A Randomized Study to Abate Truancy and Violence in Grades 3-9 in Chicago Public Schools

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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In partnership with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the goal of this project is to test the effectiveness of a manualized mentoring and case management program for students in grades 1-8. Most of the current policy and research attention on dropout has focused on the dropout decision itself, even though dropout is more likely to be simply the end point of a longer-term developmental process. This project seeks to learn more about the relative effectiveness of preventing dropout through mentoring and case management programs, and to learn more about the relative effectiveness of intervening early vs. later.

Detailed Description
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High school graduation is tremendously protective against involvement with crime and violence, as well as against the risk of adult poverty, unemployment, and poor health. Most of the policy and research attention on dropout has focused on the dropout decision itself. Yet dropout is almost always the end point of a longer-term developmental process. For this project the investigators have raised nearly $7 million in external support from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and the William T. Grant Foundation to learn more about the relative effectiveness of preventing dropout by trying to re-engage children in school much earlier during their academic careers. Specifically, this project is motivated by findings from the late University of Chicago sociologist James Coleman indicating that one of the strongest protective factors against school failure for children is having a strong relationship with a pro-social adult - something that far too many children do not currently have, particularly those growing up in distressed family and community environments. The investigators are partnering with other researchers at Northwestern, Duke, and the University of Minnesota to test at large scale the effects of a structured mentoring and monitoring programs called Check & Connect. To date, the project has completed its pilot year, and starting this academic year will work with nearly 500 elementary and middle school students distributed across 23 CPS schools on the West and South sides of the city. Students will receive Check & Connect assistance for two academic years total.

Official Title
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Preventing Truancy in Urban Schools Through Provision of Social Services by Truancy Officers

Conditions
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Attendance and Truancy, Student Engagement, Dropout

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Check & Connect


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Student with 10-27 total absences in prior school year Students in Grades 1-7 at start of 2011-2012 or 2013-14 school years In attendance at one of the Chicago Public Schools elementary/middle schools randomly selected to be offered the intervention Exclusion Criteria: None

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 5 Years
Maximum Age: 16 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Check & Connect<br>Check and Connect Structured Mentoring and Case Management | Behavioral: Check & Connect<br>* Structured mentoring and case management<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change in attendance and truancy | Attendance and truancy measured through school records on absences | 2 times a year (on average every 6 months) during the intervention and 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Criminal activity and involvement | Criminal activity and involvement using criminal records will include individual-level administrative data on juvenile arrests from the Chicago Police Department and Cook County juvenile court records | 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years | 
| Employment history and workforce involvement | Employment outcomes using employment records will include formal labor market involvement as measured by quarterly unemployment insurance (UI) records from the Illinois Department of Employment Security | 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years | 
| Health and medical system participation | Health outcomes using health records will include Medicaid records on eligibility and service use from the Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) | 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years | 
| Academic achievement | Academic achievement measured through school records will include grades received in school and scores on standardized achievement tests (Iowa Test of Basic Skills in reading and math) | 1 time a year each year during the intervention and 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years | 
| School engagement | School engagement measured through school records will include disciplinary actions/referrals | 1 time a year each year during the intervention and 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Attendance, Truancy, Student engagement, Mentoring, Monitoring, Case management