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Tackling Truancy and Chronic Absence Through the SARB Process

Cary Catching, Director of Safe and Supportive SchoolsSan Mateo County Office of Educationccatching@smcoe.org

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Training Objectives• Meet the County SARB Panel and Chairperson

• Provide a context for the increased focus on attendance

• Learn about the county-wide approach to attendance awareness

• Provide an overview of the structure of SARB panels as well as the SARB process

• Understand the relationship between the district-level SARBs and the county SARB

• Review the SARB binder with a focus on new and/or critical documents

• Provide an opportunity to ask questions and share best practices relating to improving school attendance

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Current Context-LCFF

LCFF Legislation

•In June 2013, Governor Brown signed the State Budget Act with the passage of LCFF legislation.

• LEA’s were required to develop and approve a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP)

LCAP State Priorities

•Pupil Achievement •Course Access

•Parental Involvement •Implementation of Common Core Standards

•Other Pupil Outcomes •Basic Services

•School Climate •Pupil Engagement

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Current Context-”In School + On Track” Report

2014 Report Highlights (California)

•Over 250,000 elementary school students were chronically absent in 2013-2014.

•Over 40,000 of these students missed at least 36 days of school in one year.

•Almost 90% of these elementary students are low income.

•Nearly 1 in 5 African American elementary school students missed 10% or more of the school year (a rate over two and one half times that of white students). This is the highest of any subgroup including foster and homeless students.

•Elementary school students missed more than 113,000 days of school due to suspensions alone.

https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2014

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PPLC: The Big Lift

In San Mateo County

42% of county 3rd graders, 3,000 children, are not reading proficiently

60%+ for Latino, African American, and Pacific Islander children

Source: Dataquest

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Why Focus on Third Grade Reading?

• Reading proficiency by 3rd grade is a bellweather of high school graduation and career success

• Children who don’t read proficiently by 3rd grade are 4 times more likely to drop out of high school

• Every year, more than 60% of low-income children in Silicon Valley miss this crucial milestone

• Grade-level reading proficiency has become a unifying goal across the nation and in Silicon Valley

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The Big Lift Plan• Overall Goal: Go from 58% reading at grade level by 3rd

grade to 80% by 2020

• Overall Strategy: Pursue a “big lift” on education outcomes via collaboration• Provide quality preschool for 3- & 4-

year-olds• Offer full-day kindergarten

Make big system policy

changes

Greater readiness

Goal: Increase % of children ready for kindergarten from 50% to 80%-Strategy #1: Develop the case for preschool

-Strategy #2: Create a quality preschool model & rollout plan-Strategy #3 Improve the transition to K

Better attendance

Goal: Reduce chronic absence by 50%

-Strategy #1: Engage school districts annually

-Strategy #2: Share best practices & recommend system changes

Inspiring summers

Goal: 80% of kids reading below level attend a quality program -Strategy #1: Make the case for quality summer programs

-Strategy #2: Build a network of program providers to improve quality & access

Family engagement

Goal: Integrate family engagement principles and practices county-wide

-Strategy #1: Develop principles-Strategy #2: Convene groups who support families to inform and engage themStrategy #3: Work with preschool model team to incorporate engagement principles

Sustain progress through

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Attendance Matters

• Poor attendance starts as early as preschool and kindergarten and has long-lasting effects

• Nationwide, 10-15% of students (7.5 million) miss nearly a month of school in a year. That’s 135 million days of lost instructional time

• Chronic absenteeism is a red alert that students are headed for academic trouble and eventually for dropping out of high school

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Chronic Absence by Grade Level

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9th Grade Attendance Predicts Graduation for All Economic Backgrounds

Note: This Chicago study found attendance was a stronger graduation predictor than 8th grade test scores.

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Increased Attendance Involves a 3-Tiered

Approach that Fits with Most Reform Efforts

A small fraction

of a school’s

students

Students who were chronically absent in prior year orstarting to miss 20% or more of school

Some

of a school’s

students

Students at risk forchronic absence

All ofa

school’sstudents

All studentsin the school

Recove

ry

Progra

msInterventi

on

Programs

Universal/Preventive

Programs

HighCost

Low Cost

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Interventions in the Works

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SARB As A Tool• The SARB process can be an effective tool to combat truancy and chronic

absenteeism.

• SARB is a process of notice and intervention that enforces compulsory attendance laws with the goal of returning students to regular school attendance.

• SARB’s collaborative, multi-disciplinary, problem-solving approach seeks to identify and address barriers to attendance as well as coordinate services between school, community, and home.

• SARB is uniquely poised to triage the barriers to regular school attendance and enlist the support of providers and other resources to address those barriers (think “airplane oxygen mask” analogy)

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SARB as Part of an Overall Attendance Plan• Process begins at the school site with prevention efforts and then site-level

interventions

• As each intervention is utilized, the goal is that students will return to positive attendance

• SARB is a more intensive intervention to be utilized when the school site has exhausted its resources and interventions (similar to RTI pyramid)

Court

Truancy/Mediation/Referral to County SARB

SARB Follow Up

Intensive Intervention: SARB Meeting

Pre-SARB Intervention: SART or SST

Intervention: Truancy Letters, Parent Conference, Home Visits

Early Identification: Monitoring, Truancy Letter, Parent Phone Calls

Prevention: Setting Expectations, School Attendance Policy, Parent/Community Support

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Why is a SARB Necessary?

SARB provides leadership to focus on prevention, early identification, and intervention to improve attendance and behavior by:

•Resolving school-related issues through collaboration and coordination of services.

•Building capacity for home, school, and community resources.

•Identifying and diverting students with school attendance and behavior problems out of the juvenile justice system – in other words, keep in or return them to school.

•Referring cases to court in cases of parental noncompliance. Use of formal probation for students.

•Using Model SARB programs to share best practices and serve as mentors.

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Composition of SARBs

1. A parent

2. A representative of school districts

3. A representative of the county probation department

4. A representative of the county welfare department

5. A representative from the county superintendent of schools

6. A representative of law enforcement agencies

7. A representative of community-based youth service agencies

8. A representative of school guidance personnel

9. A representative of child welfare and attendance personnel

10.A representative of school or county health care personnel

11.A representative of school, county or community mental health

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SARB Collaboration• The multi-agency composition of the local SARB provides a wealth of experience and

expertise.

• The composition of the county SARB allows for a “fresh look” as they may not be as familiar with the individual student and family.

• Many families referred to SARB already have interfaced with the agencies represented on the board. As such, the SARB can help “put the pieces together” and create a plan that is comprehensive in scope.

• Information regarding pupil records may be shared with members of the SARB [EC 49076(a)(1)(A)]. This allows SARB members to have a more complete picture of the student’s current situation.

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What Takes Place During a SARB Meeting

1. State the overall purpose of the SARB meeting

2. Introduce the SARB panel

3. Ask the family if they know why they have been summoned to SARB

4. Report history of child(ren)’s attendance

5. Report from school representative listing all school interventions and results

6. Encourage the family to explain their understanding of the attendance problem and discuss the barriers to attendance

7. Address the barriers to attendance; SARB panel recommends solutions/referrals

8. Develop directives and sign the SARB Contract

9. Remind the family about the consequences of non-compliance with compulsory education

10.Set follow-up SARB date and/or monitoring procedures

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SARB Follow-Up

The SARB follows up on the students’ behavior and attendance and on the implementation of directives to assess progress and determine next steps.

• Send follow-up letter with a reminder about SARB directives and continued monitoring

• Flag the student’s cumulative folder

• Request progress reports from school site

• Check on contract conditions

• Provide rewards/acknowledgements for improvement – don’t forget to include parents

• Non-compliance = referral to county SARB and/or legal recourse

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Local SARB vs. County SARB

•Enforce compulsory education laws

•Develop coordinated services between school, community, and home to address attendance and behavior concerns

•Recommend solutions for school attendance/behavior issues to families that have exhausted school resources

•Refer families that do not comply with the prescribed directives to the county of residence for legal recourse

•Establish any and all local SARBs within the county•Review the organization structure of local SARBs•Develop rules and regulations for local SARBs•Provide technical assistance to local SARBs•Collect and analyze data from the Annual SARB Report•Serve as a referral for local SARBs in supporting their most difficult cases

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SARB Binder Review• SARB Process Steps and Flow Sheet

• Commonly Used Forms

• County SARB Referral Checklist (includes required documentation for the case)

• CDE School Attendance Improvement Strategies

• Reference Articles Regarding Truancy and Truancy Prevention

• County SARB Meetings: The 3rd Thursday of every month

3:00-5:00

Youth Services Center – Chief’s Conference Room

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Best Practices

What are strategies you have used to:

•improve school attendance rates?

•recognize exemplary attendance?

•identify community resources to support the chronically truant and their families?

•any success stories you want to share?

•other?

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Questions

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Thank You!