Truancy: Causes, Effec ts, and Solutions

Truancy is a problem that is seriously affecting the overall success of the large urban school district, and in particular, the specific school in which I am employed. For the purpose of this paper, truancy will be defined as consecutive illegal absences from class or school. The purpose of the research is to develop a solution that can be proposed to my administrator in an effort to decrease, or eliminate truancy altogether and is to be initiated at the beginning of our next school year. Therefore, the first objective is to identify causes, effects, and solutions to truancy based on a review of literature. The second objective is to verify the causes of truancy in my school and compare these results with teacher opinions of the same causes. The final objective is to identify how teachers feel about truancy and realize what, or how much time the teachers are willing to offer in an effort to decrease, or eliminate the problem altogether. Document Type Thesis Degree Name MS in Special Education Department Education First Supervisor Susan M. Schultz Subject Categories Education This thesis is available at Fisher Digital Publications: http://fisherpub.sjfc. edu/education_ETD_masters/107 Truancy: Causes, Effects, and Solutions By Bill Rivers Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree M.S. Special Education Supervised by Dr. Susan M. Schultz School of Education St. John Fisher College April, 2010 Truancy: Causes, Effects, and Solutions 1 ABSTRACT: Truancy is a problem that is seriously affecting the overall success of the large urban school district, and in particular, the specific school in which I am employed. For the purpose of this paper, truancy will be defined as consecutive illegal absences from class or school. The purpose of the research is to develop a solution that can be proposed to my administrator in an effort to decrease, or eliminate truancy altogether and is to be initiated at the beginning of our next school year. Therefore, the first objective is to identify causes, effects, and solutions to truancy based on a review of literature. The second objective is to verify the causes of truancy in my school and compare these results with teacher opinions of the same causes. The final objective is to identify how teachers feel about truancy and realize what, or how much time the teachers are willing to offer in an effort to decrease, or eliminate the problem altogether. Truancy is a problem that is seriously affecting the overall success of the large urban school district, and in particular, the specific school in which I am employed. For the purpose of this paper, truancy will be defined as consecutive illegal absences from class or school. The purpose of the research is to develop a solution that can be proposed to my administrator in an effort to decrease, or eliminate truancy altogether and is to be initiated at the beginning of our next school year. Therefore, the first objective is to identify causes, effects, and solutions to truancy based on a review of literature. The second objective is to verify the causes of truancy in my school and compare these results with teacher opinions of the same causes. The final objective is to identify how teachers feel about truancy and realize what, or how much time the teachers are willing to offer in an effort to decrease, or eliminate the problem altogether. Truancy: Causes, Effects, and Solutions 2 Table of