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 Ten
Promising Practices for Fatherhood Programs
Examples
of Promising Programs for Reducing Chronic Early Absence
State
Strategies to Reduce Child and Family Poverty
Policy
Matters Reports Guide State Leaders
New
Web Site Dedicated to Women and Girls in Georgia
KIDS
COUNT Data Center
Ten
Promising Practices for Fatherhood Programs
An increasing number of programs focus on improving fathers' involvement
with children and families. What features of fatherhood programs
really matter? A new National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse
brief written by Child Trends examines experimental evaluations
of fatherhood and parenting programs to identify ten promising practices:
- Teaching
methods and materials that are culturally appropriate for fathers
being served
- Staff
members who believe in the program and have relevant training
and coaching
- A
high staff-participant ratio
- One-on-one
relationships between staff and participants
- Clear,
specific program goals
- Theory-based
approaches that have influenced parenting behaviors in other contexts
- Varied
teaching methods that focus on fathers as individuals
- Sufficient
time to complete important core program activities
-
Incentives to engage fathers and families
- Curricula
replicated with fidelity
Download
the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse brief.
Download
a detailed report.
Examples
of Promising Programs for Reducing Chronic Early Absence
Check & Connect, Minneapolis, Minn.
Check & Connect was first developed as a truancy prevention model
among urban middle & high school students and initially with a special
education population. But it is now used with a general student
population and has been successfully piloted with elementary age
children as well. Its comprehensive approach emphasizes relationship
building, routine monitoring of alterable indicators (e.g. attendance,
academic performance, behavior), individual and timely intervention,
problem-solving and strengthening affiliations between school and
learning. A key component is a monitor or mentor who is responsible
for working with students and their families to support their participation
and engagement in school. Among elementary aged children, a monitor
engages in family outreach and helps parents to be active partners
in their children's education. Monitors are typically trained professional
social workers who operate at the district level so that they can
continue to work with children even if they move to a different
school. An evaluation of Check & Connect's implementation in nine
elementary schools showed significant increases in the percentage
of students whose absences or tardies dropped below five percent
of the time. School staff also reported increase engagement among
students and their parents.
Program
Contact: Sandra Christianson, professor, University of Minnesota,
School of Psychology, Chris002@umn.edu
Project
GRAD/ Communities in Schools, Atlanta
Project GRAD Atlanta is a research-based school-community collaborative
designed to improve student academic performance, and increase the
numbers of young people graduating from high school and attending
college. CIS implements the Family Support Component of Project
GRAD. CIS staff in GRAD schools offer guidance, counseling, community
outreach, and family support services to all students, especially
those experiencing academic difficulties or family issues. Project
GRAD Atlanta was initiated in 2000 and now impacts more than 16,000
students in 27 Atlanta schools, including 18 elementary schools,
six middle schools and three high schools. The overall Project GRAD
model involves working in a school feeder pattern and helping them
to implementing the following elements: reading curriculum, math
curriculum, parent & community involvement, social services & academic
enrichment and classroom management. Data tracked by CIS shows in
schools where the program has been in place for more than 2 years,
the average percent of students missing 15 or more days in schools
fell from 18% to 9 % from 2001 to 2006.
Program
Contact: Patricia Pflum, executive director, Cities in Schools of
Atlanta, Pflum@cisatlanta.org
Project
PACT, Oahu, Hawaii
Project
PACT (Partnering
to Assess and Counteract Truancy) included
a school-based program working with students and families of two
elementary school serving low-income students on the Hawaiian island
of Oahu. Each school had an attendance monitor hired from the community
whose primary purpose was to work with teachers and counselors to
identify and address the needs of students with attendance problems
and their families. While the school retains primarily responsibility
for contacting and convening meetings with parents of absent children,
the attendance monitor builds relationships with parents and encourages
them to help their child(ren) engage in school. They also serve
as responsible caring adults for students who, unfortunately, have
none at home. If absences continue, parents are encouraged to attend
parenting attendance workshops helping them learn new parenting
skills and understand the importance of regular school attendance.
