Newark Public Schools Reduces Chronic Absenteeism to 8.5 Percent

NEWARK, N.J. – Newark Public Schools reduced its chronic absenteeism rate to 8.5 percent during the 2025-26 school year, nearly two percentage points below the previous year’s rate of 10.4 percent.

The improvement occurred across every school category:

• Elementary schools declined from 8.8 percent to 7 percent.
• High schools declined from 14.1 percent to 10.8 percent.
• Specialized schools declined from 14.4 percent to 13.6 percent.

High schools recorded the largest improvement, reducing chronic absenteeism by 3.3 percentage points.

These decreases followed three consecutive years of the district’s chronic absenteeism rate being well below the state average.

“This continued progress reflects the relentless work of our principals, teachers, attendance counselors, truancy task force, and support staff, who understand that every day in school matters,” said Superintendent León. “Our schools are using timely data, building strong relationships with students and families, and responding immediately when a student begins to miss school. Those coordinated efforts are producing meaningful results.”

“The reduction of chronic absenteeism to 8.5 percent is a significant achievement and a testament to the focused work taking place in our schools every day,” said Board of Education President Hasani K. Council. “The Board is proud of the teachers, attendance counselors, truancy task force, administrators and families whose collective efforts are helping more students remain engaged in their education. When students are in school consistently, they have a greater opportunity to learn, grow and succeed.”

The district’s average daily attendance also increased to 95.6 percent, compared with 95.1 percent the previous year and 94.8 percent two years earlier. Average daily attendance rose across elementary, high and specialized schools, and every district school recorded a rate above 90 percent.

“Reducing chronic absenteeism is difficult because every individual student who crosses the threshold affects the districtwide rate,” said Rochanda Jackson, Executive Director of the Office of Policy, Planning, Evaluation, and Testing. “Our progress demonstrates the value of monitoring attendance every day, providing schools with actionable reports and ensuring that attendance counselors and school teams intervene quickly. This is deliberate, difficult, intentional, student-by-student work.”

The district aligned its chronic absenteeism analysis with the methodology used by the New Jersey Department of Education. A student is considered chronically absent after missing 10 percent or more of the school year. In New Jersey, that threshold is 18 absences.

The district has strengthened its attendance strategy through its partnership with Communities in Schools, a grant funded opportunity, where the district continued its ongoing efforts with a network of supports, including, but not limited to:

• Daily attendance monitoring and school-level data reports;
• Targeted outreach to students approaching the chronic absenteeism threshold;
• Direct communication with students and families;
• Case Management;
• Strategic deployment of attendance counselors;
• School-based activities designed to encourage attendance before holidays, on early-dismissal days and on the last day of school; and
• More accurate attendance coding for students participating in district-sponsored programs, college visits, conferences, debates and other educational activities;
• Learning best practices by networking with other districts across the country.

“We know that students can only benefit from the exceptional teaching, programs and opportunities available in our schools if they are present,” Superintendent León added. “Our goal is not simply to improve a percentage. It is to ensure that every student is in school, seen, engaged in learning, and on a path toward success. We applaud staff for doing the work, parents for answering the call, and students for showing up to school.”