Draining the School-to-Prison Pipeline” is a monthly publication addressing issues of community school reintegration, sharing practical recommendations to support returning students, tracking relevant public policy and legislation, and addressing racial and other inequities in Pennsylvania’s educational system
Truancy Consequences Open the Door to the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Attendance plays a huge role in student achievement. Research has shown consistently that the more time a student spends out of the classroom, the lower their overall academic performance will be (1). In the United States as many as 7.5 million children (over 15% of the student population) will miss approximately one month of school each school year (2). Such significant rates of out-of-school time can have long-term consequences for students both in and out of school. The serious long-term effects of truancy include: poor graduation rates, poor academic performance, school drop out, delinquency, and teen pregnancy (3).
In Pennsylvania, a student is considered truant when the child has 3 or more unexcused absences in a given school year (4). A child is deemed habitually truant when the child accumulates more than 6unexcused absences in a single school year (4). Consequences for truancy can range from implementation of a positive attendance improvement plan to adjudicating those students dependent and removing them from their homes (5). Youth who are placed in foster care or an institutional placement thorough the dependency system have a much higher likelihood of involvement in the juvenile justice or adult criminal justice system (6).
Although Pennsylvania no longer punishes absent students through the juvenile justice system, that is not the case everywhere. Over 1000students are removed from their homes each year in the United States for being truant, some of whom are placed in juvenile detention centers (6). In addition, 15,000 youth annually are placed on juvenile probation for truancy (6). It is not uncommon for students to violate probation for minor offenses such as breaking curfew or missing additional days of school, making them vulnerable to delinquent placement and a revolving door of juvenile justice involvement (6).
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References:
1) Every School Day Counts: The Forum Guide to collecting and using attendance data. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/attendancedata/chapter1a.asp
2) Get Schooled. (2021, February 28). Facts about school attendance. Get Schooled. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://getschooled.com/article/1939-facts-about-school-attendance/
3) Rivers, B. (2010, April). Truancy: Causes, effects, and solutions – St. John Fisher College. St. John Fischer College, Ralph C Wilson, Jr School of Education. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1106&context=education_ETD_masters
4) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (2020, February). Compulsory school attendance, unlawful absences, and school attendance improvement conferences. Department of Education. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://www.education.pa.gov/Policy-Funding/BECS/Purdons/Pages/CompulsorySchoolAttendance.aspx
5) Education Law Center. (n.d.). Attendance and Truancy: Your Rights. Education law center. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://www.elc-pa.org/truancy/rights/
6) Goldstein, D. (2015, March 6). Inexcusable absences. The New Republic. Retrieved January 19, 2022, fro