Running Head: Proposal Essay1

Sara Davis

Baker College

Truancy Prevention Proposal

Truancy is on the rise in America, with some cities experiencing up to 30% of daily absences, this is a problem that can be solved by a truancy help program. This would be a federally funded program through grants to specific qualifying urban areas with high truancy rates. The Truancy help Program is different from other programs because it is a nationwide program that focuss specifically on truant students and offers support services such as transportation, assistance with fuel, and family strengthening services. The solution to truancy is with empathy and supportive services focusing on community strength and partnerships with parents, teachers, and local government. Implementing this program in areas of high truancy rates will increase graduation rates, lower unemployment and economic strain, and reduce delinquent and criminal activity.

The truancy help program would be federally funded through the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act Formula Grants Program, administered by the Office of Justice Programs. Grants would be given to qualifying urban areas with 10% or more of the student enrollment classified as chronically truant. Each state has their own truancy attendance laws, but the programs eligibility criteria would be students that have eight-teen or more unexcused absences in a school year. This program would provide intensive monitoring of school attendance, and help parents recognize that they are responsible for their childrens school attendance. The parents of truant students would be required to participate in support and education services. These support services will help educate parents on the importance of regularly attending school and effective parenting techniques. Counselors within the program would meet with the parents and the truant student to determine the reason behind the excessive absences. A personalized plan is then developed to address the specific needs of the student or family. This plan can include up to a year follow-up on the students attendance, help with transportation or assistance with fuel, and tutoring assistance. Tutoring assistance would be available to those who have missed so much school that they are in danger of failing or not graduating. This service would be used to catch the student up to the academic standards of their peers, which helps the student to feel like they belong. The truancy help program would also help to fill gaps in services, using community services already in place such as housing, food stamp, day care, medical, substance abuse, and mental illness to create an individualized coordinated strategy.

Implementing a nationwide truancy prevention program will increase overall graduation rates. According to United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and California Attorney General Kamala Harris Students who are truant in elementary school are more likely to be truant in middle and high school, when truancy is closely linked to an increased chance of a child dropping out (Harris and Duncan, 2013). The attorney also states that Both common sense and research show: children who are habitually absent from elementary school will fall behind their classmates. Students who miss a lot of school in the early years are likely to be disengaged from their studies and struggle academically (Harris and Duncan, 2013). Using this evidence, truancy can be targeted or predicted and early interventions can be put into place, such as the prevention program. Starting early in recognizing the warning signs of truancy and implementing solutions will lead to higher graduation rates. In some areas early interventions should begin at the elementary level. Statistics show that First grade students with nine or more total absences are two times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers who attend school regularly (Harris and Duncan, 2013). Research has also shown that Each additional school day missed over five equals a 7% decrease in the probability of graduation high school for low-income urban elementary students (Harris and Duncan, 2013). Truancy is a strong indicator of future attendance and academic achievement. Even at the elementary level, truancy creates students who fall behind in their school work and comprehension. Based on a study by the National Center for Children and Poverty (NCCP), data from nine school districts across the nation demonstrated that over 11 percent of kindergartners were chronically absent (NCCP, 2008). In a different study conducted by the NCCP over a 5-year period it was found that nearly nine percent of first graders were chronically absent. In addition, about 25 percent of kindergartners were either at-risk or chronic absentees (NCCP, 2008). With such an early onset of academic failure; students who make it to high school and are still behind find it easier to drop-out than to catch up. Research shows that absence in early elementary school is associated with a seven percent lower probability of high school graduation (Seeley, 2008). In addition, A literature review by the National Center for School Engagement found that, compared to non-truant students, students who are truant have lower grades, need to repeat grades more often, have higher rates of expulsion, and have lower rates of high school graduation (Heilbrunn, 2007). The proposed nationwide truancy prevention program would provide tutors for truant students to catch up academically. Students that are at the same academic level as their peers creates an atmosphere that the student feels they belong to. These students will be able to actively participate in classroom discussions, and not feel a sense of out casting. In some urban areas truancy can be strongly predicted by 8th grade attendance. In a report on truancy in the District of Columbia Public Schools it was found that the continuation and escalation of truancy behavior from middle school to high school seems equivalent across schools. This suggests that lowering middle-school absenteeism may be the most efficient and effective approach to lowering high school truancy rates (Liberman and Cahill, 2012). Truancy is a well-documented indicator of future drop outs or failure to graduate, early intervention with the proposed program will decrease truancy rates in both elementary and middle school, creating higher graduation rates.

