Truancy in Our School’s: A Growing Problem
...onship between students’ attendance and the personal characteristics of the student, the student’s family relations, and school variables in a sample of 54 high school students. Absent students perceived their families to be less cohesive than the regular attendees, felt fewer acceptances by their parents, and their parental discipline was inconsistent and ineffective. Other findings from the study suggest that absent students were less likely to perceive school experiences favorably, felt inferior academically, experienced family conflict, and were less likely to be socially competent in their relations in class. Family problems were unlikely to be confined to the home and spilled over into the school, affecting student’s concentration, grades, and relationships with teachers and classmates (Corville-Smith, Ryan, Adams, & Dalicando, 1998). Benda (1987) supports that parental values and ambitions play a large role in children’s school attendance and that a supportive family is the most important source of a child’s attitude toward school attendance. Baer (1999) indicates that the transition from childhood to early adolescence consists of major changes in a number of psychosocial dimensions. Pubertal timing and the degree of change such as the transition to junior high school bring a heightened potential for problems such as use of drugs and alcohol, the increase of school drop out, decline in academic motivation, and decreased interest in school generally. During this time of change the student is in need of being supported by all those involved with them. The author discussed how students making the transition to junior high school could be complicated by the development changes taking place. Children tend to spent more time at home than any other place. Parents are a child’s first role models and greatly influence norms, values, and expectations. Parents can serve as productive models or as destructive models that behave in negative or rejecting ways and set demands that contribute to their children becoming truant (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). Research points out that truant children often receive insufficient parental attention and see this as a contributing factor to truancy (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). They also add that frequent relocation, performing domestic chores, and staying at home to resolve domestic conflicts contributes to truancy. The social culture of school itself may put excessive stress on youth pushing them toward truancy. Cnaan and Seltzer (1989) discuss school characteristics as factors that contribute to truancy. Teachers inadequately trained to meet the needs of truant children, and the use of expulsion and suspension are part of this social culture. Educators not being encouraging and not having positive expectations are also seen as contributors of truancy (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989; Washington 1973). Individual factors need to be looked at when addressing truancy. Some children come from positive home environments and attend good schools, but become truants because of disabilities (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). Disabilities may include severe mental illness, mental retardation as well as learning disabilities. These issues are prevalent and growing within our schools. Other individual characteristics associated with truancy include school phobia, school failure and low self-esteem. A child is not only a product of family and the socialization agents of society, but also a reflection of Their environment (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). Environmental factors include peer-pressure, no value placed on education, availability of drugs and alcohol, neighborhood safety, and students being bullied (Cnaan & Seltzer 1989; Allen-Meares, 2004). Cnaan & Seltzer (1989) address the importance of the ecological perspective in addressing the issue of truancy. Factors that contribute to truancy affect urban students differently than rural students, inner city students differently than suburban students, black students differently than white students, boys differently than girls, and elementary school students differently than secondary school students. In addressing truancy every student must be assessed individually and not viewed the same because truancy is the common factor. Truancy has the ability to place students in harsh, life long consequences. When students are not in the classroom they are missing out on valuable learning time and the absent student cannot learn effectively. Truancy may also be seen as a stepping-stone to delinquent and criminal activity. Garry (1996) reported many studies have documented the correlation between drug use and truancy; the University of Maryland found that 51% of female juvenile detainees not in school at the time of their arrests tested positive for drug use. Serious social problems, such as illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, political powerlessness, alienation, social deviance and crime, intergenerational dependency, and racial discrimination, stem from truancy (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). As discussed earlier, the truant student falls behind in their school or is not able to do the work because of not being academically prepared. They are more prone to drop out than catch-up (Garry, 1996). Truancy is a major barrier to learning. Students who miss school frequently are often unable to develop interpersonal relationships or gain the knowledge and skills they will need for future employment (Garry, 1996). Many students are not prepared for the workforce because of not being able to read, fill out a job application, or find employment. The effect of unemployment combined with low paying occupations creates a low socioeconomic status group (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). The overwhelming majorities of truants are not able to acquire significant political power in a democratic society, and they are among the most passage clients of various welfare services (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). Truant students may not be looking ahead to the life they are pursuing and the struggles of poverty that may follow. Another consequence of truancy is self-destructive behavior. Garry (1996) discussed the risk of truants becoming involved in drugs, alcohol, and violence leading to incarceration. Truants can find themselves alienated from their support systems. Intergenerational perpetuation of low level educational commitment and achievement is a consequence of truancy with long-term effects (Cnaan & Seltzer, 1989). Truancy can be a vicious cycle touching many lives. Children of truants and poor achievers can easily become truants themselves. Therefore, with the severity of these implications, there is a great need for interventions to combat truancy. Research on dropouts indicates schools need to intervene earlier when addressing problems with student attendance. Much of the literature relating to truancy focuses on middle and high school youth, a common theme identifies the attendance patterns of older students did not begin in middle or high school, but at a much younger age (Grooters & Faidley, 2002). As stated earlier, it is important to view truancy through the ecological perspective. The interventions that are chosen to be implemented with truant students should address and involve the family, the social culture of the school, and the community. Encouragement and positive feedback for improved attendance assist in shaping the student into becoming a regular attendee. Epstein and Sheldon (2001) provide strategies on how to increase and sustain student attendance. Their study found that communicating effectively about attendance with parents, providing a school contact person for parents to call, and rewarding students for improved attendance were three activities consistently associated with increased average daily attendance and reduced chronic absences. This intervention was designed to improve schoo...