Truancy Prevention: A Proactive Approach Best Practices for School Teams

APS School Attendance Guidelines, per APS Student Handbook  Excused absences: Illness, limited family emergencies (including deaths), medical, health or legal appointments, suspensions, religious commitment, college visit, deployment of military parent, pregnancy, student caring for their own children under the age of 14  All other reasons are considered unexcused.  In APS, a student is considered “a student in need of early intervention at 5 unexcused absences and a habitual truant at 10 unexcused absences in a year.  Tardies: secondary students who miss more than 50% of the class period are considered absent.  State law required schools to withdraw a student after 10 consecutive days of unexcused absences, but only after the school has exhausted its efforts to keep the student in an educational setting through a variety of interventions. (pp. 8-9)

Best Practice in Addressing Truancy  Attendance data  Truancy team with a systems based and data-driven plan  Prevention efforts and establishing a culture of attendance  A wellness approach of early identification, intervention and referral to community and/or school based programs  Reintegration supports to welcome disengaged students back to school

A word on CAPACITY and SUSTAINABILITY

Truancy Data  Ability to reach students and families  Systematic approach to updating contact information  Accurate attendance data  Disenrollment documentation  Ability to generate needed reports

Starting point for conversations with students and families but not a complete picture In order to understand fully a student’s attendance pattern, we must take the time to hear their stories

School-Level Team  Best practice is that all staff members play a role in addressing attendance. Attendance teams ensure students are monitored regularly and the responsibility of dealing with attendance is shared.

Developing Your Team  Identify membership  Use existing teams (e.g. SAT, Health & Wellness, etc.) or  Establish a new team

Team Membership  Counselors, nurses and social workers play an important role in addressing truancy  A barrier to attendance is often related to health and mental health issues

Developing Your Team  Develop a comprehensive school-wide attendance plan/ truancy activities  Registration  Truancy Blitz  Beginning of the year transition calls  Focus on target population  Track and analyze data  Communicate regularly with school staff members, student and family  Assign duties and responsibilities, which leads to role clarity

Accessing the Truancy Prevention Rubric and Attendance Works prevention/documents/aps-truancy-prevention-best-practices-rubric prevention/documents/aps-truancy-prevention-best-practices-rubric

Prevention and a Culture of Attendance  Principal leadership and school-wide education  Promote a pro-attendance culture in the school:  creating a welcoming school environment through positive relationships with students and families  rewarding students for consistent and/or improved attendance  holding events and campaigns that reinforce the importance of attendance  acknowledging small steps toward positive change

Prevention and a Culture of Attendance  Consistent messaging throughout the year about the importance of coming to school regularly  Reach out to parents and the community through school events  Recognize attendance is everyone’s responsibility

Understanding District Notifications to Families  Learn what, if any, automated attendance notifications are sent to families  Know the content to be able to help students and families understand what they need to do based on the notification  Example: APS 10-day letter

Early Identification and Intervention  Target identified students.  Reach out to students and families.  Personalized phone calls, home visits, school meetings.  Investigate to determine core causes of absences.  Engage students and families, provide school staff with key information and ensure that students do not fall through the cracks of the school system. It may take time to develop trust for students and families to reveal true root causes of absences.

Early Identification and Intervention  Provide linkages and referrals to community services to address barriers to attendance.  Work collaboratively with school staff, students and families to develop interventions to bring students back to school and keep them there.

Transitioning from Home to School  Principal leadership is critical  Create a welcoming environment  Focus on support and keeping student in school  Engage students and families  Set expectations with all parties  Coordinate between student, family and school  Stay connected through attendance team with student and family  Provide resources to address challenges during the transition  Work with teachers to support student  Engage peers to support the effort(if possible/appropriate).

Successful interventions  Work collaboratively at school  Early identification, referral and intervention  Coordinate efforts when possible

Contact us- APS Truancy Prevention Student, Family and Community Supports Ron Lucero Truancy Prevention Manager (505) Velinda Pearson, LISW Social Work Manager (505) Tamara Thiedeman, LISW Social Work Clinical Supervisor (505) Program website: