Snow Storm Raises Questions about Attendance in Public Schools

Three public schools in the city reported 100 percent attendance on Thursday, the day of the blizzard. But further investigation by The New York Times revealed that the numbers were “inaccurate”. One of the schools that had reported 96 percent attendance later said the correct number was around 50 percent.

In fact, school attendance across the city plummeted to 44.65 – among the lowest on record – on Thursday, according to the Times.

But the wide discrepancy, the Times said, raised questions about the accuracy of attendance rates through the year. Especially since the city uses daily attendance rates to study schools’ success in drawing students to class, to identify schools with chronic low attendance, and to focus efforts to reduce truancy.

But the city said the glitches on Thursday were not drastic enough to affect the overall attendance rate. And that monthly attendance rates are more accurate than the daily ones because they often make up for errors and other factors that could skew the numbers.

Read more: The New York Times

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