes they would take weeks and still don’t answer,” Espaillat said. “They don’t have the right communication with the parent.”

Espaillat, still waiting to learn whether her child has a dedicated paraeducator this year, is consulting an education lawyer.

Citywide, the average chronic absentee rate for students with disabilities was 34% in 2022-23, but in District 5, that number reached 55%. District 5 had the highest rate of absenteeism for students with disabilities in grades 2, 3 and 4; District 4 had the highest rates for the other elementary school grades. Parent complaints about special education dramatically increased citywide even before the pandemic.

“They say, ‘There’s parents here that don’t ask, they just bring their kids to school, and they don’t ask these questions’,” Espaillat said. “When they meet a parent that is really on top of their child, they’re annoyed by that.”

Part pointed to the need for comprehensive solutions, citing a Rhode Island program. “I haven’t seen, systemwide, anything similar in New York where folks are really focused on this issue.”

Gottfried pointed to simpler policies like safer transportation and integrating disabled students into the general school population, along with longer-term strategies like diversifying the teacher workforce.

District 5 school administrators did not respond to requests for comment.

Flavia Puello-Perdomo, chief of schools for community supports and wellness, said via email that to fight absenteeism New York City public schools provide counseling, medical services, and access to food, clothing and hygiene supplies. The Department of Education also uses the “Every Student, Every Day” initiative and holds weekly attendance meetings to analyze data on absenteeism and its causes.

“N.Y.C.P.S. attendance policy and practice will continue to support schools in looking at the root causes of absences,” Puello-Perdomo said.

She added that the city monitors data using several tools, aided by a central Attendance, Research and Innovation team. “Attendance teachers” also make home visits to chronically absent students.

“Early education is so formative in the rest of student’s educational careers and their lives,” Gottfried said. “If we’re not setting them up for success early on, then we’re really not setting up for their success later on.”