What is chronic absenteeism?
A student is chronically absent when they miss 10 percent or more of the school year, for any reason. In a 180-day year that is about 18 days, or two a month. Excused absences count. That is the difference from truancy, which counts only unexcused absences.
In New York City, Chancellor’s Regulation A-210 draws the same line: a student with an attendance rate of 90 percent or below is chronically absent. Students at 91 to 93 percent are at risk.
How many NYC students are chronically absent?
33.5%
in 2025-26, as reported in the Mayor’s Management Report.
290,486
students chronically absent in 2024-25 (33.3%), in the city’s end-of-year data.
26.5%
in 2018-19, before the pandemic.
School-by-school numbers are published each year by NYC Public Schools. Look up your school’s rate →
What Chancellor’s Regulation A-210 requires
A-210, reissued June 18, 2026 as Standards for Attendance Programs, sets the rules for attendance in NYC public schools. In short, every school must:
- Submit an attendance plan by October 31.Section III.A
- Hold attendance team meetings every week.Section III.F
- Contact the family each day a student’s absence is unexplained, starting on the first day. Personal phone calls are the primary method.Section III.H
- Record absence reasons, outreach and interventions in ILOG.Sections III.C and III.H
- Use emails, texts and app notifications as a secondary method, in addition to calls.Section III.H
- Open a 407 investigation after 10 consecutive absences; after a prior 407, after 8 consecutive or 15 total; and for Pre-K to grade 8, after 20 absences over four months.Section IV.B
- Complete Pre-K to grade 8 investigations within 10 days.Section IV.I
A summary, not the regulation. Read the full text of A-210 on the NYC Public Schools website.
What reduces chronic absenteeism
None of it is complicated. The hard part is doing it every day, for every student, with a small team.
Notice the first day
A personal call on the first missed day is the cheapest intervention a school has. A pattern caught in week one is a conversation. Caught in month three, it is a case.
Learn the reason
Students miss school for different reasons: a missed bus, a sick sibling, housing, anxiety, a class they dread. The follow-up only works when it matches the reason, so the reason has to be asked and written down.
Meet every week, with owners
A weekly attendance team meeting that starts from last week’s data, and ends with a named person and a date for every next step, keeps students from falling through the gaps between staff.
Bring in community partners
Community school staff and CBO partners can reach families the school can’t. RAND’s 2020 study found NYC’s community schools improved attendance and reduced chronic absenteeism. Partners do the most good working from the same list as the school.
Where BrainBridge fits
BrainBridge Attendance Follow-up turns the morning ATS absence file into each staff member’s list for the day, logs every call and text, builds the weekly attendance meeting agenda, and keeps the records A-210 asks for. Students nearing a 407 alert are flagged early.
Common questions
What is chronic absenteeism?
Missing 10 percent or more of the school year for any reason. In a typical 180-day year that is about 18 days, or two a month. In New York City, Chancellor’s Regulation A-210 treats a student with an attendance rate of 90 percent or below as chronically absent, and 91 to 93 percent as at risk.
Do excused absences count?
Yes. Chronic absenteeism counts every absence, excused or not. That is what separates it from truancy, which counts only unexcused absences.
How many NYC students are chronically absent?
About one in three. The Mayor’s Management Report put the rate at 33.5 percent for 2025-26. The city’s end-of-year data counts 290,486 chronically absent students in 2024-25, or 33.3 percent, up from 26.5 percent in 2018-19.
What is a 407 alert?
A 407 is the attendance investigation NYC schools open when a student is absent 10 consecutive days, or 8 consecutive or 15 total days after a prior 407. For Pre-K to grade 8, 20 absences over four months also trigger one, and the investigation must be finished within 10 days (A-210, Section IV).
What is ILOG?
ILOG is where NYC public schools record the reasons for absences and the outreach and interventions that follow, as A-210 requires.
Can texts replace phone calls home?
No. Under A-210, personal phone calls are the primary way to reach families about an unexplained absence. Emails, texts and app notifications are a secondary method.
Sources
- Chalkbeat New York, “1 in 3 NYC students chronically absent as rates remain stubbornly high” (September 2026)
- NYC Public Schools, End-of-Year Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism Data
- NYC Public Schools, Chancellor’s Regulation A-210: Standards for Attendance Programs (June 18, 2026)
- New York State Education Department, Chronic Absenteeism
- RAND Corporation, “What Is the Impact of the New York City Community Schools Initiative?” (2020)