In 2000, the California State Legislature passed the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, which authorized funding for county juvenile-justice programs and designated the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) (formerly named the Board of Corrections) the administrator of funding. A 2001 California Senate bill extended the funding and changed the…

This report seeks to raise awareness of the critical importance of chronic early absence, synthesize available data on the scope of the challenge, and share emerging insights about how schools and communities can use chronic early absence to identify and address challenges affecting the social, educational and physical well-being of children and…

General education classrooms provide a common milieu for understanding and appropriating results of classroom research projects, which are typically viewed as having little application outside their original contexts. Here, results of an investigation into the "sophomore slump," where grades and class attendance rates typically suffer, are…

Presents results of a study about first-year college students skipping class. Lists nine variables studied for their effects on missing or attending class. Reports that disliking a class, spending little time studying, and being female relate positively to missing class. Suggests that knowledge of the relationships between such variables and…

This study examined factors associated with failure of child abuse victims to attend their first recommended counseling session. Attenders (n=84) differed from nonattenders (n=45) on the basis of race, whether the center to which they were referred was private or public, whether the family had a telephone, and the mother's attitude toward…

Student absenteeism was studied in six high schools: three schools in each of two large school districts in the Pacific Northwest. The data source was grade and absence reports collected over a period of nearly two years. Approximately 50 administrators, over 500 teachers, and 10,000 students contributed data to the project. The analysis goal was…

This study compares student populations between two high schools in an urban school district in Indiana and populations within the schools to determine the effects of a punitive attendance policy and the attendance patterns of various groups. The schools were differentiated by the factor of one school enforcing an attendance policy. Random samples…

Discusses problems of sample selection in explaining student performance in economics classes. Reports on a study of student performance correlated with class attendance, course dropouts, and homework. Concludes that any researcher gathering data about instructional effectiveness must account for students who drop the class. (CFR)

In an effort to encourage the growth and maturity of its students, Broome Community College in New York abolished its attendance policy. For the past 7 years, both attendance rates and grade point averages (GPA's) of students at the college had been dropping. In 1990, a study was conducted at BCC to determine if there was a measurable relationship…

Reports on a study of two introductory sociology courses to determine whether informal writing assignments can aid learning. Finds that requiring students to keep journals did not significantly improve performance on essay tests. Asserts that teachers may be justified in requiring attendance as a strategy for increased learning. (CFR)

This evaluation study addresses the effectiveness of weekly attendance mailer letters sent to parents of students with irregular attendance patterns at 22 Detroit, Michigan, high schools. Three questions researched were: (1) Are the letters effective in reducing the occurrence of in-school truancy? (2) Are letters an effective means of…

Community colleges need to adopt a broad conceptual definition of a continuing student in the design and evaluation of their retention strategies, recognizing nondegree goals as legitimate educational achievements and intermittent but persistent attendance as a valid method of pursuing educational goals. (MSE)

Retention research in the four-year college setting has traditionally assumed that students intend to achieve a degree, and that when a student leaves school, either the college or the student has failed. In an effort to demonstrate that such assumptions do not apply when examining retention among two-year college students, Brookdale Community…

This report explores effects of a year-round schedule on pupil and teacher attendance in the Jefferson County, Colorado, School District. Information is drawn from a 1977 district study and from interviews with teachers and principals. Comparison of data on attendance before the program and after its first year found that attendance increased in…

This report presents findings of a two-part evaluation study of the 1984-85 High School Intervention Center Program operational for 11 Detroit, Michigan, schools. Evaluation of program impact on students' attendance and scholarship and a process evaluation of program strengths and weaknesses were conducted by data comparison and by participant…