Chalkbeat | Graduation rates dipped last year across New York City by just over 2 percentage points to 81.2% — the largest year-over-year decline in more than two decades — as officials have reinstated requirements that were loosened during the pandemic.

The data, which state officials posted quietly online without the customary public announcement or press briefing, reveals the graduation rates for the Class of 2025. Those students began ninth grade in September 2021, the first time all students were required to attend school in person after the pandemic hit.

“They entered high school in a weird place,” said Sarah Part, a senior policy analyst at Advocates for Children, a group that provides support and legal help to low-income families. “It is possible that some students started ninth grade not as prepared as they otherwise would have been.”