Clinical trial NCT01487434: A Randomized Study to Abate Truancy and Violence in Grades 3-9 in Chicago Public Schools
Official title: Preventing Truancy in Urban Schools Through Provision of Social Services by Truancy Officers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Attendance and Truancy
Student Engagement
Dropout
Keywords: Attendance
Truancy
Student engagement
Mentoring
Monitoring
Case management
Lead sponsor: Northwestern University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
name: U.S. Department of Education
name: William T. Grant Foundation
First posted: 2011-12-07
Enrollment: 5300
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 5
Maximum age (years): 16
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: 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: 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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in attendance and truancy
timeFrame: 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 outcomes:
measure: Criminal activity and involvement
timeFrame: 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years
measure: Employment history and workforce involvement
timeFrame: 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years
measure: Health and medical system participation
timeFrame: 1 time a year each year following the completion of the intervention for up to 25 years
measure: Academic achievement
timeFrame: 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
measure: School engagement
timeFrame: 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
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Chicago
country: United States
facility: Chicago Public Schools
state: Illinois
Study officials:
affiliation: Northwestern University
name: Jonathan Guryan, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Allensworth, E. M. & John Q. Easton (2007). "What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public High Schools." Chicago, Consortium on Chicago School Research.
citation: Christenson, S.L, Sinclair M.F., Evelo D.L., and C.M. Hurley (1998) "Promoting school engagement with school using the Check & Connect model." Australian Journal of Guidance & Counseling, 9(1): 169-184.
citation: Jacob, Brian and Jens Ludwig. (2009). "Improving Educational Outcomes for Poor Children." In Changing Poverty, Changing Policies, edited by Maria Cancian and Sheldon Danziger. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
citation: Sinclair, M.F., Christenson, S.L., Evelo D. L., and C.M. Hurley (1998). "Dropout prevention for youth with disabilities: Efficacy of a sustained school engagement procedure." Exceptional Children, 65(1): 7-21.
citation: Sinclair, M. F., Christenson, S. L. and M. L. Thurlow. (2005). "Promoting school completion of urban secondary youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities." Exceptional Children, 71(4): 465-482.