In a recent article titled “Truancy linked to poor grad rate,” AJC reporter Nancy Badertscher reported on a recent research study conducted by the Georgia Department of Education. The study documents the strong inverse correlation between the number of student absences and high school graduation rates.
This unique study, according to the DOE spokesman Matt Cardoza provides “concrete data on how absences, large and small, are having a huge impact.”
The study’s results contradict the notion that a few absences are of no consequence. We now have statistical data to reinforce the anecdotal and commonsense belief that if you do not go to school regularly, you may not pass your classes, and if you do not pass your classes, you will not earn a high school diploma and graduate.
A high school diploma represents the minimal level of education required to access job opportunities and/or further education at the postsecondary level. The correlation between education and subsequent earnings is well documented — the higher the level of education, the higher the income.
Growing numbers of Georgia students are skipping school with increasing frequency and, for many, jeopardizing their chances to earn a high school diploma. It was previously reported in the AJC that about a third of Georgia’s students drop out by the ninth grade.
The problem is not new to Georgians or to the rest of the country.
In 1979, the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education identified the substantial dropout rate as one of the most persistent problems facing youth, especially minority youth. The council suggested at that time that educators’ major concern should be to reduce the rate of school absenteeism and dropouts.
There is no single, simple cause of truancy. Educational researchers have identified a fairly large number of characteristics — up to 50 factors — of students at risk of dropping out.
The most common characteristics relate to areas of personal qualities, family factors, school climate, peer group and community variables.
Several observers have suggested another risk factor: the impact of today’s economy on families.
Some politicians and critics of public education conjecture that students skip school because a) they lack teachers capable of motivating them, and b) they are apathetic because of a boring curriculum they perceive as irrelevant to their lives. These speculations are not supported by data.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to meet certain benchmarks such as graduation rates, attendance and standardized test scores. Failure to meet those standards, realistic or not, presents serious implications for school systems.
Consequently, despite recent budget cuts in programs, personnel and services, reducing the rate of truancy and increasing the graduation rate must be addressed.
Improvement gains will require the involvement of the entire school staff (counselors, social workers, psychologists, teachers and administrators) as well as community resources (juvenile justice system, social programs and volunteer groups).
The professional literature in fields such as education, counseling and social work contains descriptions of a variety of programs that have achieved some degree of success in reducing student absences. A further review of the literature will generate additional options.
We cannot afford to postpone action on the truancy and graduation issues.
Wayne Huey, a 36-year veteran of the DeKalb County school system, retired from director of counseling at Lakeside High School in 2001.
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