Because some parents need a "little push," the services of Child
Protective Services and the courts were used as needed. A review
of the data maintained online on program participants shows an improvement
in attendance and a significant decrease in unexcused absences (from
19.55 at intake to 5.03 after six months) as well as a decline in
tardies and excused absences.
Program
Contact: Patrick Nakamura, College of Education, University of Hawaii,
patrickn@hawaii.edu
Savannah
Chatham School District, Savannah, Ga.
The Savannah Chatham School District takes a thorough and comprehensive
district-wide approach to addressing chronic absenteeism. After
three days of absence, letters are sent home. If the child is absent
five or more days, a social worker pays a home visit to find out
what is happening and to help the child return to school. By 10
days, several agencies including the police are involved in determining
how to improve the situation. Within each school, the principal
receives a data dashboard, which shows the children who have been
absent, and for how long. The principal convenes weekly attendance
meetings with the social worker, counselor and teacher to review
the situation, if appropriate with the parent as well. At the district
levels, a Student Truancy Attendance Monthly Protocol Senate brings
together a broad array of stakeholders including school administration,
the courts, nurses, and community groups to review data on attendance
and learn about best practices. Children and families attending
Savannah Chatham schools also benefit from an array of supports
and resources offered in collaboration with other agencies. For
example, through the support of a local businessman, a parent university
was established several years ago. Held quarterly on a Saturday,
this parent university brings resources and classes to parents aimed
at helping them gain skills and knowledge based upon their interests.
Child care is available on site. The public health department also
offers resources to schools including eye assessments, health fairs,
and professional development for teachers on chronic diseases affecting
children. The district, with support from the city manager and an
array of other public agencies and nonprofits, recently created
a comprehensive assessment center. The center is available to assess
the needs of children and families, link them to available community
resources and then follow-up to ensure their needs are met. The
district donates the building while the other agencies provide their
services on site using their own agency resources.
A
review of data on chronic early absence shows that the prevalence
is very low at 5.4 percent in 2006. From February 2003 to May 2006,
the incidence declined from 10 percent to 5.0 percent among children
from high poverty residential areas. For the past two years, chronic
early absence has been slightly lower among children living in high
poverty areas than their peers living elsewhere in the district.
Program
Contact: Quentina Miller Fields , senior director of Pupil Personnel,
Savannah Chatham School District, Quentina.Fields@savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us
School
Attendance Initiative, Multnomah County, Ore.
The Multnomah County School Attendance Initiative (SAI) is a non-punitive,
strength-based and culturally appropriate approach to help students
maintain regular attendance through an early warning and response
strategy with families. Recognizing that school attendance is key
to school success in the elementary grades, the district developed
the SAI to focus on K-8 students showing signs of attendance issues.
Each school receives a weekly printout of students who missed three
or more days of school the previous week, with principals selecting
students from this list for a referral to SAI. Once a referral is
made, SAI outreach staff make a home visit or call the home to find
out the reasons for nonattendance, and offer services and referrals
to other programs to help families address barriers to attendance.
One-quarter of the referrals come from kindergarten or first grade,
which SAI staff believe is key to getting an early start on issues.
Program evaluations show on average both student attendance and
achievement improved after a child had participated in SAI.
Program
Contact: Christina Kenney, School Attendance Initiative Program
Supervisor 503-988-6139.
Truancy
Arbitration Program, Jacksonville, Fla.
The Truancy Arbitration Program begins when elementary students
continue to have attendance problems even after an attendance intervention
team staffed by the school has met with them about the problem.
At that point, the State Attorney's Offices summons the family to
a hearing held at their offices. TAP hearings are facilitated by
State Attorney volunteers who act as arbitrators for the program.
