Improving student attendance and truancy prevention have always been areas of concern for educators, as well as, community members, and legislators. Students who are not in school cannot learn, and frequently drop out. Truant students often engage in high-risk behaviors that eventually entangle them in the juvenile justice system. Since 1986, the…

Examines issues of gangs and youth violence. Provides statistics and other information on weapons in schools, crime in schools, gang effects on truancy and dropout rates, gang activity, appeal of membership, recruitment, ethnic groups, new gang types (white Supremist and "stoner" gangs and Satanic cults), preventive efforts, and community…

This booklet is one in a series of "hot topics" reports produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. These reports briefly address current educational concerns and issues as indicated by requests for information that come to the Laboratory from the Northwest region and beyond. This document focuses on student attendance. During a…

The increasing rate of absenteeism among Canadian and U.S. public school students is discussed noting the widespread effects of low attendance. Eight questions are provided as a starting point for reassessment of school board attendance policy. Ontario attendance legislation and current enforcement practices are briefly explained. (SB)

This paper summarizes reports of various Ohio committees and offices that have studied attendance and dropout problems and have developed strategies and recommendations for dealing with them. Those strategies and recommendations are provided along with the following: (1) a statement of the problem and its scope; (2) a list of roles and…

The report presents results of a computer summary of Sacramento City Unified School District data on high school level dropouts for the four school years from 1980 to 1984. The district dropout rate fluctuated mildly from 1980-83; from 1982-83 to 1983-84, however, there was a drastic decline in the dropout rates. Each regular high school showed a…

A dropout prevention program was developed to address the needs of middle school alternative students, those students who have been labeled as severely disruptive and who fall into the high-risk category for potential dropouts. Many of the students have a history of physical violence, abusive language, truancy, and police arrests or juvenile…

Attempts to clarify the complex relationship between the identification of at-risk students and the ways educators try to retain them in school. Examines student problems from three different perspectives: the idiosyncratic, the sociocultural, and the institutional. Common student problems of learning, inappropriate behavior, depression, and…

This paper reviews information regarding the incidence, demographic characteristics, family characteristics, and immediate/ongoing characteristics of incest victims. The characteristics reported include behavioral indicators of abuse, such as acting-out behavior, self-destructive behaviors, and provocative and inappropriate sexual behaviors;…