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                            Funding & Awards
 Finding Cost-Effective Ways to Reduce Truancy and Crime: An Evaluation of the Ramsey County Truancy Intervention Programs
Award Information
Awardee
              The Regents of the University of Minnesota
Award #
              2014-IJ-CX-0010
Funding Category
              Competitive
Location
                    Minneapolis, MN
Awardee County
              Hennepin
Congressional District
              5
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2014
Total funding (to date)
              $552,163
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY 14 Research and Evaluation on Justice Systems-Related Topical Areas
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2014, $552,163)
Statement of the Problem: Truancy is a barrier to high school graduation and a risk factor for criminal involvement. One-third of all public high school students in the U.S. fail to graduate, which equates to 7,000 students dropping out of school every day. Thousands of truancy prevention programs exist, but they rarely have been rigorously evaluated. In particular, little is known about how the justice system can reduce truancy.  We propose a rigorous quasi-experimental study of the long-term effects on academic and criminal justice outcomes of two truancy interventions in Minnesota run by the justice system: the Truancy Intervention Program {TIP; for students ages 12-17) and the Family Truancy Intervention Program(FTIP; for ages 5-11).
Subjects: This study links secondary data from the Ramsey County, Minnesota Attorney's Office with data from the Minnesota Departments of Education and Corrections for the years 2001-2013. Individual-level outcomes are tracked for 12 years for 36,514 students in grades K-12 (in 167 schools) who received TIP/FTIP plus equivalent-sized comparison groups. Students are approximately 53% male, 41% African American, 19% Asian, 16% Hispanic, and 3% Native American. Partnerships: The study involves a partnership between the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, the University of
Minnesota, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The Ramsey County Attorney's Office designed and manages the truancy interventions. The two academic partners bring expertise in quasi-experimental designs
and cost-effectiveness analysis as well as a successful history working with TIP.  Research Design and Methods: Data will be analyzed using a regression discontinuity design and propensity score matching. The key hypotheses are: 1) TIP and FTIP effectively reduce truancy and dropout, promote on-time grade completion and graduation, and reduce incarcerations; 2) these programs work equally well for all students, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status; and 3) both programs are cost-effective. A strength of this study is its ability to resolve five methodological problems of much previous research: 1) lack of equivalent comparison groups, 2) high attrition rates in the program, 3) small sample sizes, 4) lack of long-term follow-up, and 5) lack of determination of how program effects differ across racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Analysis: Analysis will be conducted using primarily random effects time-to-event models.
Products, Reports, and Data Archiving: Project staff will publish multiple manuscripts and policy briefs and make presentations to educational and legal professionals and policy makers working to reduce the incidence and impact of truancy at individual and community levels. ca/ncf



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Can Court Diversion Improve School Attendance among Elementary Students? Evidence from Five School Districts
                  Finding Effective Ways to Reduce Truancy: An Evaluation of the Ramsey County Truancy Intervention Programs, Executive Summary
                  Finding Effective Ways to Reduce Truancy: An Evaluation of the Ramsey County Truancy Intervention Programs, Final Technical Report
                  Long-Term Effects of Truancy Diversion on School Attendance: a Quasi-Experimental Study with Linked Administrative Data

  
Date Created: September 14, 2014
    
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