TRUANCY,

STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE

“All students need an education attachment. As long as students have at least one thing bigger than themselves, that is workable.” -quote from March 28 Planning Series meeting

Regional Truancy Planning Series On March 28 and May 17 and August 2, 2013, participants from around Mid-Michigan came together to talk about truancy as related to their experiences. From these discussions, barriers to regular school attendance and special populations were identified. Strategies were discussed as related to community ownership of school attendance suggesting that everyone can be involved in truancy prevention and intervention in their community.

Why School Attendance Matters

School attendance is critical to a successful academic experience. Students who miss school are likely to fail classes, become less engaged in the educational process, and can be at risk for drop out. Young children who miss too much school can struggle with literacy, math skills, and core behavioral and social skills that can put them at risk for not completing school in the future. Truancy and school drop out are predictive of delinquency, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and violence.

A Note About Stories

The stories in this report are real and intended to “draw a picture” of the technical and societal issues offered in this process. The names have been changed and specific details that could be used to identify families have also been changed. These are common issues that can be found in any community.

2

Special Populations Special populations of students were identified as being at high risk

for truant behaviors. The populations identified include:

Chronically ill children

Teen parents

Special education

Addicted students and children of addicted parents

Sexual minority: Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered, Bisexual,

Questioning

Homeless

Elementary (K-6) Truancy

Issues related to school attendance with younger children are often

due to barriers in the home. Some barriers identified were:

transportation, logistics with children in multiple buildings, age

boundaries (children under the age of six not being required to

attend), parent/school relationships, and lack of parental support

for education.

Middle and High School Truancy

Poor school attendance indicators with older children were

identified as poor school attachment, academic performance

(either poor performance or students who are “bored”), behavioral

policies that don’t support school attendance (suspension policies),

peer influence, and drop out desires.

Truancy, What’s the Definition? The state of Michigan

currently does not define

compulsory attendance

requirements. The law

states that youth between

the ages of 6 and 18 need

to be enrolled in public,

private, or home schooling.

The law recently changed

from age 16 to 18 for most

students currently enrolled.

The law does not state

attendance standards for

student success rates. (MCL

380.1147, 380.1278a, 380.1278b,

380.1284, 380.1284b, 380.1561-

380.1599, 712A.2 and the State

School Aid Act under MCL

388.1701.)

3

Stories from the Field

Mom does not have a car and

has to walk her two children to

and from school every day to

two different buildings. School

starts and gets out 45 minutes

differently between the two

buildings and she doesn’t have

anywhere to go between pick

up and drop off times. To

accommodate for this time

issue, especially during bad

weather, she either drops one

of her children off 40 minutes

late or picks the other up 40

minutes early.

“Molly” has missed a lot of

school in the past for various

reasons and now is significantly

behind in reading and math.

“Molly” likes school, but

sometimes doesn’t want to go

because the other kids tease

her because she can’t read.

Mom has an admitted alcohol

problem. She tries to keep her

drinking under control, but

often times, she stays up late

drinking and then does not get

up in the morning. “Bobby” is

in 7th grade and can get

himself up, but left to his own

devices, prefers to sleep in and

play video games while mom is

out of it.

Talking Points & Considerations In many school districts, poverty is the common denominator for poor

attendance.

Truancy is often a symptom of other problems in the lives of youth.

Recognizing trauma, abuse, neglect, and other serious problems is

important to addressing youth risk behavior.

Prevention needs to begin at birth. Working with families and linking

them to educational systems and opportunities can be preventative of

future problems.

Schools and other community resources often operate on middle class

values and processes. These can be hard to interpret and value for

people in poverty and from other cultures.

It is important to deliver messages through gender, race, and class

lenses. This practice needs to be applied throughout the educational

process and the people delivering it need to be competent. Recognizing

literacy, language, and culture differences is very important.

Accountability

Parents who do not ensure the

attendance of their children can

be pursued by Child Protective

Services for Educational Neglect.

Currently, many CPS offices are

not willing/able to intervene due to

capacity and prioritization.

Records

Each school and district are in

charge of their own attendance

records, recording, and reporting. If

a parent informs the school that they

are switching districts, there is no

one to verify that the student is

enrolled in the new school.

Ownership

Truancy is not just a school

problem. Community systems

need to embrace education as a

priority to encourage and support

school attendance.

Suspension & Expulsion

Suspension policies potentially

remove students from classrooms

for too long, causing them to

become too far behind in their

academics to be successful.

