Early Intervention to Improve Attendance in Elementary School for At-Risk Children: A Pilot Program

Abstract

This article describes the development and evaluation of an attendance incentive program in an elementary school setting. The program included both a schoolwide attendance promotion and a focus program that developed individual intervention plans for high-risk children identified as having excessive absences. The purpose of the focus program was to establish and encourage positive relationships between at-risk children and the school system. The project gave the social workers a better understanding of the issues related to early school nonattendance and of the need to include family-based interventions in addressing students' problems in school. Although the pilot program was unable to address lack of stability and supervision in students' homes or other long-term issues contributing to absenteeism, attendance in the focus group improved significantly during an intensive intervention phase. The findings suggest that daily intervention and feedback were effective in reducing absences among the at-risk students.