Newark Cut Chronic Absenteeism by More Than Half

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

In 2018-19, more than one in four Newark^↗ students was chronically absent. The district's rate, 26.8%, was 16.2 percentage points above the state average, worse than all but a handful of New Jersey's urban districts. Superintendent Roger Leon had just taken office as the first locally selected leader in more than two decades, following 25 years of state control that ended with a unanimous vote by the state board of education.

Five years later, Newark's chronic absenteeism rate is 11.5%. That is 3.4 percentage points below the New Jersey statewide average of 14.9%.

The reversal is not marginal. In 2019, Newark's rate was nearly identical to Paterson^↗'s (27.6%) and far worse than Jersey City^↗'s (15.2%) or Elizabeth^↗'s (11.9%). By 2024, Newark had the lowest chronic absenteeism of any major urban district in the state. It did not merely recover from COVID. It erased the gap, crossed through zero, and kept going.

The scale of the drop

The 15.3 percentage point decline from 2019 to 2024 represents a 57% reduction. Among New Jersey's 605 districts with data in both years, Newark posted the second-largest improvement, trailing only Trenton^↗ STEM-to-Civics Charter School, an institution small enough that year-over-year swings are routine. Among traditional districts of any meaningful size, Newark's improvement is unmatched.

Every demographic subgroup in the district now has a lower chronic absenteeism rate than it did before the pandemic. That is not a common outcome. Statewide, 87.1% of districts have chronic absenteeism rates higher than their 2018-19 levels. Newark is among the 12.9% that broke through.

The subgroup numbers are where the story sharpens. Students with disabilities went from 36.3% chronically absent to 15.4%, a 20.9 percentage point drop. Black students went from 35.3% to 14.9%, a 20.4 point improvement. Economically disadvantaged students dropped from 26.2% to 11.0%. English learners fell from 16.6% to 9.1%.

How Newark compares to its peers

Camden^↗'s chronic absenteeism rate in 2023-24 was 46.9%, nearly half of all students. Paterson stood at 35.7%. Trenton at 34.0%. Jersey City at 23.8%. Elizabeth, the closest peer, at 15.8%.

Newark, the largest of the group with roughly 40,000 students, sits at 11.5%.

That gap is not explained by demographics. Newark serves a student body that is overwhelmingly low-income, majority Black and Hispanic, with high rates of English learners and students receiving special education services. Camden and Paterson serve similar populations. The difference is in what happened inside the schools.

What Newark did

The district deployed a layered strategy that combined personal outreach with institutional infrastructure. The Communities In Schools partnership, launched in 2023-24, placed attendance counselors in six schools to connect families with resources. The district has expanded the program by at least five schools per year since.

The "Take Five" program, also introduced in 2023-24, assigns each teacher a small group of at-risk students to maintain regular contact with families, including reminders at the start of the school year and check-ins during absences. Incentives ranged from gift cards to tickets at Prudential Center, provided through a partnership with the Devils Youth Foundation.

But the improvement predates these specific programs. Newark's chronic rate fell from 32.0% in 2017-18 to 26.8% in 2018-19, Leon's first year. Apart from the 2022 statewide spike, the trajectory has been downward in every year the district has data. The 2021 figure, 16.6% during a year of widespread remote and hybrid learning, is difficult to interpret, though Newark's attendance infrastructure was already expanding by then. Even the 2022 spike to 28.1%, which hit every New Jersey district, was followed by a 15.4 point single-year drop to 12.7% in 2022-23.

The equity dimension

Newark's Black students now have a 14.9% chronic absenteeism rate. The statewide rate for Black students is 21.4%. A Black student in Newark is less likely to be chronically absent than the average Black student anywhere else in the state.

In 2019, Newark's Black students had a 35.3% chronic rate, roughly double the statewide average for Black students. By 2024, the district had not only closed the gap but inverted it. Newark's Black student rate fell 20.4 points while the statewide Black rate barely moved.

The Council of the Great City Schools ranked Newark second nationally for lowest absenteeism in grades 8 and 9, and third in grades 3 through 6, based on 2023-24 data. The same report placed the district first in the nation for lowest out-of-school suspension rates across all demographic groups.

"This national recognition means that our work is transforming Newark Public Schools. It is clear evidence that the district is leading its students in the essential indicators." -- Superintendent Roger Leon, Newark Board of Education

The discipline connection matters. New Jersey bans out-of-school suspension for K-2 students except in cases of violent or sexual conduct. Newark appears to have taken this further. When students are not pushed out of school for behavioral infractions, they are more likely to attend. The relationship between suspension policy and attendance data is not coincidental.

What the data cannot explain

Three things are genuinely unclear.

The 2020-21 figure, 16.6%, is lower than both the pre-COVID baseline and the subsequent 2022 peak. This pattern, where a COVID-year chronic rate dips below normal, is unusual and may reflect different attendance counting methodologies during remote learning. The state did not collect chronic absenteeism data for 2019-20 at all.

It is also unclear how much of Newark's improvement reflects changes in how absences are counted or reported versus genuine changes in student behavior. Classification methodology can shift without public announcement, and the 2018-to-2024 span covers a period of significant change in state reporting requirements.

Finally, while the data shows what happened, it cannot prove which specific intervention caused the change. The district implemented multiple strategies simultaneously, hired attendance counselors, partnered with community organizations, changed discipline policy, expanded wraparound services, and opened a reengagement center for disconnected youth. The decline started before most of these programs were formally launched, which suggests either that earlier, less visible work was already effective or that structural changes in school culture predated the named programs.

What comes next

Newark reported its chronic rate dropped further to 10.4% in 2024-25, the third consecutive year of improvement. Elementary students are at 8.8%. The trajectory has not stalled.

But the composition of the remaining 10.4% hints at what comes next. Students experiencing homelessness had a 26.4% chronic rate in 2023-24. Students with disabilities sat at 15.4%. These are populations whose barriers to attendance -- unstable housing, medical appointments, transportation that depends on a parent who cannot miss a shift -- do not yield to mentoring programs or gift-card incentives. Newark has driven its overall rate below the state average. The harder work is ahead.

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