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In Philly schools, attendance up

More Philadelphia public school students are attending school most of the time, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday. Almost 4,000 more students were marked present 95 percent of the time in the 2015-16 school year than reached that mark in the prior year, Hite said at a news conference.

More Philadelphia public school students are attending school most of the time, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday.

Almost 4,000 more students were marked present 95 percent of the time in the 2015-16 school year than reached that mark in the prior year, Hite said at a news conference.

The percentage of city schoolchildren showing up for school 95 percent of the time jumped to 42 percent, from 39 percent in 2014-15 and 38 percent the year before.

Philadelphia's schools, like many urban districts, have historically struggled with chronic absenteeism. Hite said the percentage of students who miss more than 10 percent of school days was down by 10 percent. District officials could not immediately make the actual figures available.

Overall, comparisons to other districts were difficult; the state, and others, use average daily attendance, not 95 percent attendance rate, as a benchmark. Philadelphia keeps that information, but officials did not release the specific rate for 2015-16; spokesman Lee Whack said the average daily attendance was typically between 89 percent and 91 percent.

Hite acknowledged that the district still had miles to go.

"While we are headed in the right direction, there is still a lot of work to be done," he said.

Flanked by faith leaders who Hite said were crucial to getting the word out that children need to show up for school daily, the superintendent said the district also used parent ambassadors to convey the message and had begun reaching out via letter or home visit when students miss more than five school days.

"People were stopping me on the street saying, 'I got a letter from you,' " Hite said. "Many of them thought their children were attending school regularly."

The efforts will ramp up further in the coming school year, he said, emphasizing that attendance gains will yield gains in student achievement.

"It's very hard to teach children to read and to do math if they're not present," Hite said.

The superintendent on Thursday also said that the district remained ahead of last year's curve for hiring teachers, with 700 classroom vacancies filled. To date, 99 percent of vacancies have been filled, Hite said.

Students return to Philadelphia public school classrooms Wednesday.

kgraham@phillynews.com

215-854-5146 @newskag

www.philly.com/schoolfiles