The study, by Melissa Roderick, Assistant Professor at the University's School of Social Service Administration, argues that school efforts to improve attendance need to look more broadly at how truancy occurs, and the many ways students can be absent. When considering class skipping and inconsistent attendance, almost two thirds of ninth graders miss two or more weeks of instruction in a major subject by the end of the year, Roderick says. A New Look at Truancy in Chicago's High Schools . The two problems suggest different kinds of solutions.
Spotty attendance begins early in high school and then gets worse.
Much of the truancy happens because of class cutting, and these students are in and around the schools. Even top students cut classes often. More than 40 percent of the highest-achieving ninth graders missed two or more weeks of classes in at least one major subject in the second semester of 1996. The example of Malik illustrates that Chicago Public Schools need to take a different look at the problem of truancy in Chicago. Most schools focus on students who don't come to school at all for long periods of time.