The article argues that the local authority attendance officers responsible for the enforcement of compulsory attendance changed their approach to truancy under the influence of child welfare legislation and changing views of the child in the first decade of the twentieth century. Some of the changes in their work emerged as a direct response to…

The truancy problem has become one of the most troubling issues that school administrators face while attempting to reform public education. This paper describes the legal evolution of efforts to reduce school truancy and the economic impact of truancy on society. Solutions range from reducing the number of required years of schooling to…