Governments, schools, and communities throughout Australia are working to improve school attendance among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students using numerous strategies. Currently, however, little is known about the effectiveness of these strategies and the key factors which underpin programs and strategies which are successful. This…

The purpose of this brief is to provide information to state, district, and school personnel seeking support to determine whether their students are on a path to postsecondary success. The College and Career Readiness and Success Center (CCRS Center) has received technical assistance requests from a number of states regarding factors that predict…

Problematic school absenteeism in youth has long been a complex and vexatious issue for psychologists, educators, and researchers from other disciplines. An examination of problematic school absenteeism from different perspectives over many decades has led to poor comparability across publications, policies, and assessment and intervention…

A review of over 50 studies of afterschool programs conducted by The Afterschool Alliance suggests: (1) quality afterschool programs improved school attendance, engagement in learning, test scores, and grades; (2) frequency and duration of afterschool participation increases benefits; and (3) high-risk youth show the greatest benefits. This fact…

This composition of related attendance studies of both Canada and the United States includes (1) a review of school attendance/nonattendance literature for 1975-86, the results, and a discussion involving the topics of nonattendance correlations, causes, and intervention; (2) a survey of compulsory school attendance legislation, the results, and a…

Uses the records of forensic psychiatry outpatients (N=6,299) to evaluate absenteeism from treatment in relation to age and gender. Results reveal that females had a significantly higher absentee rate than males in all age groups. For both males and females, missed appointments declined significantly with age. (Contains 34 references and 1 table.)…

Student absenteeism has been declining in the United States since records were first kept in the late nineteenth century. Even so, some districts, usually urban, have found absentee rates doubling or even tripling over the last ten years. The tendency of teacher absenteeism to rise in districts where student absenteeism has increased sharply…

New studies from the 1990s have strengthened an already notable consensus on school size: smaller is better. This policy brief outlines research findings on why size makes a difference, how small is small enough, effective approaches to downsizing, and key barriers. No agreement exists at present on optimal school size, but research suggests a…

Reviews the economic issues related to hiring the handicapped and includes information for employers regarding insurance rates, attendance rates, production levels, and job-accommodation issues, as well as potential financial benefits from tax credits, federal funding of Projects With Industry, and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.…

A review of the history and literature of American Indian participation in colonial higher education looks at origins of Indian resistance to western education, design and objectives of the colonial mission schools, reasons for general academic failure in this group, native attitudes about missionary education, and problems that persist today.…

Policymakers, educators, and researchers recognize the importance of community colleges as open door institutions that provide a wide range of students with access to college. At the same time, competing demands for the state funds that would support community colleges have resulted in reduced public allocations and higher student tuition fees.…

Character includes the emotional, intellectual and moral qualities of a person or group as the demonstration of these qualities in prosocial behavior. Character education is an inclusive term encompassing all aspects of how schools, related social institutions and parents can support the positive character development of children and adults.…

This literature review focuses on the overrepresentation of African-American males in special education. The most prevalent factors that contribute to this epidemic are poverty and the perceptions of teachers, their attitudes towards African-American men and the lack of their cultural understandings. Not only does this literature review focus on…

This document provides an overview of the student absentee problem in Canada. It extrapolates the principles and components from the vast range of intervention strategies and projects, and offers a strategy for improving school attendance. Literature on absenteeism written after 1985 demonstrates a shift of focus from the student as truant to the…

Describes a study of the effects of the presence of a postsecondary institution within a county on high school students' chances of: going to college; going to a college within the county; and going to any college of the same type as the local college. Provides a research review. (CAM)