Texas Administrative Code › Title 19 - EDUCATION › Part 2 - TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY › Chapter 129 - STUDENT ATTENDANCE › Subchapter BB - COMMISSIONER'S RULES CONCERNING TRUANCY › Section 129.1045 - Best Practics

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) A school
				  district shall consider the following best practices for truancy prevention
				  measures.
(1) Develop an attendance policy
				  that clearly outlines requirements related to truancy in accordance with Texas
				  Education Code (TEC), Chapter 25, Subchapter C, and communicate this
				  information to parents at the beginning of the school year.
(2) Create a culture of attendance that
				  includes training staff to talk meaningfully with students and parents about
				  the attendance policy and the root causes of unexcused absences.
(3) Create incentives for perfect attendance
				  and improved attendance.
(4)
				  Educate students and their families on the positive impact of school attendance
				  on performance.
(5) Provide
				  opportunities for students and parents to address causes of absence and/or
				  truancy with district staff and link families to relevant community programs
				  and support.
(6) Develop
				  collaborative partnerships, including planning, referral, and cross-training
				  opportunities, between appropriate school staff, attendance officers,
				  program-related liaisons, and external partners such as court representatives,
				  community and faith-based organizations, state or locally funded community
				  programs for truancy intervention or prevention, and law enforcement to assist
				  students.
(7) Determine root causes
				  of unexcused absences and review campus- and district-level data on unexcused
				  absences to identify systemic issues that affect attendance.
(8) Use existing school programs such as
				  Communities In Schools, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Restorative
				  Discipline, and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to provide
				  students and their parents with services.
(9) At the beginning of each school year,
				  conduct a needs assessment and identify and list, or map, services and programs
				  available within the school district and the community that a school, a
				  student, or a student's parent or guardian may access to address the student's
				  barriers to attendance and make the information available to staff, students,
				  and parents. The information must include, but is not limited to:
(A) services for pregnant and parenting
				  students;
(B) services for students
				  experiencing homelessness;
(C)
				  services for students in foster care;
(D) federal programs including, but not
				  limited to, Title 1, Part A, of the Elementary and Secondary Education
				  Act;
(E) state programs including,
				  but not limited to, State Compensatory Education programs;
(F) dropout prevention programs and programs
				  for "at risk" youth;
(G) programs
				  that occur outside of school time;
(H) counseling services;
(I) tutoring programs and services available
				  at no or low cost;
(J) mental
				  health services;
(K) alcohol and
				  substance abuse prevention and treatment programs;
(L) mentoring programs and
				  services;
(M) juvenile justice
				  services and programs;
(N) child
				  welfare services and programs;
(O)
				  other state or locally funded programs for truancy prevention and intervention;
				  and
(P) other supportive services
				  that are locally available for students and families through faith-based
				  organizations, local governments, and community-based organizations.
(10) After identifying and
				  listing, or mapping, services available in the district and community, school
				  districts should target any new resources, programs, or services to gaps in
				  services identified during the needs assessment.
(11) School districts should ensure that
				  personnel, including truancy prevention facilitators or juvenile case managers,
				  attendance officers, McKinney-Vento liaisons, foster care liaisons, Title IX
				  coordinators, 504 coordinators, pregnancy and parenting coordinators, dropout
				  prevention coordinators, special education staff, and other appropriate student
				  services personnel, meet to contribute to the needs assessment, discuss
				  opportunities to work together, and identify strategies to coordinate both
				  internally and externally to address students' attendance barriers.