Mariana Perez missed schoolmore often last yearthan she does now. The eighth-grader in Maryland is part of a longtime Montgomery County program to help middle school students improve attendance and feel more connected to their education.F
She said she sees the difference in her grades.
“C’s to B’s, and B’s to A’s,” said the 13-year-old, who meets weekly with a volunteer mentor and others who are pulling for her in the county’s Truancy Prevention Program. “It helps to have advice,” she said this week.
Even though the worst of the coronavirus pandemic may be finished, students across the country continue to rack up absences at alarming levels. An analysis released in October showed two-thirds of the nation’sschools faced severe absenteeism in 2021-2022, with no signs yet of a widespread rebound in the year that has followed.
High levels of absenteeism often derail students. They are less likely to read on level by third grade. They are more likely to score lower on standardized tests and get suspended in middle school, research shows. They are at greater risk of dropping out of high school.
As school districts search for ways to tackle the issue, the Montgomery County program Mariana participates in is well-regarded and expanding. It is meant to identify the root causes of absenteeism with each student individually and find ways to overcome them. The idea is encouragement and relationship-building, not punishment.
“It is absolutely, abundantly clear that it is needed now more than ever,” said John McCarthy, state’s attorney in Montgomery County, who led the effort to create the program.
Two-thirds of schools struggle with high absenteeism following the pandemic
Inspired by a similar effort in Baltimore, the program was started in two middle schools in 2010. It now serves 19 middle schools, with six more to be added in the spring and another four in the fall of 2024. The goal is to reach all 40 middle schools in Montgomery County, McCarthy said. Seven to 10 students from each school participate.
The 10-week program depends on volunteer mentors, school staff members and employees of the state’s attorney’s office, where truancy prosecution is viewed as a last resort. Students meet with them one at a time, once a week, reflecting on how they are doing, why they were missing school and how to do better. They talk about their grades.
“We just try to build up rapport,” said Michael Durso, a retired school principal and former county school board member, who has volunteered with the program for five years. “It’s: How are you doing? What are the barriers that get in the way of coming to school?”
Some students miss school because of family needs, including tending to younger siblings. Some take jobs to help support their families. Some lack transportation to get to school if they miss the bus, and increasingly some struggle with anxiety and depression. Many want to avoid school because they are being bullied.
One student faltered until his third try at the program, said George Simms, an assistant state’s attorney and chief of the community outreach division. Then one day, it seemed to click: When the boy missed his bus in the morning, he came up with another way to get to school — taking a Metro bus and walking a mile, Simms said.Share this articleNo subscription required to readShare
“He is completely turned around,” he said.
Students are considered truant in Maryland when they are absent without an excuse for more than 20 days in a school year. In Montgomery County, a Truancy Review Board handles about 10 truancy cases a month but strives to work with families; very few are steered into the court system, Simms said.
If a parent were charged in a truancy case, the offense would be a misdemeanor that could carry jail time or a fine but would most likely involve probation on the condition of school attendance, Simms said.
School system leaders, who collaborate with prosecutors on the program, similarly say that students benefit most when schools join with families.
“Punishing parents doesn’t do a single thing to help us build relationships with them,” said Steven Neff, the school system’s director of pupil personnel and attendance services.
Not every child in the Montgomery County program reaches their attendance goals, making them eligible for a “graduation” ceremony. Graduation rates for the program vary from about 60 percent to 70 percent, McCarthy said. Still, he said: “I think every child improves.”
The Montgomery County initiative is one of many programs across the country that aim to reduce absenteeism or truancy.
In D.C., where several efforts focus on the issue, some have shown promising results but are small or underfunded, said Danielle Robinette, a policy attorney at the Children’s Law Center. She said programs with an individualized approach have been more effective than those that are punitive.
In Montgomery County, the problem is so extensive that it will require many more programs and efforts to effectively meet the need, said Durso, the former school board member and program volunteer.
In recent years, Montgomery and other school districts nationally have tracked absences by calculating rates of “chronic absenteeism,” when students miss 10 percent of their school days for any reason. Montgomery’s rate worsened during the pandemic, but the first quarter of this year showed improvement.Montgomery officials have announced a plan to combat the problem.
Students involved in the voluntary prevention program — once known as Truancy Court — are referred by schools and must have parental consent to participate. They receive points for their accomplishments over the course of the program and receive prizes.
At the program’s “graduation” ceremony — held at the county courthouse — students are handed certificatesof achievement. Speeches are given. Parents and grandparents look on, snapping photos.
“I was one of the kids with the lowest, lowest grades,” one 11-year-old boy told the audience at a graduation this year, according to a recording of the event. The sixth-grader said he wrote goals into a book every week as part of the program. “Every single week I completed every single achievement that I wrote,” he said. His grades rose markedly.
“I appreciate being in this program because it is one of my achievements in my life and will be the first achievement I have ever done,” he said.Share91Comments
By Donna St. GeorgeDonna St. George is a national education reporter for The Washington Post, where she has been a staff writer since 1998. She previously worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Times
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/11/24/truancy-chronic-absenteeism-school-program/