Truancy Workgroup Members
Co-Chairs – Honorable John Kuhn & Cynthia Stoltz, Esq.
Members:
Courts
Common Pleas Judges, MDJs, Hearing Officers,
Court Administrators
Child Welfare
DPW, CYF Administrators, Managers, Social
Workers
Education
PDE, PASA, PSBA, PAESSP, High School
Principals, Education Law Center
Juvenile Justice
JCJC, Chief’s Association, PCCD
Workgroup Charge
• Gather information about critical systemic
issues in PA regarding truancy
• Identify nationally recognized and PA
truancy best practices
• Outline an approach and a series of
recommendations for reducing truancy in
PA
Mission and Guiding Principles for
Pennsylvania’s Dependency System
Pennsylvania’s child dependency system shall:
• Protect children who are habitually and without justification truant
from school.
• Support the educational needs of all dependent children.
• Support families by stressing the importance of formal education for
the child.
• Educate families in parenting and life skills.
• Identify all possible practices and strategies that address the needs
of a child and family and encourage solutions which do not require
court intervention.
• Utilize the Children’s Roundtable Initiative as a mechanism for local
and statewide communication, decision making and leadership.
• Ensure strong and responsible leadership from all facets of the
dependency system, beginning with our courts.
PA Truancy Efforts
• PA Attorney General’s Safety Action Plan
Truancy Committee (2000)
• Statewide Truancy Task Force on School
Attendance and Truancy Reduction (2004)
• Special Court Judges Association Truancy
Workgroup (2007)
Statewide Truancy Task Force
• PA Truancy Toolkit
http://www.patruancytoolkit.info/
• Basic Education Circular (BEC) –
Compulsory Attendance and Truancy
Elimination Plan
What do we know about truancy?
Limitations on Existing Truancy Data
• No national truancy data exists
• Education truancy data is self reported by
school districts
• Court data is limited to summary citations
filed with the magisterial district courts
• Do not capture the number of children who
are dependent and truant or delinquent
and truant
Truant Students Personal
Characteristics*
•
•
•
•
•
Academic failure
Poor social and emotional functioning
Ethnic or racial diversity
Health problems
Inability to feel part of the ‘school culture’
*Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Causes of Truancy
Vary by Individual
May Include:
–
–
–
–
Family factors
School factors
Economic influences
Community factors
National Findings
• No national truancy data
• Hundreds of thousands of students are
absent each school day without excuse
• Truancy is a risk factor for:
– Academic failure
– Health issues
– Delinquent behavior
National Dropout Data
• 1.2 million teens between the ages of 1619 who were not in school and had not
graduated from high school in 2007*
• Dropout ranged from 2% in North Dakota
– 11% in Nevada
• PA ranked 19th nationwide, where 6%
(41,000) teens were high school dropouts
*2009 Kids Count Data Book on State Profiles of Child Well-Being
Annie E. Casey Foundation
What does truancy
look like in PA?
PA Truancy Laws
• Compulsory School Age (no later than 8 -17)
• School board charged with setting policies governing
pupil absences and lawful excuses
• “Habitually Truant”
• CYS involvement under and over age 13
• Filing against the parent or child
• MDJ Penalties if found guilty
PA Truancy Laws (cont.)
• Failure to pay – certified to common pleas
• Dependent -“Habitually and without
justification truant from school”
PA State Total Habitually Truant 2007-2009
Year
2007
2008
2009
Total PA
School
Population
1,821,383
1,843,194
1,787,351
Total PA
Habitually
Truant K-12
147,188
148,939
154,904
Percent
Habitually
Truant
8.08%
8.08%
8.67%
SY 08-09 School
Population
by Gender (K-12)
SY 08-09 Habitually
Truant by Gender
(K-12)
Female Male
Female
859,392 909,718
49%
51%
73,667
48%
Male
81,237
52%
SY 08-09 Total School Population vs.
