Project start: An evaluation of a community-wide school-based intervention to reduce truancy

The study evaluated the effectiveness of a community-based court intervention aimed at reducing truancy in a large urban school district. A quasi-experimental design was used to assess attendance outcomes for 567 truants matched on demographics and drawn from three categories of intervention (no court referral, traditional court referral, and court referral with community-based services). A court group by time ANOVA was conducted. Truancy levels remained high and unchanged for nonreferred truants throughout the study. Both court groups showed a significant drop in absences 30 days post court. During the subsequent 30-day period, the community-based court maintained the reduced rates, while the traditional court group showed higher truancy levels than the community-based court group. No significant interaction effects were found between court groups and sex, age group, or ethnic categories. At one year follow-up, the comrnunity based court group continued to show significantly lower levels, of unexcused absences compared to the other two experimental groups. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.