Endnotes
1. The definition of truancy is usually established by school district policy and may vary across districts. For the purposes of this Bulletin, truancy is generally defined as an unexcused absence from school or class (i.e., an absence without the proper approval of appropriate school officials).
2. Generally, absentee rates are highest in public schools in the inner-city where larger numbers of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches (Heaviside et al., 1998). (Higher truancy rates generally correlate with poverty; higher rates of free and reduced-price lunches are typically used as evidence of poverty.)
3. This series of long-term studies, which have followed thousands of at-risk youth in three cities for more than a decade, is designed to improve the understanding of serious delinquency, violence, and drug use by examining how youth develop within the context of family, school, peers, and community. For more details about this program, visit ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ccd.
4. Retrieved from the Web at www.sc.co.pima.az.us.
5. Seven school districts (not including the Tucson Unified School District) participate in ACT Now. Of these, the four most populous were selected to participate in the evaluation of ACT Now: Amphitheater, Sunnyside, Marana, and Flowing Wells. All four are located in the Tucson metropolitan area, and their total student enrollment represents approximately 77 percent of the Pima County public school students who are not enrolled in the Tucson Unified School District.
6. Because school attendance is monitored by an attendance clerk at each school, attendance clerks and local school administrators were key figures in program implementation.
7. The affidavit certifying the truant student’s attendance record is a critical component of the prosecution strategy because it obviates the necessity of having school officials testify at court proceedings in each case. This plan represented a major inducement to school administrators, who did not relish the notion that staff time could be taken up with frequent court appearances.
8. Prior to the involvement of CJA, participating service providers were asked to submit information to PCAO verifying that referred parents had successfully completed the program and thus complied with the terms of the diversion agreement. Later, CJA monitored compliance with the terms of the diversion contract.
9. To order this publication, contact APRI’s Research Unit at 703–549–4253 or visit its Web site, www.ndaa-apri.org/research/apri_index.html.
10. The number of referrals to various services does not represent the number of youth referred to such services. Youth often are referred to multiple services; however, referral data were only available in aggregate form, making it impossible to determine the actual number of youth who received services.
11. The 1997–98 school year marks the first year in which recidivism data were tracked.
12. Ideally, the evaluation would consider pretest truancy from the 1995–96 school year; however, reliable truancy data for that year were unavailable.
13. Weed and Seed is a community-based strategy combining law enforcement and human services to improve communities by reducing crime and revitalizing community involvement and resources. Weed and Seed requires an active and participating collaborative group, on which the grant program can theoretically build.
14. YOEM, which was a joint initiative of OJJDP and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, U.S. Department of Education, focused on truants, dropouts, and youth who were fearful of attending school, suspended or expelled, or in need of help to become reintegrated into mainstream schools from juvenile detention and correctional settings.
15. The exclusion of two sites was due to site-based difficulties with startup and interviewee accessibility.
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