Truancy: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

ABSTRACT: Truancy is a problem that is seriously affecting the overall success of the large 
urban school district, and in particular, the specific school in which I am employed. For the 
purpose of this paper, truancy will be defined as consecutive illegal absences from class or 
school. The purpose of the research is to develop a solution that can be proposed to my 
administrator in an effort to decrease, or eliminate truancy altogether and is to be initiated at 
the beginning of our next school year. Therefore, the first objective is to identify causes, 
effects, and solutions to truancy based on a review of literature. The second objective is to 
verify the causes of truancy in my school and compare these results with teacher opinions of 
the same causes. The final objective is to identify how teachers feel about truancy and realize 
what, or how much time the teachers are willing to offer in an effort to decrease, or eliminate 
the problem altogether.

---

Truancy: Causes, Effects, and Solutions 
2 
Table of Contents: 
 
Literature Review: Truancy……………………………………………………………………3 
Literature Review: Possible Causes of School Non-Attendance………………………………4 
Literature Review: Possible Effects of Truancy……………………………………………….6 
Literature Review: Combating Truant Behavior………………………………………………8 
Methodology………………………………………………………………………………….13 
Data Analysis………………………………………………………………………………....15 
Results and Discussion……………………………………………………………………….15 
Next Steps…………………………………………………………………………………….26 
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………29
Table One: Student Survey Responses……………………………………………………….31 
Table Two: Teacher Survey Responses………………………………………………………35 
References…………………………………………………………………………………….37 

---

Truancy: Causes, Effects, and Solutions 
3