"There is not a simple answer to what works. Part of what needs to happen is persistent follow-up. Kids who drop out of school don't respond to the big system. They need one-on-one interaction. They need to be known."

- Mary Sinclair, evaluator for the Check and Connect program.

Kids can begin missing classes or full days of school for a number of reasons: They are afraid of bullies, they have uncontrolled asthma, they live in chaotic households, they don't get along with a particular teacher, or they are taking care of younger siblings. The list of possible reasons is as almost as lengthy as the list of students who begin to cut school. Schools, working with communities, can intervene early in these students' lives to turn around their attendance as well as their overall school experience. But it takes a concerted effort, typically headed by a school-based team that is in close contact with parents and community resources. In most cases, these interventions do not involve the court system.

Truancy Sweeps

In many school districts, truancy officers go out and try to track down students who are supposed to be in school. When they find kids who should be in school, the officers use a variety of techniques to encourage them to attend, including connecting them with services to address the reasons they are out on the street. Some jurisdictions, citing budget concerns, have cut their budgets for truancy officers. The City of Philadelphia has begun a program to pay parents to make calls on parents of truant children.

Police officers are also often on the lookout for kids who should be in school. In some communities, it is another part of their job. In others, it is part of a comprehensive truancy intervention program. In one program in Rohnert Park, Calif., police issued courtesy citations to suspected truants and returned them to school to meet with their parents and vice principal. At the third citation, the police would refer the student to appropriate services. During the first year, daytime burglaries decreased 48 percent. In the second year there was an additional 16 percent decrease.

School Attendance Review Boards

Alarm clocks are one tool that school officials use in a Contra Costa County, Calif., program that is designed to intervene at the earliest sign of truancy for elementary students. After a child has just one unexcused visit, she and her family receive a home visit from a "positive attendance worker" who works with the family to create and implement a plan so that the child does not miss any more school. Sometimes the solution is as simple as providing an alarm clock. Since the program began, the school district is receiving an additional $120,000 in funds for increasing its attendance, according to Ken Seeley, an evaluator of the program.

School districts often set up a team, such as a School Attendance Review Board or Team, to intervene early with students who are just beginning to have unexcused absences. School counselors, teachers, or attendance clerks will refer to the board students with a number of unexcused absences and tardies. In the best cases, students will come to the attention of a team after just a few absences. The multidisciplinary team includes parents, school officials, such as nurses, counselors, and teachers as well as community representatives, such as law enforcement and mental health. Once the team receives the referral, they will review the student's record and get in touch with the parent or guardian.

An example of a successful program is the School Tardiness and Attendance Review Team (START) program, which began in Cambridge, Mass., and has expanded to other towns in the Boston area. The program began in 1998 with funding through the state Executive Office of Public Safety to develop a program to examine and address the issue of truancy. Since then, 10 middle schools have launched the program. Once a student is identified, the assigned school administrator contacts the parent or guardian with a phone call or e-mail message to do the following:

• Make them aware of the situation

• Remind them of the school's policy and the general laws around attendance

• Express concern

• Introduce the START program to them as a resource

Through this first screening, the team member determines the level of involvement needed from the START team, if any. A parent or guardian may have forgotten to send a note or medical records. But the team member may also discover that a parent needs resources to help get his or her child back to school regularly. Parents are invited to take part in a START team meeting, which gives them the opportunity to explain why their children have been absent. The START team uses that information to make a plan of action, including referrals to school or community-based resources. The team reviews the case in 30 days. If attendance has not improved, the team may make a referral to the Department of Social Services or file a petition in court.

In the 2002-2003 school year, data showed that students who were exposed to the intervention had about a 50 percent decrease in the number of days absent per month and about a 40 percent decrease in the number of times they were tardy each month. Records also indicate that the START program had an impact on the overall climate in the participating schools, with a decrease of approximately 40 percent in the number of children who were chronically absent and 45 percent in the number of children who were chronically tardy (defined as having been absent or late 20 or more times).

Providing Ongoing Monitoring and Follow-up

A vulnerable time for many children is in their transition years -- from elementary to middle school and middle school to high school. Some feel the loss of close contact with the same teacher all day. Others move away from their friends. An increased emphasis on testing puts some struggling students even more behind. The changes in school and environment puts some at risk for truancy and dropping out. For these students, and any at risk of dropping out, ongoing monitoring and follow-up is critical.

A program in Minneapolis is focusing on one of those vulnerable populations -- ninth graders who have just started high school. Check and Connect is a model developed at the University of Minnesota to promote students' engagement with school, reduce dropout, and increase school completion. Students are referred when they show signs of not attending school (absences, tardies, or skipping class) in the context of academic performance and emotional or behavioral problems.

The program began in 1992 focusing on students with disabilities. It has recently begun serving all students in two Minneapolis high schools with the highest dropout rates in the city, averaging around 50 percent. The program specifically focuses on students who attend 89 percent of the time or less (the school district goal is 95 percent). Funded by a private foundation, each school has five monitors to work with students and families. These monitors work to keep students and families engaged and connected with school. A hallmark of the program is that the monitors follow the students for up to two years.

