Truancy

Section 2.5

Education Systems Should Implement Responses to Truancy that Match the Reasons Youth are Absent from School and that Aim to Avoid Court Involvement, School Suspension or Explusion

“Research indicates that truancy can be reduced by programs and activities designed to improve the overall school environment (and its safety), attach children and their families to the school, and enable schools to respond to the different learning styles and cultures of children.” 

National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

Chronic truancy has been shown to be a risk factor for drug use, delinquency, adult criminality, suicide attempts and employment problems.1  Contributors to truancy are found in youth’s schools, families, and communities, as well as individual factors.2  School factors can include poor identification of special education needs, unsafe environments, and inadequate record keeping and attendance policies.3  Risk factors in the family or community include child abuse or neglect, financial or medical needs that require youth to assist the family, violence near school or home, or culture-based attitudes towards education.4  Factors specific to youth that may lead to truancy include being held back, low academic achievement, low self-esteem, and gang involvement.5  Minority youth may be more likely to be petitioned to the court for truancy, and although there is no good national data on the prevalence of truancy; dropout rates (often used as a proxy for truancy) are clearly higher for minority youth.6  Professionals working with truant youth need to understand these contributors to truancy to effectively identify and address the reasons a particular youth is missing school.

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According to the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention “research indicates that truancy can be reduced by programs and activities designed to improve the overall school environment (and its safety), attach children and their families to the school, and enable schools to respond to the different learning styles and cultures of children.” Other research has looked at characteristics of successful truancy reduction programs and found that important commonalities include:

  • Implementation of effective and relevant consequences for truancy.
  • Motivational strategies used to bolster attendance.
  • Truancy reduction services offered in the school and accessible community locations.
  • Schools partnering with other social service providers and systems to implement truancy reduction initiatives.
  • Families being meaningfully engaged in meetings, services and other interventions.7


There are many ways school districts can address truancy following these principles while avoiding court involvement, such as providing home visits by truancy officers who can work with the families and make service referrals,8 or the use of truancy review boards.  School-based truancy or youth courts9 may also help address truancy while avoiding court involvement, as can alternative learning environments/programs, such as independent study or night school classes.

Contributors to truancy are found in youth’s schools, families, and communities, as well as individual factors.2

Responding to truancy should always involve working with the youth and family to identify and address the underlying reasons for school absence. The steps that school system professionals should take when presented with truancy charges may vary by the size and resource level of the school district.  In general, schools should start by contacting the family and following up with a home visit or in-school meeting with the youth and family to identify reasons why the child may be truant.  Once the issues underlying the truancy are identified, the truancy officer or other school professional should make appropriate referrals or identify community or other system partners who can help address identified needs, and develop a plan with the youth and family to resolve the issues.  Monitoring and follow up, including additional referrals if identified services are not helping or new issues arise, should occur as appropriate to meet the family’s and child’s needs.  If no progress is made the family and truancy officer or school official should re-review the plan and consider involving the school principal, a truancy review board, or a school-based truancy or youth court, if available.
 
In addition, memoranda of understanding or other types of information sharing agreements are critical for systems to be able to work together to help youth, since schools and other entities may be wary of discussing particular students without them.  These types of agreements can also lay out the specifics of inter-agency partnerships, such as processes for making referrals between agencies and sharing or contribution of resources, information, space or staff time.  One example of a potentially beneficial collaboration is locating services in the schools (e.g., providing space for community mental health providers, who can provide services and bill Medicaid, rather than the school).10 Cross-training of professionals in different systems is also essential, see Section 2.3 for more information on cross-training and specific truancy examples. 
 

1 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Model Programs Guide (nd). Truancy Prevention.  Available at: http://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/Topic/Details/122, (citing to Chang and Romero 2008; Henry and Huizinga 2005, as reported in Heilbrunn 2007; Henry and Huizinga 2007; Kelley et al. 1997; Loeber and Farrington 2000; Seeley 2008a, Walker 2007, Dryfoos 1990; Catalano et al. 1998; Robins and Ratcliff 1978; Snyder and Sickmund 1995).

2 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Model Programs Guide (nd). Truancy Prevention. Available at:  http://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/Topic/Details/122.

3 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Model Programs Guide (no date). Truancy Prevention (citing to Baker, Sigmon, and Nugent 2001; Heilbrunn 2007; Hammond, Smink, and Drew 2007; OJJDP and USED, nd.).

4 Id.

5 Id.

6 Walls, Charles (2003). New Approaches to Truancy Prevention in Urban Schools. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, Institute for Urban and Minority Education.  Available at: http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-2/truancy.html.   

7 Baker, S., and Nugent (2001), cited in Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Model Programs Guide (nd). Truancy Prevention.  Available at: http://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/Topic/Details/122.

8 Some school districts have used cost-benefit analyses using Average Daily Attendance figures and data on the relationship between attendance and standardized test scores to support hiring or retaining truancy officers.

9 For more information see Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Model Programs Guide (nd). Teen/Youth Courts.  Available at: http://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/Topic/Details/78.

10 Locating services in schools also decreases missed visits and avoids stigmatization of youth.