Truancy Court Program Receives $170K State Grant
June 19, 2007
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
A grant from the Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts will allow the Truancy Court Program developed by the University of Baltimore School of Law's Center for Families, Children and the Courts to increase the number of elementary and middle schools that can make use of this innovative, holistic approach to addressing truancy. The grant, totaling just over $170,000, will enable CFCC to develop a resource "toolkit" so more schools can provide assistance for students who are at risk for becoming chronically absent.
Barbara Babb, CFCC director and associate professor in the UB School of Law, said the additional monies will allow the program to become part of the day-to-day function of more public schools in need of additional help in combating truancy.
"This is welcome news for those of us who have been involved in the issue of truancy for the past several years," Babb said. "The Administrative Office of the Courts agreed with CFCC that the program is working, and that it is a worthy undertaking in more schools in the city and across the state. Our goal is to make it relatively easy for a school to set up its own program for assessing those students who are in danger of becoming chronically absent."
In addition to developing an extensive resource guide that will be made available via the AOC, CFCC will use the funding to hire Anthony Green, former Baltimore Colt, to serve as a full-time mentor coordinator for the TCP. Green has been assisting part time with the program for the past several months; in his new role he will work with participating students and parents, conducting at-home visits, resolving issues related to school attendance, and mentoring students via character-building exercises to improve their self-esteem, organizational skills and study habits.
Truancy is widely considered to be one of the most pervasive problems affecting Baltimore's K-12 system of education—citywide, the truancy rate hovers around 30 percent, or 30,000 out of 100,000 students; truancy is defined by law as an unexplained absence for 20 or more days during the school year—and experts point to it as a primary cause of street crime, violence and substance abuse.
A 2006 report by the Baltimore City Data Collaborative, for example, showed that the greatest cluster of arrests for violence in 1997-98 (the most recent years available for data collection) corresponded directly to those neighborhoods with the highest truancy rates.
The Truancy Court Program brings together teams of school representatives, CFCC Student Fellows, district and circuit court judges, parents or caregivers, and students to identify the problems underlying truant behavior, and establish comprehensive, non-punitive solutions to those problems. Started in 2005 with a pilot program in a group of city schools with particularly high truancy rates, including Southeast, Canton and Highlandtown middle schools, and Elmer Henderson and Holabird elementary schools, the program relies on volunteer assistance, coupled with a minimal number of paid staff who coordinate the "court sessions" and support the program’s related activities. The Charles Crane Family Foundation funded the program at its inception and provided additional support for its last two years.
As developed by CFCC, the AOC-hosted toolkit will enable other schools and school districts to easily replicate the TCP model and tailor it to fit their needs. Its basic recommendation will be that the school support a team approach to resolving truancy issues—volunteer judges, teachers, principals, families and the truant student will work together to resolve the issues that are compelling him or her to miss school. CFCC also will provide the AOC with recommendations on replicating TCP’s success in other school settings.
Literature on the TCP approach has suggested that this method is especially effective for "soft" truants—students with between three and 20 unexcused absences—because they retain academic, social and emotional connections to their schools.
Both last year and this year, CFCC also sponsored a workshop for school officials from across metropolitan Baltimore to find out about the program and learn how to set it up in their schools. The events were well attended, and officials said they learned some important points about making truant students feel more connected to the school community.
The Truancy Court Program is a partnership among CFCC, the Baltimore City School System, the Office of the Mayor of Baltimore City and the Circuit Court and District Court for Baltimore City.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.