The monitors become intimately involved in the lives of their students. Once they identify students, monitors meet with them and their families. They offer to work with them as a mentor and advocate. In essence, the monitors are part cheerleader, part tough coach. One of their biggest tasks is simply to be a caring adult in the student's life every school day.

"The monitors tell the students, 'I'm going to check on you every morning. If you're not in school, I'll call home.'"

- Colleen Kaibel, dropout prevention coordinator for Minneapolis Public Schools, director of the Check and Connect project

Connecting Kids with Services

Students who are verging on chronic truancy often have many things going on that require outside help. Check and Connect and other programs will provide them with anger management classes, or teen parenting classes, or have them tested for undiagnosed learning disabilities. In Check and Connect, the monitors get to know the students and learn about what excites them. If they like to run or bike, the monitor will connect them with a mentoring program in which they get together with an adult for those activities. The adult also talks to them about the importance of education. The monitors find other community resources for the students as well, such as Boys and Girls Clubs and agencies that meet the needs of minority populations, like students from Cambodia and Somalia.

In addition, the monitors work with the students on cognitive skill-building. More than half of the students have shown behavior problems. Monitors help students to stop for a minute and think about their actions and how those actions are hurting them. They also encourage the students to think about more constructive ways to deal with problems that arise. According to Colleen Kaibel, one of the most important parts of the program is that the monitors simply show up, day after day.

"What works is the persistency," said Kaibel. "The amount of failure the students have already experienced prior to high school is pretty high. A lot of them have been retained. A lot of them have been significantly disengaged from school for years but never received any services."

This project began in 2002, and evaluators are still gathering data on its impact on attendance and other factors. Other Check and Connect programs have shown positive results. The original pilot in 1992 worked with youth who had learning and emotional or behavioral disabilities from grades 7 to 9. An evaluation found that more treatment students were in school at the end of ninth grade, than similar students randomly assigned to the control group (91 percent vs. 68 percent).

"There needs to be a significant adult in the life of that child who is providing that academic and motivational support for them to overcome obstacles. Check and Connect monitors are that significant adult who is going to keep education a salient issue for the kids, the parents, and the teachers. They are not going to let the kids slip through the cracks."

- Mary Sinclair, Adjunct Research Associate/ Lecturer, University of Kansas and Check and Connect evaluator

Provide Alternative Ways for Students to Re-Engage in School

Many of these students do not do well in traditional schools. The approach is too rigid, they are not interested in the school's subjects, or they have just had too much failure or too many problems at that particular school. They don't feel like they fit in. For some of these students, an alternative program or high school may be the answer. These alternatives can come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Some students might benefit from attending vocational-technical schools where they learn a skill. Other students might do well by earning their GED. In recent years, schools for gay and lesbian youth have formed to serve students who feel shunned or uncomfortable in their home schools.

"At the high school level, what I see is that traditional school is not for every student . I want them to get education and some training so that they are not a statistic later on. As a team with the parent, student, myself , and often a court appointed truancy case manager, we find a program that fits the individual needs of each student. That could be GED, vo-tech programs -- programs where a student can see themselves successful.

- Erin Grotting, attendance liaison for Kent School District in Washington State

Looking Ahead

Today we explored some of the many ways that schools and communities can intervene with young people engaging in truant behavior to help get them back on a positive track toward school attendance and educational success. We will go on tomorrow to examine strategies for working with students who have fallen into an extreme pattern of truant behavior, with an emphasis on legal intervention.

Discussion Questions

Please think about the questions below and share your responses, comments, and/or any questions about today's material in the Discussion Area.

• How are truant students identified at your school(s)? What does or does not work well?

• Does your school(s) collaborate with community agencies to provide services to truant students and their families? What tips can you share with fellow event participants about how to identify and work with appropriate community agencies?

• The Check and Connect model depends on dedicated staff to follow- up with truant students. Is that a viable model for your school(s)? Are there other ways to provide consistent attention to students who are missing school?

• In your community, do students who seem not to do well in traditional schools have access to alternative options (e.g., alternative schools)? If so, what are the options and how do they work? If not, why not?

Truancy programs mentioned in Day 3 materials:

Check & Connect
http://ici.umn.edu/checkandconnect/

The START (School Tardiness and Attendance Review Team) Program
Christine Shaw, Truancy Prevention Program Coordinator, (617) 679-6555 http://www.projectalliance.org/

References for Day 3 materials:

Check and Connect Web site: http://ici.umn.edu/checkandconnect.

Kaibel, C. (April 2004). Personal communication.

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network Web site: http://www.dropoutprevention.org.

Rumberger, R. W. (January 13, 2001). Why Students Drop Out of School and What Can Be Done. Paper prepared for the Conference, "Drop Outs in America: How Severe is the Problem? What Do We Know about Intervention and Prevention?" at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Office. (2000). School attendance improvement handbook. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Education.

School dropouts: Education could play a stronger role in identifying and disseminating promising prevention strategies. (2002). Washington, DC: United States General Accounting Office.

Sinclair, M. (April 2004). Personal communication.

The START (School Tardiness and Attendance Review Team) Program information sheet. For more information about START, please contact Christine Shaw, Truancy Prevention Program Coordinator at 617-679-6555.