TRUANCY

Within Chapter 8, you will read about children who do not attend school. There is also information about compulsory attendance and absences in Chapter 10, pages 254-263. I have also included a PowerPoint posted on in our module that explains several elements of this topic. Please review these materials to complete this assignment. Schools receive funding based on the average daily attendance of students in the building. Therefore, making sure that students come to school and helping to remove barriers to attendance is a major focus of the school social worker. This assignment is meant to help you become familiar with the laws of your state and to design a plan to prevent truancy.

Instructions

Complete the following steps.

Step 1

Review the truancy laws of your state. In Kentucky, we search Kentucky Revised Statutes. In a paragraph, summarize the laws that you found and answer the following questions about the laws that you have found:

What is your first impression of these laws?
Are the laws punitive in nature? Why or Why Not?
Do you think that parents can understand the expectations of the law? Why or Why Not?
Does your state have a no pass- no drive law? Do you think that driving and getting passing grades should be connected? Why or Why Not?
Within the state of Kentucky, elementary school truancy cases become educational neglect cases with the Cabinet of Families and Children (Child Protective Services). Is that how elementary truancy cases are handled in your state? Do you feel this is an effective approach of dealing with truancy at the elementary level?
Step 2

You are now going to design a truancy prevention program for your school. You will select either the elementary, middle, or high school level. Please indicate which level you have selected. Include the answers to the following questions:

NOTE: I do not have a length requirement, but this is not a paper so you will probably not need more than one page to answer the questions.

Will you use incentives for your program? If so, what are they? How will acquire funding for these incentives?
What specifically will you focus on with your students who are not coming to school? Will you focus on the barriers that are preventing the student from coming to school?
What interventions will you use? Small Group? Check In? Mentors?
Will you have a school wide component to your program? For example, a pizza party every month for the class with the best attendance.
What will you do to get the parents of your students not attending school to be involved in improving attendance?
How will you analyze the success of your program?