Can We Increase Attendance and Decrease Chronic Absenteeism with a Universal Prevention Program? A Randomized Control Study of Attendance and Truancy Universal Procedures and Interventions
Berg, Tricia Ann-Rees (2018). ProQuest LLC. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED587830
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examining10,285Students, gradesK-8
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: November 2021
- Single Study Review (findings for Attendance and truancy intervention and universal procedures (ATI-UP))
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it is a compromised cluster randomized controlled trial that provides evidence of effects on clusters by demonstrating the analytic sample of individuals is representative of the clusters and satisfying baseline equivalence of the clusters in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chronic or Severe Absenteeism |
Attendance and truancy intervention and universal procedures (ATI-UP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
19.45 |
18.81 |
No |
-- | |
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Average Daily Attendance (Berg et al 2018) |
Attendance and truancy intervention and universal procedures (ATI-UP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
93.61 |
93.43 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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17% English language learners -
Female: 49%
Male: 51% -
Suburban, Urban
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Oregon
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Race Asian 3% Black 2% Native American 3% Other or unknown 30% White 63% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 25% Not Hispanic or Latino 75%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in 27 public elementary schools in 17 districts in Oregon. All of the schools were already implementing School Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) with varying levels of fidelity.
Study sample
The schools were mostly White (63 percent) with less than 5 percent in any other racial group (American Indian, 3 percent; Asian, 2.5 percent; Black, 1.5 percent; two or more races, 4.5 percent) and a substantial Hispanic (25 percent) population. Gender was fairly well balanced (49 percent female and 50 percent male), and over half (60 percent) of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch. Less than one-fifth (16.5 percent) of participating students were English language learners. Note that 57 percent of the intervention schools were Title I schools compared to 85 percent of the comparisons schools.
Intervention Group
The intervention, School-wide Attendance and Truancy Intervention (ATI-UP) has five components: 1) publicize the importance of attendance; 2) establish attendance goals and acknowledge improvements; 3) provide an informal and formal focus on attendance; 4) communicate with parents and provide ways for parents to engage with the school; and 5) use motivation systems to generate enthusiasm.
Comparison Group
Schools in the control group continued business as usual during the intervention period. Schools were not required to stop existing practices for reducing absenteeism. Rather, these practices were captured via the ATI-UP fidelity measure.
Support for implementation
Schools sent teams to two-days (12 hours) of training. Ongoing technical support and coaching were also provided through email communication with the researcher. Finally, the researcher held a webinar in early November that served as a refresher and also provided the opportunity for schools to ask questions and share successful strategies.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
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A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
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A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
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Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).