WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study shows that nearly four out of five District of Columbia families who participated in voluntary truancy-prevention programs saw an increase in school attendance for their children.
The study was funded by the D.C. Justice Grants Administration and is being released Tuesday. It was commissioned in the wake of a new city law that seeks to make parents more accountable for children who missed school.
The study found that 61 percent of parents surveyed said they didn’t see truancy as a problem and didn’t know much about its consequences.
Among the more than 450 families of elementary-school children that participated in truancy-prevention programs, 79 percent saw an increase in school attendance, and 76 percent of the children weren’t referred to the program the following year for attendance problems.
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