Chalkbeat | One in three New York City public school students was chronically absent last school year, which is defined as missing at least 10% of school days, according to statistics released Wednesday.

That represents a slight dip from the 2023-24 school year, when 34.8% of students were chronically absent. But it is still considerably higher than pre-pandemic levels, when chronic absenteeism rates hovered closer to 1 in 4 children.

Attendance is considered a key metric for school performance for a commonsense reason: Missed school typically means missed learning.

Chronic absenteeism exploded to 40%, the highest level in decades, during the COVID pandemic when students returned full-time to their classrooms during the 2021-22 school year, following the city’s pivot to remote learning.

Though COVID-related illnesses drove up those numbers, with hundreds of thousands of students and staff testing positive that year, chronic absenteeism rates have remained stubbornly high even as the virus receded.

In New York City, schools that enroll a high number of students from low-income families are even more likely to have high rates of absenteeism. Some schools have leaned on peer-to-peer support to help coax students to school. But the problem continues to bedevil the nation’s largest school district as well as others across the country.

As President Donald Trump ramps up immigration enforcement, some families have been more wary of bringing their children to school out of fear of being detained, which could affect rates of chronic absenteeism. Education Department officials have sought to reassure families by telling them that schools are safe, and federal law enforcement officers are not allowed in buildings without a judicial warrant.

“It’s impossible to know the extent to which that was a systemic factor,” said Sarah Part, a senior policy analyst at Advocates for Children, an organization that helps low-income families navigate the school system. “But the fear and anxiety sparked by the current political climate extend to immigrant communities broadly, not just to those who are themselves undocumented or have pending immigration cases.”