System Limitations

4

Partners for

Change

Opportunities for School Attendance

Problem Statement

Strategies

Government & Policy Systems

Education policies

Education policies or the lack of, may set up system supports for truant behavior.

Make attendance in Kindergarten mandatory for all ages

enrolled instead of starting at age six.

Provide a state definition of truancy for all districts to follow.

Recommend the homeschooling community develop clear

standards to prevent parents from spontaneously declaring

“home schooling” to avoid sending their children to school

(this is not a criticism on the home schooling community,

rather a suggestion to maintain their standards of

individualized education).

Support an evidence based standard protocol for chronic

absenteeism.

Clarify “cyber” and private school attendance policies and

reporting.

Clarify standards and protocol for reporting and

investigating Educational Neglect with Child Protective

Services.

Reporting standards

Reporting inconsisten-cies provide poor at-tendance data that is hard to compare or monitor and also may not alert people to at-tendance problems early enough.

Develop consistent reporting processes for classrooms,

buildings, and districts.

Provide professional development to people reporting

attendance.

Develop clear indicators of chronic absenteeism, based on

time missed calculated with number of days into the school

year.

Research the concept of tardy arrivals equating to

absence. Is this best practice or are there other ways of

teaching timely behavior.

Develop protocol and standards for chronic lateness with the prosecutor’s office.

Educational stability

Public school districts have been struggling with financial trauma that have caused con-stant shifting, restruc-turing, and decreased staffing all-around. Lack of stability has caused support systems for at-tendance to become fragile.

Develop strategies to engage the community in school

programming, initiatives, and curriculum.

Share and educate policy makers on school successes and

where supports are needed.

Provide evaluative information on cyber school college

readiness and life skill preparedness.

Strategies for Change

Strategies for positive change in compulsory attendance were devel-

oped through the participants who discussed systems, barriers, and

social determinants that might influence school attendance.

Participants developed strategies for multiple partners with an impor-

tance placed on tangibility.

5

Partners

for Change

Opportunities for School Attendance

Problem Statement

Strategies

School Systems

Disciplinary and absence policies

School policies that are unclear and support long term suspensions, non-violent suspensions, and expulsions can prevent students from attending and promote academic failure.

Review disciplinary policies at the district level to promote

school attendance.

Consider programs that allow students to recover credit.

Adopt restorative justice practices for students that would

decrease harsher disciplinary procedures.

Review “excused” vs. “unexcused” absences as a policy.

Consider defining what excessive “excused” absences are

considered.

Provide opportunities for restorative attendance.

Consider partnering with local juvenile or teen court to help support school attendance.

Communication systems

Communication systems within and outside of school systems can be confusing and seem to be inaccessible, preventing best practice prevention and interventions for school attendance.

Establish systems for school and community agencies to

communicate about child welfare, regardless of time of day or

year.

Provide “educational navigators” to work with families early on

through all of their educational interaction.

Provide education to parents about Personal Curriculum and Special Education Evaluations.

Classroom success and graduation opportunities

Students who do not have a clear path to graduation or after graduation may be less engaged in the academic process.

Provide support systems for students who have been truant

but are interested in regular attendance.

Provide clear options for students who are returning to school

for a diploma.

Provide clear systems for “next steps” after high school so that all students feel graduation is meaningful, not just the college bound.

Professional development

Schools often operate under middle class values and beliefs, creating barriers and lack of “belonging” for students and families that are not of the same culture.

Provide professional development on relationships and

relationship building with schools in partnership with other

agencies working with children.

Review Mandatory Reporting standards with teachers and all

school staff.

Special Student Populations (chronically ill children, teen parents, special education, addicted students and children of addicted parents, sexual minority, homeless)

Students who are a part of special population groups can be at particular risk for low school attendance and attachment.

Educate people of changes to Special Education system. How

children qualify, student, and parent rights.

Have deliberate actions for students whose families opt out of

special education.

Consider special education assessment processes. Are

children flagged for special education because they are

behind or abusing substances?

Support parents who have chronically ill children so that they

can access homework, support, and have their children as

engaged in school as possible.

Provide education navigators to families of children in special

population categories.

6

Partners for

Change

Opportunities for School Attendance

Problem Statement

Strategies

School Buildings

Communication systems

Communication that is not shared, received, or understood can lead to misunderstandings with attendance policy.

Review school communications for language and reading level.

appropriateness for parent populations.

Review attendance program marketing procedures.

Include students and caregivers in communications.

