The Truancy Prevention Program

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The Truancy Prevention Program targets a long-standing thread to student achievement and success in Gaston County. The program has a three-fold mission. First, it must conduct ongoing awareness campaigns to improve student attendance. Second, the program must increase parent/guardian and community awareness of the importance of daily school attendance and effectively communicate the connection between attendance and achievement. Lastly, the program strives to instill a sense of ownership among families and community members to address truancy. The overall goal of the program was to increase the school attendance rate to 95%. Officers with the Gaston County Police Department work directly with school social workers to identify at-risk students through attendance records, and when a student with excessive absences is identified, school social workers communicate with the student’s guardians.