Absence Unexcused: A Systematic Review on Truancy

ABSTRACT

Mirroring trends in the legal system, discipline within education has adopted zero-tolerance policies in an attempt to curb undesired behaviors in school. K–12 schools have expanded the use of exclusionary discipline policies for lesser offenses, giving way to the phenomenon known as the school-to-prison-pipeline (STPP), which disproportionately affects black and Latinx students. While much is known about the link between exclusionary discipline policies and subsequent involvement in the juvenile legal system, less attention has been given to other education policies and practices that may be criminalized in a similar manner. In this systematic review, we argue that truancy policies and practices contribute to the STPP for black and Latinx students. We synthesize the research on school truancy to better understand the characteristics of students who experience truancy; predictors of truancy; the relationship between truancy, truancy policies, and various student outcomes; and the impact of truancy interventions and school disciplinary responses. Implications for improving research on truancy and disrupting the relationship between truancy and the STPP for black and Latinx youth are discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Reputable organizations include government agencies, organizations housed within a university, and nonprofit organizations that are nationally recognized.

² Some studies in this review used different terms to define the race and ethnicity of black and Latinx youth. Specifically, “African American” and “Hispanic” were commonly used. We replace those terms and use “black” and “Latinx” throughout this article for the sake of inclusivity and consistency. We use “students of color” to refer to groups that include black students, Latinx students, and students of other races who are not white.

³ When available, we provide the racial composition of the study sample. We report racial composition for black and Latinx youth because they are the focus of this systematic review; we also report the percentage of white youth in the sample because they are the most common comparison group.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ericka S. Weathers

Ericka S. Weathers, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies and a co-funded faculty/affiliate of the Social Science Research Institute at Pennsylvania State University. Weathers’ uses quasi-experimental methods to study the causes and consequences of educational inequality and the effects of K-12 education policies.

Karen Babbs Hollett

Karen Babbs Hollett, M.Ed, is a PhD candidate in Educational Leadership at Pennsylvania State University, her research focuses on equity in early care and education policy.

Zoë R. Mandel

Zoë R. Mandel, PhD is an Analyst at The New Teacher Project. Her research primarily centers around school labor markets and practical, policy-oriented solutions. She was awarded a dissertation grant from the National Science Foundation to examine how school leader characteristics are associated with teacher turnover using administrative data from the Texas Education Agency.

Christine Rickert

Christine Rickert, M.A.T., is a Program Coach at Waterford.org.