Date of Award

2012

Degree Name

School Psychology

College

Graduate School of Education and Professional Development

Type of Degree

Ed.S.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Fred Jay Krieg

Second Advisor

Sandra S. Stroebel

Third Advisor

Stephen O’Keefe

Abstract

The correlation between truancy and dropping out of school is high, prompting school districts and the state legislature to attempt to intervene (Sparks, 2010). The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the West Virginia Code 18-8-4 that requires mandatory legal compulsory attendance (CA2) meetings to be held at the county level when a student obtains five days of unexcused absences. In the summer of 2010, the WV state legislature changed the CA2 meeting requirements from 10 days of unexcused absences to five. Barbour County Schools began to intervene in truancy using a multidisciplinary approach in 2007. Attendance data between 2007 through 2012 were analyzed. Results indicated that there were significant improvements in attendance between 2007-2009 when the collaboration with the court system began. However, when comparing attendance rates before and after the 2010 legislative mandates there were no significant changes; in fact, there was a slight decrease in attendance the following year.

Subject(s)

School attendance - West Virginia.

School attendance - Law and Legislation.

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