From Attendance to Belonging: Rethinking How Schools Measure Recovery After COVID

Working in NYC schools during and after COVID, I saw how deeply the pandemic disrupted children's lives beyond academics. Students struggled with loss, instability, and disconnection that test scores can't measure. Five years later, the shadow is till here: chronic absenteeism, unfinished learning, and emotional fatigue haven't gone away. This is a quiet crisis that is ongoing and has completely reshaped education. We've learned a lot since the beginning, and that true recovery requires empathy, creativity, and long-term commitment.

Identifying the Needs of Underserved Populations Post-COVID

For students in historically underserved communities, the pandemic amplified pre-existing inequities that municipal systems had struggled to address for decades. Food insecurity, unstable housing, and limited access to healthcare were not new issues, but COVID-19 brought them into sharper focus. In New York City, for example, more than 100,000 students were identified as living in temporary housing in the 2022-2023 school year, a number that has remained distressingly high since the pandemic began¹. These living conditions directly affect a child's ability to learn, concentrate, and participate in school life consistently.

Municipal leaders and school administrators must recognize that traditional metrics, such as standardized test scores or attendance rates, only reveal part of the picture. Emotional distress, trauma, and disengagement are harder to quantify but just as critical. To effectively serve these students, local governments need to implement trauma-informed policies across education, housing, and health services. This includes training school staff to recognize signs of trauma, expanding access to mental health professionals, and coordinating with community-based organizations that are already embedded in these neighborhoods².

Building Cross-Sector Strategies for Long-Term Recovery

True recovery for underserved populations requires coordinated, cross-sector strategies that go beyond short-term interventions. During the pandemic, cities that piloted wraparound service models - combining education, mental health, and family support - were better positioned to support their most vulnerable students. For example, the Community Schools model in NYC integrates academic instruction with health services, after-school programs, and family engagement initiatives, serving as a critical support structure for students facing multiple barriers³.

Municipal governments can play a vital role in sustaining and scaling these models by aligning funding streams and policies across departments. That means housing authorities, health departments, and education agencies must share goals and data, and collaborate on service delivery. A practical step is to establish an interagency task force focused on student well-being, which meets regularly to assess needs, track outcomes, and reallocate resources as necessary. This kind of governance infrastructure is essential to ensure that support systems are not fragmented or reactive, but responsive and anticipatory.

Re-engaging Families and Communities as Partners

Underserved populations often experience systemic exclusion from decision-making processes that directly affect their lives. During the pandemic, communication gaps between schools and families widened, especially in non-English speaking households or those without reliable internet access. Rebuilding trust and engagement with these communities is essential. Municipal agencies and school districts should prioritize culturally responsive outreach strategies, such as employing community liaisons who speak the home languages of families and understand the local context⁴.

Family engagement must go beyond parent-teacher conferences or surveys. Hosting regular community forums, co-designing programs with parents, and offering flexible meeting times can help shift the dynamic from one of top-down communication to shared ownership. When families feel heard and valued, they are more likely to partic