Total Habitually Truant Population
700,000
648,809
586,662
600,000
500,000
408,750
400,000
Total Population
Total Habitually Truant
300,000
200,000
100,000
78,420
38,556
37,928
0
1-5 Grades
25%
6-8 Grades
25%
9-12 Grades
50%
White / Caucasian (not
Hispanic)
74%
American Indian / Alaskan
Total School Population
Native
Grades K-12
0%
Asian / Pacific Islander
3%
Black / African American
(not Hispanic)
15%
2008-2009
Hispanic (any race)
7%
Multi-Racial
1%
American Indian / Alaskan
Native
Asian / Pacific Islander
Black / African American (not
Hispanic)
Hispanic (any race)
Multi-Racial
White / Caucasian (not
Hispanic)
Total Truant Population 2008-2009
Grades K-12
American Indian /
Alaskan Native
2%
Asian / Pacific Islander
1%
White / Caucasian (not
Hispanic)
32%
Black / African American
(not Hispanic)
47%
American Indian / Alaskan
Native
Asian / Pacific Islander
Multi-Racial
1%
Black / African American
(not Hispanic)
Hispanic (any race)
Multi-Racial
Hispanic (any race)
17%
White / Caucasian (not
Hispanic)
Magisterial District Court Truancy Data
Year
Total
Citations
Citations
against
Juvenile
Citations
against
Parent or
Guardian
Juveniles
Certified to
Court of
Common
Pleas for
failure to
pay fines
Total fines
collected and
paid to
School
Districts
2007
66,307
17,852
48,455
4,542
$1,589,199
2008
68,046
18,159
49,887
4,705
$1,454,887
2009
57,555
16,517
41,038
2,707
$709,153
LRT Survey Results
90%
truancy was an issue of concern in their county
LRT Survey Results Cont.
42%
truancy was being effectively handled
–
–
–
–
Stakeholder collaboration
Standardized protocols
MDJ uniforimty in handling truancy cases
Timely responses
LRT Survey Results Cont.
30%
truancy was not being effectively handled
– No collaboration
– Inconsistency in handling referrals
– Not addressing the problem in elementary
school
– Filing MDJ citations too late in the school
year
– Not utilizing the TEP
LRT Survey Results Cont.
• 65% do not have a cross systems truancy
reduction program
• 50% use a truancy protocol
• 65% do not have a liaison between the
school districts and the court
LRT Survey Results Cont.
• 36% have an educational representative on
their local children’s roundtable
• Only 5 counties reported having an MDJ on
their local children’s roundtable’
• 65% indicated their was no “sense of urgency”
about truancy in their community
Recommendations
Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 1
Demonstrate Effective Collaboration Efforts
Including Sharing the Accountability and
Responsibility for Truancy
Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 2
Create an Educational Culture/Climate that
Prioritizes Students’ Connection to their School
and Engages Families
Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 3
Implement Specific Strategies with Measurable
Outcomes Targeting Prevention,
Early Identification and Intervention
Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 4
Track Truancy Data and Program Outcomes
and Share Information with Stakeholders
Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 5
Build Sustainable Funding Bases
and Allocate Resources Based on
Data Informed Decisions and
Partnerships that Maximize Efficiencies
Next Steps
1. Implementation Strategies
•
Support for communities to implement the
recommendations
•
Communicate the message about the
urgency of truancy
Next Steps
2. Collaborate with JCJC to
identify truancy laws
needing clarified or altered
Next Steps
3.
Engage the medical community as a
valued partner in addressing truancy at
both the state and local levels
Next Steps
4. Explore possible surveys and other tools
that communities can utilize to assess
local truancy issues
5 Things Local Children’s
Roundtables can do
1. Read the Report
2. Review your County’s School Truancy Data
3. Bring the Information back to the Local
Children’s Roundtable
4. Start Identifying Community Stakeholders who
may be Interested in discussing Truancy
Issues
5. Begin a dialogue with Stakeholders
“We live in a world in which we need to
share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s
not my child, not my community, not my
world, not my problem.’ Then there are
those who see the need to respond, I
consider those people my heroes.”
- Fred Rogers