School social workers also participate in the hearings. If there
is a problem, the social worker and a case manager working out of
the State Attorney Office attempt to rectify it. When appropriate,
students are referred for counseling and tutoring. Parents are referred
to parenting skills office. After each hearing the parents and the
student are required to sign a performance agreement compelling
school attendance. If they do not abide by this agreement, parents
can be arrested on the basis of contributing to the delinquency
of a minor—a first-degree misdemeanor as well as a second degree
misdemeanor for failure to comply with compulsory school attendance
laws. If this is the first time, usually the DA requests that they
do not serve jail time but serve one-year probation. Typical stipulations
are to require parents pay for court costs, attend parenting classes,
attend school with child for three full days (so they can see what
child is missing) and make sure all children in the home attend
school with no unexcused absences or tardies. Program evaluations
conducted by the National Center for Children in Poverty found significant
long-term improvement in both attendance and grades.
Program
Contact: Shelley Grant, program director, TAP, State Attorney's
Office, shelleyg@coj.net
Verde
Involving Parents, North Richmond, Calif.
Verde
Involving Parents believes students will do better academically
if students come to school regularly and have the tools and skills
to manage conflict and negotiate relationships and if parents and
community residents are positively involved in day-to-day life at
the school. ts staff members, called Family Partners, are parents
and residents of the North Richmond community. Family Partners contact
the families of every absent and tardy student by phone and home
visit. They offer referrals and resources (e.g., bus tickets, alarm
clocks, raingear, etc.) to help get children back to school as soon
as possible. When families face particularly intense challenges,
they are connected to a multidisciplinary team of professionals
from the Family Service Center. Family Partners also help teachers
by working with students when they act out in class to help them
get their needs met without disrupting the class and to teach students
violence prevention/conflict resolution skills. VIP also offers
parents training on how to help children build empathy and solve
conflicts peaceably at home, gives monthly student awards for good
attendance and holds community-building community-building activities
for families. VIP reduced absences at Verde by more than 50 percent
and tardies by 38 percent over four school years, and pushed monthly
attendance rates from less than 89 percent to more than 93 percent.
Since February 2001, VIP has returned more than $470,000 in vitally
needed Average Daily Attendance revenue to the district. Verde also
has experienced some of the greatest improvements in test scores
statewide. Verde's API rose from a base score of 315 in 2000 to
a growth score of 609 in 2006.
Program
Contact: Paul Buddenhagen, program manager, Contra Costa County
Service Integration program, pbuddenh@ehsd.cccounty.us
State
Strategies to Reduce Child and Family Poverty
The NGA (National Governors Association) Center for Best Practices
recently released an issue brief titled, "State Strategies
to Reduce Child and Family Poverty."
Read
the issue brief.
Policy
Matters Reports Guide State Leaders
The
Center for the Study of Social Policy recently released the latest
update to the Policy Matters 50-State Data Report.
Key
to a state's prosperity are the strength of its work force, the
health of communities, and the efficiency of government investment,
all of which can be enhanced by adopting policies that improve opportunities
for children and families. As state leaders pursue these goals,
they need strong research evidence to help assess which policies
can produce results most effectively and produce a high rate of
return on their policy investments. Policy Matters reports serve
as such a guide by assembling research on effective policies in
the areas most important to a family's opportunity and stability:
employment, income and asset growth, health, education, and healthy
family relationships. This research includes state comparisons related
to key policy measures.
The
report is available at www.policymatters.us.
New
Web Site Dedicated to Women and Girls in Georgia
The
Institute for Women's Studies at the University of Georgia recently
launched a new Web site dedicated to Women and Girls in Georgia
with information about research and links pertaining to women and
girls. The research and links posted are great resources for students,
faculty and activists. Please check back frequently for conference
details and updated research.
Visit
the new Web site at www.uga.edu/iws/WAGG.
Send
suggestions for additions to the Web site, questions or presentation
submissions to WAGGconf@gmail.com.
KIDS
COUNT Data Center
The
Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT Data Center provides the
most recent statistics on more than 100 indicators, including recent
data on education, employment and income, poverty, health, and youth
risk factors.
Go
to kidscount.org/datacenter.
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