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Reform of NYC Public Schools, 1896

The figure above accounts for the average attendance of students in Manhattan and the Bronx over the course of a school year. This is different from enrollment of children in the public schools. Attendance accounts for the average number of students that were served by the public schools on any given day in a given school year. The enrollment is simply the number of students that were registered by the New York City Board of Education as students in the system. Between 1887 and 1907, the number who registered as students in the city greatly varied with the number that actually attended classes on a daily basis.

The students counted in this table represent students from primary, grammar, high schools, and kindergartens. In doing so, they account for the same groups of students who went part-time, in the evening, and in shortened session. Some groups typically not referred to as "students" in the present day sense are included as students in these numbers. They encompass people attending free public lectures, corporate (orphan schools), playground schools, and vacation schools. Yet, the overwhelming majority of the student population was comprised of the elementary (primary and grammar) schools.