Understanding New York’s Attendance and Literacy Initiatives
Written by Kaylee Leone | February 18th, 2025As a school board trustee, parent, and community member, I spend a lot of time thinking about what helps students learn best. Two themes have dominated conversations across New York in the past year: getting students to school consistently and making sure every child learns to read with confidence. Both goals may sound simple, but they touch nearly every part of how schools operate—from family outreach to teacher preparation, curriculum design, and community partnerships.
Across the state, chronic absenteeism has become one of the biggest barriers to learning. The New York State Comptroller’s 2024 report showed that almost one in three students missed at least ten percent of school days in 2022–23, and the rate was even higher among high schoolers. Missing just two days a month might not sound like much, but it adds up to nearly an entire month of lost instruction by the end of the year. Each absence interrupts learning routines, weakens the connection between student and teacher, and can cause students to fall behind in both academic content and classroom relationships. Over time, those gaps compound—students who are chronically absent are less likely to read at grade level by third grade, more likely to fail core classes, and more likely to drop out before graduation.
To better address this issue, the State Education Department (NYSED) has redesigned how attendance is measured. Instead of relying only on the overall percentage of chronically absent students, the new system uses an attendance index—a more detailed tool that places students into performance bands based on how often they attend. Students who attend nearly every day earn higher “points” in the index, while those with lower attendance contribute less toward a school’s total score. The idea is to highlight progress at every level, reward improvement, and give districts clearer, real-time insight into which groups of students need support. In practical terms, this means schools can focus resources on early intervention rather than waiting until absences become chronic. The new model ties data directly to strategy, helping educators recognize small gains, identify patterns, and adjust supports before learning loss widens.
In communities like Mount Morris, that approach fits naturally. Rural schools often operate on relationships rather than rigid systems. Staff members know families personally, and communication tends to be direct. When a student starts missing days, someone notices quickly—a teacher reaches out, a counselor checks in, or a principal makes a call home. Transportation challenges, family obligations, or health issues can all play a role, and rural districts are often best equipped to respond with compassion and flexibility. Rather than letting attendance data sit in a spreadsheet, Mount Morris treats it as a conversation starter—one rooted in care, community, and trust.
At the same time, New York is making major changes in how reading is taught. In January 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the Back to Basics plan—a statewide commitment to align reading instruction with decades of cognitive and linguistic research known collectively as the science of reading. This body of research draws from psychology, neuroscience, and education to explain how children actually learn to read. It emphasizes that reading is not a natural process that develops automatically through exposure to books; it is a complex skill that must be explicitly taught through systematic instruction.
Central to the science of reading are five key components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Phonemic awareness—the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words—is one of the earliest and most critical skills. It helps children understand that words are made up of smaller sound units, a realization that lays the groundwork for phonics, where students connect sounds to letters and patterns in print. Together, these skills build a bridge from spoken language to written language, giving students the tools they need to decode and understand text confidently.
Following the governor’s announcement, NYSED released a series of Science of Reading Briefs in February 2024 that summarize key research findings and translate them into practical classroom strategies. Rather than introducing entirely new mandates, these briefs aim to support teachers in strengthening what they already do well: using direct, structured lessons to build foundational skills while maintaining opportunities for creativity, discussion, and joy in reading. The department also began revising expectations for educator-preparation programs so that new teachers enter the classroom with a solid understanding of how literacy develops from early childhood through adolescence.
New York City has taken these ideas to scale through its NYC Reads initiative. Beginning in the 2023–24 school year, all elementary schools were required to adopt one of three approved curricula—Into Reading, EL Education, or Wit & Wisdom—each designed around evidence-based literacy practices. These programs combine explicit phonics instruction with rich vocabulary, text analysis, and writing tasks tied to real-world content. Into Reading, the most widely adopted, integrates daily phonemic and decoding practice with comprehension and fluency lessons, aiming to close reading gaps that widened during the pandemic. Early indicators from city progress reports suggest that classrooms using the new curricula have seen measurable growth in early-literacy assessments and student engagement, particularly in K–3 reading fluency.
For Mount Morris, these statewide priorities reflect familiar ground. The district’s small size allows for individualized attention and creative problem-solving—qualities that mirror the intent behind the state’s attendance and literacy reforms. Teachers and staff monitor attendance patterns daily and respond quickly, not through punitive measures but through outreach and understanding. This kind of relationship-based approach, common in rural districts, often succeeds where automated systems cannot.
Early literacy has long been a community priority as well. Mount Morris partners with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which mails free, high-quality books each month to children under five, helping families build home libraries and reading routines before kindergarten. The district’s website offers practical supports like “Helpful Websites for Families,” at-home reading ideas, and information about local library programs. Together, these initiatives echo the state’s message: reading proficiency starts early, grows through consistent practice, and thrives when families and schools work together.
Aligning local efforts with state initiatives doesn’t just strengthen compliance—it strengthens community outcomes. The attendance index gives schools a more complete view of student participation, while the literacy reforms ensure that when students are in class, they’re receiving instruction proven to build lifelong skills. In Mount Morris, these goals complement one another: showing up and reading well are both acts of connection.
As a trustee, parent, and lifelong learner, I see how these statewide priorities come to life in our classrooms and hallways. They challenge us to keep doing what small districts already do best—cultivating trust, supporting families, and focusing on the fundamentals that give every child the opportunity to thrive. Attendance and literacy are not separate initiatives; they are intertwined commitments to the promise of public education.
Sources:
“Chronic Absenteeism.” New York State Education Department, 2024, https://www.nysed.gov/innovation-school-reform/chronic-absenteeism.
“Final Attendance Fact Sheet.” New York State Education Department, 2024, https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/final-attendance-fact-sheet.pdf.
“Helpful Websites for Families.” Mount Morris Central School District, 2024, https://www.mtmorriscsd.org/page/helpful-websites-for-families.
Hochul, Kathy. “Back to Basics Plan to Improve Reading Proficiency.” Office of the Governor, 3 Jan. 2024, https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-unveils-second-proposal-2024-state-state-back-basics-plan-improve-reading.
“Imagination Library Program.” Mount Morris Central School District, 5 Aug. 2019, https://www.mtmorriscsd.org/article/288757.
“Mount Morris Central School District Data at a Glance.” New York State Education Department Data Site, 2024, https://data.nysed.gov/profile.php?instid=800000051430.
New York State Education Department. Literacy Initiative: Science of Reading Briefs. Feb. 2024, https://www.nysed.gov/standards-instruction/literacy-initiative.
“NYC Reads.” New York City Public Schools, 2023–24, https://www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/subjects/reading/nyc-reads.
Office of the New York State Comptroller. Missing School: New York’s Stubbornly High Rates of Chronic Absenteeism.Oct. 2024, https://www.osc.ny.gov/reports/education/missing-school-new-yorks-stubbornly-high-rates-chronic-absenteeism.
“SED Plans to Require School Districts to Measure Attendance in New Way.” On Board Online, New York State School Boards Association, 2 Sept. 2024, https://www.nyssba.org/news/2024/08/30/on-board-online-september-2-2024/sed-plans-to-require-school-districts-to-measure-attendance-in-new-way/.
“New York Education Department Will Now Calculate Chronic Absenteeism Using Algebra.” Times Union, Jan. 2025, https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/new-york-education-department-algebra-attendance-18608782.php.