1 Orange County Truancy Response Program Presented by: Frank Boehler, Child Welfare & Attend. Director Orange Unified School District Susan Riezman, Deputy District Attorney Orange County District Attorney Joann Nichols, Supervising Probation Officer Orange County Probation Marya Forster, Research Analyst Orange County Probation Shirley Hunt, Research Manager Orange County Probation Presented at Association for Criminal Justice Research (CA) Reforming Justice through Research, “ Reforming Justice through Research, Practice, and Policy Partnerships Practice, and Policy Partnerships ” Coast Long Beach Hotel, California October 20, 2005

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3 ORANGE COUNTY TRP   DA and Court Roles   Probation Role   School District Participation   TRP Evaluation Outcomes The Orange County Truancy Response Program is funded in part by the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act. The TRP partners include the Juvenile Court, District Attorney, Probation, and Department of Education with participation from 20 of the 28 school districts in Orange County.

4 TRP Evaluation Overview   Two evaluation components  Outcomes for truants referred to DA Parent Meetings  (Primary) Outcomes for truants referred to formal TRP- Juvenile Justice system/Probation   Outcome measures  Change in truancy rates for truant students  Arrest rates of TRP participants  District $$ loss due to full-day truancies

5 DA Parent Meeting Intervention   DA Parent Meeting - Early TRP Group Intervention   District-sponsored group meetings conducted by DA for chronic truants and their parents   Informed of consequences of further truancy   Meetings generally occur after initial efforts by school have failed to bring an end to the truancy but before referral to SARBs or Probation   Preliminary Evaluation: DA Parent Meetings in two districts ( ) [District A: N = 78; District B: N = 211]  Compare individual results 3 months pre and post meeting – – Individual student truancy rates – – Estimated District $$ lost due to target students full-day truancies

6 DA Parent Meeting Intervention   3 months after the meeting:  Average truancy rate of invitees in District A declined 18% (sig)  Average truancy rate of invitees in District B declined 25% (sig)

7 DA Parent Meeting Intervention   3 months after the meeting:  District A lost 19% less in ADA $$  District B lost 53% less in ADA $$ (sig)

8 TRP Referrals to Probation TRP Referrals to Probation (Juvenile Justice System)   Chronic truants not responding to district sanctions referred to Probation & formal justice system   Probation officers monitor attendance & other TRP assigned sanctions   Continued truancy can result in placement on court-ordered 601 W & I and/or prosecution of the parents*   Evaluation:   6 month Pre to Post comparison of TRP participant truancy rates   6-month post-program arrest rates of successful TRP completers vs. non-completers *Cases involving truants under age 12 are referred directly to the DA for court prosecution of the parents

9 Profile of All TRP Participants Profile of All TRP Participants N = 357 (11/2001 to 6/2005)  57% male  57% Hispanic & 32% White  OUSD, AUHSD, & HBUHSD referred 62% of the total participants  92% of participants are 12 yrs and up  Average age at referral = 14.9 yrs  Of the 357, 85 had been referred on to the court as of 6/30/2005

10 TRP Participant Status 6/30/2005

11 Truancy Rate of Participants  6 months after program assignment:  Average truancy rate for all participants declined significantly (  <.001)  Average truancy rate for those who completed satisfactorily dropped even more (declined by 57% - also  <.001)

12 Arrest Outcomes  6 months after program exit:  Participants who satisfactorily exited the program had fewer arrests compared with those who exited unsatisfactorily (8% vs. 17%)

13 Conclusions  The DA Parent Meeting appears to be an effective, short-term (3 months) truancy-reduction intervention  TRP is effective in significantly reducing truancy (improving school attendance) of participants, especially for those who complete the program satisfactorily  TRP “Completers” have lower arrest rates post- program than “Non-completers”

14 Questions  Please contact:  Marya Forster at (714) or  Shirley Hunt at (714) or  Joann Nichols at (714) or  Susan Riezman at (714) or  Frank Boehler at (714) or  Georgiann Boyd at (714) or