What is Truancy?

The definition of truancy is usually established by school district policy and may vary across districts.  Definitions for an excused absence, an unexcused absence, or a truancy can vary by state and even school districts.

Any unexcused absence from school is considered a truancy, but states enact their own school attendance laws. State law determines 1) the age at which a child is required to begin attending school, 2) the age at which a child may legally drop out of school, and 3), the number of unexcused absences at which a student is considered legally truant.

Truancy is a status offense – an act that is a crime due to the young age of the actor, but would not be illegal for someone older. The other most common status offenses are running away from home, alcohol use, curfew violations, and ungovernability.

Boys are only slightly more likely to be sent to court for truancy than girls.

According to juvenile court statistics collected by the National Center for Juvenile Justice, 54% of all petitioned truancy cases between 1990 and 1999 were for males, and 46% were for females.  [source: Puzzanchera, C., et. al., Juvenile Court Statistics 1999, National Center for Juvenile Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, July 2003

Consequences of Truancy

• Dropping out of school. Students who are chronically truant typically fall behind in grade level and drop out of school.
• Delinquency. Students who are chronically truant are also at-risk for other behaviors, such as alcohol and drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, and delinquency.
• Negative effect upon other students. Students who are chronically truant require extra time from teachers; teachers have less time to spend with the regularly-attending students in the classroom when they must create make-up work for truants.

Causes of Truancy

What influences truancy? In early research, depending upon the perspective of the researcher, truancy was said to be caused by the student, the student’s family, or the school. More recently, it is understood that a combination of all three factors usually affect truancy:

Characteristics of the Student:

• low grades in reading and mathematics
• neurological factors, such as dyslexia
• inability to make friends with mainstream students or teachers
• negative attitudes toward school or teachers

Characteristics of the Student’s Family:
• parent(s) who do not value education
• parent(s) who did not complete school, were truant themselves
• poor parenting skills
• low socio-economic status
• physical or mental health problems of parents
• family history of delinquency

Source:

• http://www.truancyprevention.org/