Procedures successful for one school in establishing good attendance include phone calls on all unexplained absences, discipline for unexcused absences, incentives for good attendance, charting attendance patterns, and staff coordination for monitoring attendance. Increased state aid, a more positive school climate, and greater student achievement…

Since the passage of The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a superintendent's role has been redefined and more focus has been placed on student achievement. Research demonstrates that rural public schools are faced with an educational crisis. Rural districts are faced with an epidemic of declining enrollments/budgets, increased drop-out rates, low…

This study addressed the problem of poor attendance adversely affecting grades and learning. Current school policies do not address problematic attendance for all school-aged children, perpetuating trends of academic failure. The research objective was to determine if unexcused absences had a greater negative impact on a high-stakes test compared…

This study assessed the effects of a modified version of Check & Connect, a comprehensive student engagement intervention, on the attendance, behavior, and academic performance of secondary African American females with violent and aggressive behavior problems. In addition, the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) was used to assess cognitive…

This fact sheet is intended to provide a snapshot of the current issues surrounding dropout factors among students who are identified with emotional disturbance, as well as to provide mental health resources that may assist this population to remain in high school. The statistics presented in this document highlight both the importance of…

This case study evaluated one site of a California teacher home visit program. Home visits have been an important means of connecting families and schooling. In 1999, California inaugurated a statewide home visit program to promote effective partnership between home and school for low-achieving schools. At this site, families in 3 kindergarten…

The advent of internet-based delivery of basic medical science lectures may unintentionally lead to decreased classroom attendance and participation, thereby creating a distance learning paradigm. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that classroom attendance/participation may be positively correlated with performance on a written examination…

A school social worker and three social work interns in a semirural alternative high school with a predominant Hispanic student enrollment evaluated the Taking Charge group intervention. The group is an evidence-based life skills intervention for adolescent mothers, and it was evaluated on its efficacy for improving participants' school…

Truancy is not a new problem, but schools are in need of new solutions (Gullat & Lemoine, 1997). Truancy is a known predictor of students leaving school prior to graduation (Garry, 1996). In this article, the author defines truancy and addresses the views of educators and community members on the topic. The discussion will also include…

Intended for counselors, the document offers guidelines for identifying nonattendance in primary grade students. Sections outline procedures for analyzing attendance patterns, signs of nonattendance for teachers to look for, actions to take when nonattendance is identified, types of nonattendance (such as chronic illnesses, overprotective parent,…

A successful inschool suspension program is described that brings together a professional staffer knowledgeable in counseling and a variety of subject areas, an unpleasant image among students, and a reasonable length of the student's day. Guidelines and rules are listed. (MJL)

This applied research project, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, sought to explore the prevalence, consequences, potential contributing factors and possible responses to chronic absence in grades K-3. To deepen understanding of the issue, this project supported new analysis of national and local data on student attendance patterns, a…

Contingency management (CM) for drug abstinence has been applied to individuals independently even when delivered in groups. We developed a group CM intervention in which the behavior of a single, randomly selected, anonymous individual determined reinforcement delivery for the entire group. We also compared contingencies placed only on cocaine…