FROM ISSUE NUMBER 25 - FALL 1971 GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Truancy

 

In the vigorous discussion of public schools which is carried on today, one of the most neglected variables in poor student achievement is the high and rising rate of absenteeism. The figures are quite startling. In New York City, where the problem is most severe, many schools report average daily absentee rates of over 50 per cent.  A recent survey of 19 big cities shows that 11 have schools with rates of more than 20 per cent and only two reported any schools with a rate of less than 14 per cent. There also is evidence that what was once an exclusively urban and lower-class phenomenon is now spreading to other social strata and to the suburbs.

 

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