A comprehensive Approach to Improving Student Attendance in Los Angeles County a report from the School Attendance Task Force

February 7, 2011

Debra Duardo, Director of Pupil Services, Los Angeles USD

Rick Tebbano, District-Wide Administrator for Child Welfare and Attendance for Long Beach USD

Laurel Bear, Director of Student Services, Alhambra USD

LAUSD is using a 3-Tiered Approach to improving school attendance that provides differ­ent sets of interventions matched to the level of school truancy as well as alternative edu­cation programs such as the Big Picture approach at its Frida Kahlo High School. The Dis­trict has also launched a media campaign to market improved attendance for its stu­dents, which includes a component that makes parents more aware of the detrimental effect of truancy on their children’s well-being.

LBUSD used a host of strategies for addressing truancy and highlighted the District’s Tru­ancy Counseling Center (TCC) program, which has been in existence for over 15 years. The TCCs serve students from all over the County and are divided into elemen­tary, mid­dle and high school levels, with teachers assigned to each Center. Recognizing that truancy is a symptom of other issues, efforts are made to engage parents when they come to pick of their youth from a TCC and then enroll them in parenting classes, counsel­ing and other services.

AUSD, through a federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant awarded in 2008, launched its Gate­way to Success program, which links District students with counselors or other health and wellness resources to help them with challenges that interfere with their aca­demic, personal or social adjustment. A management team that includes the chief of police, city attorney, DCFS, Probation, DMH, SARB and others, oversees the program, and Parent and Student Advisory Commit­tees play key roles. As a result, a host of reforms has been achieved, including an estab­lished consistency for truancy sweeps ; a policy that merchants are not to serve students during school hours; a safety net of interven­tion services available to students when they return to school; a central process for all referrals; and the addition of university interns, including clini­cally trained psycholo­gists, on every school campus. An innovative Parent University holds monthly workshops which, among other things, helps parents understand how to navigate the school system, what their students need to succeed, and how to prevent power struggles with their children. In addition, a local evaluation team is in place that is measuring the effects of a range of efforts, including anti-bullying campaigns, internet safety promotion, alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention, violence prevention, etc.

March 2, 2011

Community approaches were then considered and presentations were made by:

Daniel Oaxaca, Executive Director and Founder of the San Gabriel Valley Conserva­tion Corps (SGVCC) and staff member Andrew Quinones

Miller Sylvan, Regional Director, Attendance Improvement Management

At the heart of the SGVCC program is a YouthBuild Charter School. Students can earn credits while doing construction or project-based work that focuses on the environment, recycling, or the Earthworks Community Farm. Strong community partnerships have been developed with local cities and businesses to provide these opportunities. All stu­dents have an individualized educa­tion plan, and those who are 18 or older work towards completing their high school diploma while participating in job training programs, “learn­ing, working, and getting paid at the same time.” The organization puts a heavy emphasis on involving their families in the school and, if a student is missing from school, staff go to their home and “knock on the door” to find out what is wrong. Last year, 42 students (out of the 100 aged 16–18) passed the CAHSEE exams and graduated, and almost all will go on to two or four-year colleges.

The AIM program helps students and their parents avoid court adjudication while recoup­ing mil­lions of dollars in attendance-related revenue. Currently in 14 school districts in 5 states, this pro­gram works to transform chronically truant youth by identifying the unique challenges that are the root cause of their truancy, providing intensive positive support, and making sure that every stu­dent is in school every day. Youth get wake-up calls every morning to remind them to go to school and are given hand-held monitors to receive and send text messages 5 times a day. Hired coaches contact their youth (1 for every 8 youth) 3–5 times weekly by phone, get involved in their lives and develop lasting relationships with their students. If a youth misses school, the coach knows immediately and talks with the youth that day. AIM began as a court-ordered program but has evolved into a broader program that provides a diversion from court and works closely with truancy sweep efforts and truancy centers. Its results are excellent, improving initial school atten­dance rates from 70 to 84% to 92–99% during the program, and to 88–95% afterwards.

April 4, 2011

Andrew Glazier, Chief of Staff, City Year Los Angeles

Michael Gray, Chief, Kinship Support Division, Department of Children and Family Ser­vices; Jennifer Hottenroth, Director, Education & Mentoring; and Teresa Rupel, Program Manager, Skid Row Assessment Team

City Year has been operating in Los Angeles for the past 4 years. Its Corps members are from 17–24 years of age and receive an education award and a stipend for a year of full-time service. 95% act as in-class tutors and mentors for youth at-risk of dropping out of LAUSD schools and use a “whole school, whole child” framework. They also participate in an academically oriented after-school program and a weekend program. Most impor­tantly, Corps members serve as consis­tent, caring, “near peer” adult role models in all of their interactions with students, a proven contributor to dropout prevention. Using LAUSD’s 3-Tier Model, City Year does some work with Tier 1 students, but primarily concentrates on those in Tier 2. City Year uses three data indicators to select students for program participation—Attendance (less than 90%), Behav­ior (“unsatisfactory” mark for behavior in at least one class) and Course Performance (final grade of “F” in Math or Eng­lish). By the end of the 2009–10 school year, 50% of City Year middle school stu­dents moved on track in English and 48% in Math.

There are currently 23,698 school-aged children under the supervision of DCFS—11,410 in elemen­tary school, 3,110 in middle school and 8,551 in high school. 30% of these youth function below grade level; 50% are held back at least once; 46% do not complete high school; and only 15% enroll in college. Early identification of youth with truancy issues is the key to changing these statistics and, as there are numerous and complex rea­sons for youth truancy, DCFS is employ­ing a variety of strategies for increasing school atten­dance, including intensive work with school districts. The Gloria Molina Foster Youth Education Program, for example, is a very success­ful partnership with 5 school districts that outstations social workers on high school cam­puses to spearhead the develop­ment and implementation of individual education plans through building strong relationships with schools, families and foster students.

No families with children are now living on Skid Row streets, as two nonprofit organiza­tions are effectively meeting their needs. Therefore, truancy is no longer the problem it was on Skid Row in the early 2000’s. On any given night, however, between 30 and 80 homeless families are sleep­ing in missions. Project staff and their partners understand and con­tinually communicate the mes­sage that all children, after a couple of days of homeless­ness, are expected to be in school. The two best resources for serving homeless children and their families are the 211 information line and DPSS eligibility workers, and McKinney-Vento (Homeless Children and Youth) Coordina­tors have been assigned in each school district.