Develop communication plan with intense and targeted

communications within the first 30 days of attendance problem

indicators.

Identify other informal systems to communicate information to

that may influence student attendance.

Use creative outlets to share best practices on routine, sleep, and discipline (school website, Mom’s Everyday, cable free access).

Parent engagement

Parents that are not engaged with education and educators are not as likely to ensure their children attend school consistently.

Improve communication with parents to promote start and stop

times.

Provide information about attendance expectations, determining

illness, and other pro-attendance related information at school

orientations and open houses.

Consider home visiting programs.

Coach parents on how to have contact with their school and

teachers.

Coach/train teachers and other school personnel on how to

work with caregivers in a non-threatening way.

Coordinate school and community resources to engage parents

on one platform so that they are not bombarded with multiple

requests for participation, losing priority information.

Evaluate school “welcome” atmosphere to parents and

caregivers.

Use child performance (plays, concerts, etc.) for brief parent education and interactions.

Student engagement

Students who do not feel they are valued, supported, or have a purpose in the educa-tion system are less likely to attend school.

Facilitate school focus groups with variety of students and

parents to learn about what keeps them in or out of school.

Build support groups for students with attendance or school

attachment problems.

Reduce barriers to engagement for kids who want to re-connect

by making extra- curricular activities and other supports

available to all students.

Develop strategic transition plans for building transitions.

Provide opportunities for academic remediation early on.

Teacher and other staff engagement

Teachers and other staff may not feel that they have a direct role in ensuring student attendance or under-stand links to current school initiatives.

Incorporate attendance strategies into Multi Tiered System of

Support, Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, and

Coordinated School Health programs.

Provide format for team meetings to discuss student issues,

strategies for intervention, and sharing information that may

paint a more complete picture of student barriers.

Ask teachers to personally call parents and students when there

are attendance issues to share a message of concern and

support.

Be informed of alternative, vocational, and career preparation education programs available to students.

Student and peer engagement

Students who do not have others to relate to or to help at the peer level may be less likely to engage in intervention processes.

Use peer intervention programs with youth who have previously

struggled with attendance.

Use Peer Helpers to assist with the truancy intervention process.

7

Partners

for Change

Opportunities for School Attendance

Problem Statement

Strategies

Families

Families in poverty

Children living in poverty have multiple barriers to attending and performing well in school. These can include hunger, housing instability, family transportation issues, poor health, and others.

Train teachers and staff on poverty awareness issues and hierarchy of need.

Partner with local housing/homeless coalition to discuss potential partnerships for promoting school attendance.

Partner with other local social support networks to understand current barriers for families in poverty and better understand the supports needed to sustain education.

Families and youth with mental and behavioral health problems

Children who have or are parented by people who have mental and behavioral health problems have immediate barriers to school engagement and attendance.

Educate school personnel on screening and treatment options for both youth and adults.

Provide training on Advise and Refer protocols.

Review mandated reporting requirements with all staff.

Partner schools with local treatment providers to offer families voluntary support connections with the two entities.

Household management and parenting

Lack of family management, rules, and parenting skills can contribute to children not attending school regularly.

Include families in the Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports model.

Educate families of young children on the importance of routine, bedtimes, and morning structures.

Educate families of older children on the importance of limiting electronics at bedtime, appropriate amounts of sleep, and morning management.

Collaborate with local groups offering more intensive parenting classes and have that support system easily referable to families in need or self-referring.

Enforcement

Courts and probation

Court systems have limited resources to deal with truancy, which is a status offense. This causes families to know that there is little that law enforcement will likely do to force them to ensure their children attend school.

Work to collaborate with local judges and probation officers on initiatives related to school attendance. Offer suggested partnership strategies that compliment local planning.

Require parenting classes to all families referred to court for truancy.

Child Protective Services/Department of Human Services

CPS is often unable to pursue Educational Neglect” cases due to lack of capacity and resources.

Partner with local DHS offices to open dialogue about school attendance.

Learn more about benefits related to cash and SNAP assistance and how the policy is enforced.

8

Partners for

Change

Opportunities for School Attendance

Problem Statement

Strategies

Primary Community Support Systems

0-5 educators and other child care programs

0-5 educators and other programs are frequently not connected with school attachment and attendance prevention efforts.

Improve communication with parents to promote start and stop times.

Begin parent engagement with education/child care systems early on and create a bridge from one program to another.

Bring kindergarten round-up processes to where parents are at: WIC clinics, churches, urgent care and primary care clinics, Great Start programs, etc.

