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The New School's Center for New York City Affairs issued a troubling report finding that "more than 90,000 children in grades K through 5 (more than 20 percent of enrollment) missed at least one month of school." And, "In high poverty neighborhoods, the number was far higher, approaching one-third of primary grade students." You can read the whole report here--PDF--but here's an excerpt from the executive summary:
There are many reasons for high rates of chronic early-grade absenteeism: health issues such as asthma, transportation problems (particularly for children with disabilities), and dislocations caused by eviction or traveling between homeless shelters. There are issues of family instability, such as a mother’s depression or illness. Absences are also associated with cultural issues such as language barriers, and with problematic family priorities, including extended family vacations during the school year. The schools themselves bear a responsibility for attendance, both in their attention to the issue and in their efforts to create welcoming places where children want to be and that parents respect and value.The report notes that some schools in high-absenteeism districts have come up with ways to address the matter, by working with other community groups and trying to reach out to families or "seek[ing] intervention when problems are dire." The Bloomberg administration's report card grading system only values attendance as 5% of the total grade, "often masking serious problems," as the NY Times puts it. But the Bloomberg administration has also encouraged the schools and social agencies to share resources to help families and children.Addressing these issues directly, alongside absenteeism, may not only improve school success in the long-term, but also strengthen families and improve the quality of many children’s lives.
Principals are responsible for student attendance, and the deputy mayor of education Dennis Walcott tells the Times, "You are going to have pockets of students and pockets of schools that have high rates of absence, and we can’t be afraid to go after that. Those principals will be held accountable for that. At the same time, I think as a system you see that there are schools that are very attuned to their attendance needs.”
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30% chronically absent.
HAhahahaha....
No HS diploma, no welfare.
Principals are responsible for attendance? What? As an educator I have to say this is crap. 90% of the time the reason the kids are not there is the parents. You call the parents and they are vehemently on little Timmy's side because 'he doesn't feeeel well today.' Well jeebus, Timmy hasn't felt well for 30 days this year! Principals can't fight that...sorry.
district 12 represent!! son.
the report barely touches on the real reason: bad parenting.
The areas where poverty is the greatest is where the absentee rate is the highest. HUH? How can this be? Given that the parent of dose children give education of dem children their highest priority. Just like their parents did.
The principals have to be parents now also!? It's up to the parents to send Johnny to school and make sure he is there.
This is why I disagree with people who keep harping that the problem is underfunding. If you spent a million dollars per student every year, if they don't show up they still learn nothing.
first off the school system sucks and is uninspiring. But making princbles responsible is ludacris. There not family therapists and social workers for godsake. Just another bs ploy to shift resposibility from anyone but the messed up system itself.
85% of parents are chronically absent from their child's life. Al Sharpton, the stage is yours, say something.
These children nowadays are:
(a) Sewing shirtwaists
(b) Shoeing horses
(c) Packing meat
(d) Chillaxin'
Darken the letter bubble next to it with a No 2 pencil.
I blame the chronic rowboat shortage for all the absenteeism on those smaller islands in Jamaica Bay.
"Those principals will be held accountable for that."
Good to know that people who are trying to fight the good fight and make crap wages and take daily abuse to work in inner-city schools take the blame at the highest--as well as the lowest--levels. The longer our bleeding heart society goes on putting little angel wings on all the "oppressed" people and dishes out ZERO percent of the blame to them, the longer this shit-lined hamster wheel is gonna spin. I've walked through Harlem in the middle of a school day and have seen groups of 12-16 y.o. kids just hangin' on the corner doing nothing.
And people wonder why this "oppressed people" gimmick isn't selling like it used to.
Of course the fact that most children in new york have to travel more than 20 minutes to get to their school may play a small part in this
I blame the chronic on this chronic absenteeisms
Hook me gothamist, I want comparison stats to absenteism in nyc offices and job types.
What pecentage of ny residents are absent on any given day?
I do comparisons and context.
"This is why I disagree with people who keep harping that the problem is underfunding. If you spent a million dollars per student every year, if they don't show up they still learn nothing."
It's really two completely unrelated issues. Kids not showing up is one issue. Kids showing up and not learning stuff is another. Are the districts with 0-10% chronic absenteeism perfect? Somehow I doubt it.
As a third grade teacher in East New York, I was always amazed by the excuses...
"We were up late in the laundromat and slept in."
"We were at a birthday party last night and too tired today."
"It was raining."
Parents would actually write me notes like that.
The locations on the map tell the story. Notice how District 26, with its influx of Asian immigrants, has students that actually, you know, study. Probably because their parents will shame them into suicide if they don't. Or maybe it's cultural. Another generation and their hipity-hopity kids will be just as stupid and self-defeating as the ones in the "red" districts.
What ever happened to truant officers? Not fair to put it on the principals. Its not fair to just point to parents either. Of course, school is a socializing experience and "education" should include efforts to arouse in students the importance and pleasure of education, even if the parents are out to lunch. The problem is complex.
There are two major reasons for absenteeism, and this phenomenon is NOT new.
1) Illness, predominately asthma
and
2) The frequent migration and re-immigration of foreign-born populations (predominately from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic).
Principals have no power over these factors and it would be a mistake to blame them for this type of absenteeism. It is the responsibility of parents to obtain timely medical care for their asthmatic children and to avoid prolonged visits to their country of birth during the school year.
famdoc, i like how you tried to mask your rascist comment, not bad, but not good enough.
sorry, slappy, parents are in charge & if they aren't, they are to blame.
there's a reason i wrote "district 12 represent," that was my childhood school district but my parents made sure i went to school.
Zodak: I was a director of a program in the NYC Public Schools that dealt directly with this issue.
There is nothing racist (please correct your spelling of this word) here: it is a statement of reality. Asthma is prevalent in poorer areas of the city and there are cultures that travel to home countries more than others.
#19- Puerto Ricans are not immigrants because PR is a US Commonwealth. Just sayin'...
i love blaming bloomberg for everything. and yes, asthma is a city related problem.
Educated US citizen who never missed school.
---------------------------->
Just thought I'd let you know famdoc.
:D
The problem here is the system itself, between the brainwashing of the Idiot Box and Schools being places to 'recruit' or inbred future criminals.
The problem lies in the Education system *fundamentally* and other factors.
right, because only latin kids are absent from school. nobody else. just those damn foreigners. no, you're not racist. not at all.
(you sure pwned me on the typo, i guess you win this argument.)
How did they come up with that color-coding???
You know how much taxpayer money these fuckhead kids are wasting? they live in government subsidized apartments that cost pennies, get to go to school for free and they don't go. this is what's wrong with america.
"How did they come up with that color-coding???"
famdoc suggested the colors go from white=good to brown=bad.
(he was the director of the program (but he's not racist))
Yeah I was going to mention that the color-coding is pretty funny if unintentional.
White neighborhoods: truancy free! Color them white.
Black/Hispanic neighborhoods: Kids here don't go to school. Color them brooooowwwwn.
7, are you kidding me?! underfunding is a huge problem. we have schools in new york that are falling apart, not enough books, teachers don't show up because they're not paid enough to care, the kids feel like they don't matter so they say fuck it and stop showing up.
has anyone ever read Savage Inequalities by Kozol???
I taught at two schools. One where the kids did their homework and worked very hard. They did well on standardized exams. All of the students were black. The school was in Africa --- where education is highly valued. I thought I was a great teacher.
I returned home and taught at a predominantly white school here. The kids did not care so much, often missed school, didn't do as well on standardized exams. I realized I was a mediocre teacher.
Point being - it is not about race, or about teachers or principals...but about the students' attitude towards school. And that starts at home.
I (mostly) blame the parents.
"Absences are also associated with cultural issues such as language barriers, and with problematic family priorities, including extended family vacations during the school year."
If I had to choose between an extended family vacation and sending my kids to a shitty school in a bad neighborhood to bored every day, I would definitely choose the former.
Look at all the hateful racist comments. I guess even neo-lib hipsters have a breaking point. LOL
Poor people are particularly stressed out ( and not all of them are on "welfare" ) and they often lack the coping skills to deal with that stress ( which might explain why they are impoverished ). One way to deal with truancy is to ask the child to truthfully explain exactly why they are being absent so many times and try to find ways to help. Pointing the finger and trying to shame these people doesn't work. That tactic only works on the motivated, and the highly functional.