NCJ Number
232549
Date Published
October 2010
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This report briefly summarizes analyzes that staff from the Vera Institute of Justice conducted for the Office of Children and Family Services offering more effective options New York State can consider to address chronic school absence of teenagers.
Abstract
The analyzes concluded that by challenging the existing systems and traditional interventions used by communities and schools, New York State is on the cutting edge of addressing chronic school absence among teenagers. The first step may be to remove teens from the jurisdiction of the child protective system, while simultaneously creating a less adversarial set of interventions to keep youth connected to schools. This would allow the child welfare system to focus on the most vulnerable abused and neglected children in the State. New York State's strategies in working with adolescents need to be informed by research on effective practices for adolescent behavior change and school engagement. The analyses also proposes that by providing flexibility and incentives to localities to address the root causes of absenteeism in their communities, and offering guidance and practice that supports a strengthening of student attendance, the State will be more effective in its efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and improve graduation rates. The child protective system of New York is not well equipped to help teenagers improve their school attendance. In the 2008-2009 school year, nearly 40 percent of New York City high school students missed 20 or more days of school. This policy brief looks at one response to the statewide problem of chronic school absence: reporting parents to the child protective system. 1 figure and 20 endnotes