Health care, justice, and human service systems

Providers of health care, legal procedures, and other human service systems offer appointments primarily during school hours, promoting absences for non-emergency situations.

Many health and intervention programs are only offered during the school day. Consider promoting later afternoon, evening, or weekend opportunities for medical care, court hearings, etc.

Partner with local primary care practices to discuss absence “excuses” provided to students, making sure both parties understand when and how they are issued.

Integrate school attendance education into court mandated parenting classes.

Other youth intervention programs

Many communities have youth intervention programs that are not linked to school attendance. By not providing linkages and partnerships, opportunities are missed to promote school attendance.

Linking existing programs to truancy intervention. For example, using Teen Court model to intervene with truancy cases or obtaining attendance records for children in trouble and having school attendance become a part of the solution.

Convene a meeting of all local youth intervention providers to discuss truancy and possible partnerships.

Transportation

Students who do not have reliable transportation options are less likely to attend school regularly.

Become involved in local planning and zoning initiatives, such as Complete Streets and Safe Routes to School.

Consider completing a community “walkability” assessment.

Promote programs such as “Walking School Bus” and others that provide supervision to students walking to school.

Include school bus drivers in attendance initiatives, professional development, and other relevant opportunities.

Partner with public transportation initiatives to promote alternative transportation for students.

Consider a parent-led ride share program.

9

Partners for

Change

Opportunities for School Attendance

Problem Statement

Strategies

Primary Community Support Systems

Community planning

Communities that are not planned for ease of access to resources and community involvement inadvertently set up barriers to school attachment and attendance.

Assess community safety for walking (lighting, crime, clear sidewalks)

Plan schools and neighborhoods that allow for smart, easy access to and from neighborhoods and schools.

Assess areas where children congregate before and after school for safety and protection from weather. Include bus stops, school building parameters, and other locations.

Higher education

Colleges, universities, trade, and technical education providers all share a vested interest in successful high school completion but are not always considered as a possible solution.

Partner with local higher education institutions to discuss student engagement opportunities to promote school attendance.

Incorporate classroom management, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, and Multi Tiered Systems of Support into college curriculum.

Teach future teachers philosophies of social justice, poverty, and parent engagement.

Educating communities

Communities that are not informed of or invested in drop-out prevention and school attendance issues cannot support initiatives in a unified manner.

Partner with area United Way for strategy input and possible financial support of programs.

Orient community agencies to policy and procedures to give consistent messages.

Superintendents invite local faith based leaders to meet and discuss school issues and give a call to action from the pulpit.

Use School Based Health Centers to promote attendance. Schools without health clinics build capacity to apply for funding to support overall health and attendance.

Partner with Great Start and other 0-5 programs for early communication, education, and prevention of poor school attendance.

People in authority need to communicate that truancy is a big deal and raise awareness.

Pro-attendance campaigns

Work with public health and school officials to set “sick” criteria for families to follow.

Use community volunteers to facilitate parenting classes.

Provide education to parents on the importance of Kindergarten and other elementary grades. They may have perceptions of unimportance based on their own early education experiences.

Avoid using education acronyms in community and parent materials.

10

Stories from the Field

County, System, & Family Barriers

Mom and Dad are divorced and live in separate

counties. Mom has primary custody and does not make

her kids go to school if they don’t want to. Dad is very

upset with this and is trying to get the courts involved. A

lot of time is slipping by while he works through the court

system.

Literacy, Behavioral, & Family Barriers

“Jason” is in the 5th grade and has failed

twice. He is much bigger than his classmates

and is often violent. His parents have never

made him go to school very much and he still

reads at a very low level. His older brothers followed a

similar path and are now incarcerated. His parents have

been worked with in the truancy program for many years

but don’t value the education system and how it can

change the trajectory for their youngest son.

Educational Relationship Barriers

“John” doesn’t really like school. He doesn't feel like he

fits in and mom isn’t really sold on the public school

system either. She didn’t like school when she was a kid

either, so she completely understands when John

doesn’t want to go. The Truancy Coordinator started

working with the family to try to resolve some issues with

the classroom and school administration. Quickly in the

process, mom got tired of people meddling in their lives

and informed the truancy coordinator that she was going

to home school John. This decision was a

“red flag’ to both the school and the truancy

coordinator, due to the student’s truancy

issues, mom’s written communication with

the truancy coordinator and mom’s own

lack of education and qualifications to

teach her son. When requested by the

Truancy Coordinator to provide an educational plan for

the student to satisfy the courts, mom’s planned text

books were “on-line papers”. She does not have a

computer or internet at home and no idea what was

involved with home schooling a child. The judge did not

accept this home school plan and ordered John to

attend school.

