New Haven Public Schools
Shades of red mark percentage of students at each grade level who count as chronically absent.
One out of three New Haven Public Schools students is missing enough school during the Covid-19 pandemic to count as “chronically absent.”
This is up from 18.3 percent at the same time last year, according to the district’s Student Data Director Michele Sherban. Sherban briefed the NHPS Board of Education on the numbers on Monday evening.
Students count as chronically absent if they have been marked absent for 10 percent or more of school days. In the remote learning world, students are marked present if they have at least attended half of their classes for the day or completed half of their assignments.
Around 2,500 students are missing at least one day a week. Within that group, 193 students have attended less than one tenth of the first three months of school. Sherban has already removed students from this list who have been confirmed to have moved or transferred to another school.
Absenteeism is highest among ninth graders.
“Have we done a survey of reasons why students are missing so much school? They can’t claim to have missed the bus or anything like that,” asked Board of Education member Darnell Goldson.
Superintendent Iline Tracey responded that the district’s Office of Youth, Family & Community Engagement has been tracking those reasons as they call and visit the families of students who have not shown up.
“Some students really don’t care to log on. Some are working. Some parents have given up because they have too many kids to attend to,” Tracey said.
Matt Brown: I’m worried about students being pulled away by work.
Principals elaborated on this answer during Wednesday’s Board of Education Teaching and Learning Committee.
High School in the Community Building Leader Matt Brown said that absenteeism has been minimal at the small magnet school. His big concern is seeing particular seniors who were set to be the first in their families to go to college being pulled away from academics by work.
“A lot of our students are working far more than we would like. I worry about that group of kids being pulled away in the fourth quarter. We feel like we can meet the challenge but it’s definitely there,” Brown said.
Derek Stephenson: Students are asking for jobs.
Riverside Academy Principal Derek Stephenson said that he has seen alarming levels of absenteeism at the alternative education program. He has worked out computer, internet and scheduling problems for his students. They are often still missing basic needs. He said that he has hired students to do odd jobs because financial barriers are so top of mind for his students.
“I spend many hours a day thinking about how to engage with students who are already challenging to engage,” Stephenson said.
New Haven Public Schools
General attendance levels (pictured above) have mostly stabilized since the first few weeks of school, when teachers and families were adjusting to live virtual classes. Full engagement (blue) tracks the number of students each week who have been marked present four or more days of school. Partial engagement means the number of students who showed up but missed more than one day of school.
The roughly 600 students completely absent all week tend to be different students each week, Sherban said.