Higher graduation rates lead to lower unemployment rates and economic sustainability. The United States Department of Labor estimates that 90 percent of new, high-wage, high growth jobs created in the economy will require, at minimum, post-secondary education. At an increasing rate, drop-outs are unable to find gainful employment The United States is shifting toward an economy that will require stronger educational backgrounds. Data from the 2000 census show that high school dropouts had only 52% employment rate in 1999, compared to 71% for high school graduates, and 83% for college graduates. Of those who worked full time year round in 1999, high school drop outs earned only 65% of the median earnings These statistics show that truancy leads to unemployment and decreased earnings that correlate with individual economic sustainability. National economic sustainability is also affected by truancy. For every race and gender group, high school dropouts claim more in government-funded social services expenditures than high school students. The average dropout costs more than $200,000 in current dollars over the course of his or her lifetime Truancy costs school districts hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in Federal and State funds. These funds are based on attendance figures. It also costs the taxpayers, who are paying higher taxes and welfare costs for high school drop outs that are unemployed or underemployed and require assistance from the government to support themselves and their family. In the United States Attorney Generals report, the economic strain of truancy is made apparent. The report states that school districts in California lost $1.4 billion dollars in education funding because student attendance is the basis for calculating funding (Peralta, 2014). The report also shows research showing the correlation between dropouts and costs associated with truant students entering the juvenile justice system. The attorney General states that research shows halving the dropout rate would save the state $550 million dollars per year by reducing the number of juvenile crimes (Peralta, 2014). In the same truancy report, the Attorney General reports some statistics related to long term effects of truancy. The report contends that over a lifetime, a college graduate will earn $1 million dollars more than a dropout. Dropouts reduce Californias tax revenue by $1 Billion dollars per year. High school dropout are 2.5 times more likely to be on welfare than high school graduates. Annually, dropouts cost California $46 billion dollars (Peralta, 2014). These alarming economic statistics provide the support needed to show the correlation between truancy rates and the economy. The truancy prevention program would relieve some of the economic burdens that society faces by intervening with support services to create a better outcome for students.

Crime rates are closely related to truancy. Students who are not in school during the day are out in their communities causing trouble. It is no surprise that the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 75 percent of state prison inmates and 59 percent of federal inmates are high school dropouts It was also found In 1991 and again in 1993, three grand juries in Dade County, Florida analyzed data from more than 5,000 of the countys most serious juvenile offenders and found that excessive truancy was one of the three traits most of them had in common (Education.com). Research also shows that of the 85 juveniles convicted of murder in New York State between 1978 and 1986, 57.6% had a history of truancy (education.com). Author Eileen M. Gary believes that truancy is a stepping stone to delinquent and criminal activity. Truancy is the beginning of behaviors that lead to drugs, alcohol, and violence. A California Deputy assistant attorney states that he has never seen a gang member that wasnt a truant first (Gary, 2014). Gary includes research from the University of Maryland that have documented the correlation between drug use and truancy. The research found that 51 percent of female juvenile detainees not in school at the time of their arrests tested positive for drug use (Garry, 2014). Drug use has a very strong correlation to violent crimes in America. Truant students are using drugs and headed down a path of criminal activity. As truancy rates continue to climb so are the rates of daytime crimes. Author Eileen M. Gary also includes some statistics from different police departments, Gary states that students are out committing crimes instead of going to class. They are vandalizing cars, shoplifting, and scrawling graffiti on office buildings. When police in Van Nuys, California, conducted a 3 week truancy sweep, shoplifting arrests fell 60 percent (Garry, 2014). It is also reported that students who commit burglaries or other crimes generally commit them during school hours and then return after school to retrieve the hidden stolen property. Many truant students that have been detained for daytime curfew violations had also been linked with other criminal activity such as burglary, larceny, and vandalism. Studies project that increasing graduation rates by just 10 percent would lead to as many as 3,000 fewer murders and nearly 175,000 fewer aggravated assaults nationwide (Peralta, 2014). Unites States Attorney General stated in his inaugural speech Last year we had 600,000 truant students in our elementary schools alone, which roughly matched the number of inmates in our state prisons. Is it a coincidence? Of course not (Peralta, 2014). Nationwide, 82% of prisoners are high school dropouts. Creating an early intervention to truancy is key to reducing our national crime rate. The statistics are staggering between the truancy rates and crime rates.

These conclusive statistics link truancy to decreased graduation rates, unemployment and economic strains, and increased crime rates nationally. This is why a nationwide truancy prevention program should be in place. This program will make a significant difference in the lives of children and the positive impact could potentially help the neighborhood in which they life. This proposed solution is one that as a society could accomplish. There have been some other programs for truancy reduction, these programs were limited in their ability to provide services. These programs were also confined to specific areas with funding constraints from the local government. For this reason, a National program should be implemented to provide continuous services to the truant youths of America. The smaller confined truancy programs did find some success within their communities. Eileen M. Garry provides seven examples of truancy programs that have received positive results. Oklahoma City schools have a truancy program and since its implementation the local police department has reported a 33% decrease in daytime burglaries. Officials within the district have also reported a 1.3% reduction in dropout rates and a 1.7% increase in daily attendance. With such strong examples of what a small localized program can do with limited funding and resources, the impact of a grand scale national truancy prevention program could change the graduation rates, unemployment rates, and crime rates across the nation.

References:

Liberman, A., & Cahill, M. (2012, November 1). Variation in 2010-11 Truancy Rates Among District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) High Schools and Middle Schools. Retrieved June 25, 2015, from http://www.urban.org/research/publication/variation-2010-11-truancy-rates-among-district-columbia-public-schools-dcps-high-schools-and-middle-schools

Garry, E. (n.d.). Truancy: First Step to a Lifetime of Problems. Retrieved June 18, 2015, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/truncy.pdf

(2012, February 1). Retrieved June 16, 2015, from http://www.promoteprevent.org/sites/www.promoteprevent.org/files/resources/Truancy Prevention Efforts in School_0.pdf

Peralta, A. (2014, July 1). An Interrogation and Response to the predominant Framing of Truancy. Retrieved June 3, 2015, from http://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/discourse/62-3.pdf

Truancy Fact Sheet. (2010, July 16). Retrieved June 25, 2015, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/truancy-fact-sheet/

Vaughn, M., Maynard, B., Salas-Wright, C., Perron, B., & Abdon, A. (2013, April 23). Prevalence and Correlates of Truancy in the US: Results from a National Sample. Retrieved June 17, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3713173/