Indicated Truancy Interventions: Effects on School Attendance among Chronic Truant Students

Brandy R Maynard,Terri D Pigott,Michael S Kelly,Katherine Tyson Mccrea

doi:10.4073/csr.2012.10

Abstract

Truancy is a significant problem in the U.S. and in other countries around the world. Truancy has been linked to serious immediate and far-reaching consequences for youth, families, and schools and communities, leading researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to try to understand and to address the problem. Although numerous and significant steps have been taken at the local, state, and national levels to reduce truancy, the rates of truancy have at best remained stable or at worst been on the rise, depending on the indicator utilized to assess truancy rates. The costs and impact of chronic truancy are significant, with both short- and long-term implications for the truant youth as well as for the family, school, and community. Although several narrative reviews and one meta-analysis of attendance and truancy interventions have attempted to summarize the extant research, there are a number of limitations to these reviews. It is imperative that we systematically synthesize and examine the evidence base to provide a comprehensive picture of interventions that are being utilized to intervene with chronic truants, to identify interventions that are effective and ineffective, and to identify gaps and areas in which more research needs to be conducted to better inform practice and policy.

Highlights

Truancy is a significant problem in the U.S and in other countries around the world
The findings from this study suggest that chronic truant students benefit from interventions targeting attendance behaviors; it is important and worthwhile to intervene with chronic truant youth
The interventions included in this study were, overall, found to be effective, the mean rates of absenteeism at posttest in most studies remained above acceptable levels

Summary

Introduction

Truancy has been linked to serious immediate and far-reaching consequences for youth, families, and schools and communities, leading researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to try to understand and to address the problem. It has been linked to serious immediate and far-reaching consequences for youth, families, and schools and communities, leading researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to try to understand and to address the problem. Despite significant efforts and millions of dollars spent by schools, communities, states, and the U.S federal government to reduce truancy over the past 20 years, there is little evidence that any positive impact has been made on school attendance (Attwood & Croll, 2006; Davies & Lee, 2006). Canada ranked 5th out of the 43 industrialized nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study in terms of the proportion of truant high school students, with 26% of Canadian 15 year olds reporting having been late, skipping class or missing school in the two weeks prior to the survey (Willms, 2003)

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