The Lost Kids: Too Many Barriers for One System “Amy” is a 15 year old ninth grader with a rough past. Her parents are divorced, and her father is not in her life at

all. Amy gets in trouble a lot at school and hangs out with the wrong crowd. She fights with her mom a lot and got

kicked out of her home. A relative let her live with her for a while, even took temporary guardianship of Amy, but

that didn’t go very well either. Amy has an admitted problem with marijuana. She does not want to quit using and

doesn’t feel like she fits in at school. Amy has been caught at school with marijuana, placed in the district’s spe-

cialized program, but was caught with marijuana again and was expelled from school after several violations. The

school needed to protect the other students in the school from her illicit drug use. Amy and her mom have had

multiple interventions through the truancy program, but Amy’s mom isn’t willing to deal with the problems and look

for solutions—she has given up. The truancy coordinator tried working with the courts to figure something out for

Amy. Because Amy has two different addresses she moves back and forth between, one county judge was not

willing to take jurisdiction in this case. Amy is currently living back with mom even though she doesn’t have legal

custody of her anymore. Amy returned to school after a lengthy suspension for marijuana, and she occasionally

shows up when she feels like it. In summary, Amy’s custodial guardian won’t let her back into her home, her

mother can’t handle her, the court felt the issue was not truancy but a law enforcement one for drug use, plus

couldn’t establish residency, and dismissed the case.

11

Making Changes

Through Conversation

Reviewing local attendance policy

Educating community partners: prevention coali-

tions, Community Mental Health, higher education,

treatment professionals, and others

Drawing attention to the issue with school staff,

administration, and juvenile court

Listening to youth about school attachment

Considering ways to connect families with schools

Future strategic planning to include risk factors that

impact school attendance

Working with school administrators to identify

children at risk of being truant earlier

Pairing peers with truant children

Sharing information with State Administration

Requesting school board representation in future

conversations

Developing strategies for school attachment

Working with Health Department programs like

WIC for family outreach and early prevention

Developing clear materials to promote favorable

attendance with expectations, start times, end

times, and ideal drop-off times

Requiring a mandatory visit to the Truancy

Coordinator booth at student orientation before

schools starts

Developing community workgroups to address

compulsory attendance issues

Comparing attendance data trends for individual

districts

Partnering efforts through other Intermediate

School Districts

Supporting initiatives through strategic planning

and looking for funding to support more aggressive

strategies

Providing next steps and data for success to

schools for referring truancy

Include attendance education to parents and

students at school orientations and open houses

Developed plan for first 30 days of school to

include information, orientation to parents, and

strategies for prevention

Problems like truancy can seem overwhelming to take on. The power of conversation with

multiple entities is powerful and can make strategies seem more obtainable. Through the

power of gathering different people together in just three meetings, the following changes

have been implemented for addressing compulsory school attendance:

12

Report prepared by:

Kim Thalison, Coalition Coordinator

Ingham Substance Abuse Prevention

Eaton Regional Education Service Agency

Prevention Program Services

1790 E Packard Highway,

Charlotte MI 48813

517-541-8702, 517-231-1305

kthalison@eatonresa.org

Lansing School District

Eaton Regional Education

Service Agency

Holt School District

Lansing Teen Court

Hillsdale Substance Abuse

Prevention Coalition

Newaygo County Circuit Court

Michigan Department of

Education

Dansville School District

29th Circuit Court, Family

Division (Gratiot County)

Lansing Community College

Eaton Rapids Public Schools

56th Judiciary Circuit Court,

Family Division (Eaton

County)

Ionia County Substance

Abuse Prevention Coalition

Clinton County Juvenile Court

Newaygo County Suicide and

Substance Abuse Prevention

Affiliate

Grand Ledge Public Schools

Ingham Great Start

Capital Area United Way

Clinton, Eaton, Ingham

Community Mental Health

Coordinating Agency

Michigan Fitness Foundation

Hillsdale County Substance

Abuse Prevention Coalition

Waverly Community Schools

Ingham Substance Abuse

Prevention Coalition

Clinton Substance Abuse Pre-

vention Coalition

Eaton County Substance

Abuse Advisory Group

Ingham County Sheriff’s Office

Serving Hope and Integrity,

Inc.

Representatives from the following agencies and organizations contributed to the information in this

report: