The Impact of Family Income on Truancy Rates among Students

The Impact of Family Income on Truancy Rates among Students

Introduction

Truancy refers to the habit or act of fleeing from school without any permission. Researchers have identified truancy as one of the significant challenges affecting the success of learning institutions. It is estimated that close to 15-20% of students miss up-to an entire month during their school years when separate missed days are combined. Past research studies on chronically absent learners find that they are often prone to adverse academic outcomes such as dropping out and grade retentions when compared to their peers who consistently attend school. A significant number of quantitative research studies on the patterns of truancy or rather a chronic school absenteeism among students, schools, families, and community factors that are correlated reveal that student truancy in the United States learning system remains an epidemic that significantly affects families, students, and the community. In other words, truant students often miss out on social interaction and academic instruction, an aspect that leads to an increase in the risks of dropping out of school. The reduction of the growing rates of truancy remains a phenomenon that presents significant challenges to learning institutions. Addressing the existing gaps in the literature to the present study seeks to conduct a literature review aimed at underscoring how family income remains a trajectory that influences truancy rates among students.

Literature Review

Background of the Study

Education accomplishment is a primary cornerstone of success throughout a person’s life. Moreover, it is confirmed that adolescence is one of the most critical developmental periods in a person’s lifetime. It is, therefore, essential to put in place measures that ensure that young people remain in school. Regrettably, truancy is still a massive problem in nearly all communities in the United States. According to Maynard et al. (2017), truancy rates in the U.S. have remained steady between 2002 (10.8%) and 2014 (11.1%). Their research findings indicate that the rates were highest among the older youth, females, and Hispanic youth. With such data, it is clear that truancy is a significant problem that needs to be addressed with more urgency.

Additionally, research also indicates that truancy is strongly and reliably associated with detrimental developmental outcomes throughout life, which includes a substantial risk of delinquency and offending. According to Mazerolle et al. (2019), chronically truant children have a higher likelihood of engaging in undesirable behaviour, such as vandalism, drug use, gang membership, suicidal behavior, and high-risk sexual behavior. Mazerolle et al. (2019) further found a higher rate of early-pregnancies among truant girls, and subsequently, higher dropout rates. The definition of chronic truancy varies from one jurisdiction to the other. In California, for instance, as per the California Education code 48263.6, chronic truancy is defined as when a child misses 10% of the school year from the date of enrollment to the current date (CDE, 2020). Truancy has some vast effects on communities, socially and economically, at large. According to a research by Alliance for Excellent Education (as cited in (Ahmad and Miller, 2015)), if the class of 2010 in the whole country managed to graduate, there would be an additional $7.6 billion in terms of earnings and $713 million more in terms of tax revenue. With such facts, it is the high time for more effort to be put to reduce truancy rates in society.

Statement of the Problem

According to data released by Attendance Works (as cited in (Jacobson, 2018)), the proportion of schools where the rate of chronically absent students increased by 20% increased from 11% in 2013-14 to 13% in 2015-16 school years. Despite numerous interventions to curb truancy, the rates remain steady in all states.

Evidence-based research shows that there is a positive correlation between truancy and offending. Most interventions developed to curb school absenteeism fail to consider the risk factors. Compelling evidence shows that using sanctions to deter truancy is problematic and mostly erroneous. Forceful methods used to curb truancy may be held responsible for the increased rates.

The detrimental effects of truancy are unparalleled. Zhang et al. (2010) found that there was a unique pattern from truancy to offending. The study indicated that juveniles with absenteeism as their primary offense were more prone to higher rates of probations, referrals, commitments, and recidivism compared to their peers who had other-first time offense. While numerous pieces of research have identified different truancy risk factors such as drug and substance abuse, low school grades, and academic engagement, family income remains a complex impact on absenteeism. Low family income has been identified to increase truancy rates. The relationship between low family income and truancy is a complex vicious cycle. Effective approaches that aim at deterring truancy must, therefore, address the issue in consideration to the family income.

Justification

Most pieces of research, as well as peer-reviewed articles, identify that truancy is correlated with family income. So far, all diverse literature that seeks to offer a solution to truancy may be divided into four primary categories (Site 2). The first approach focuses on stringent regulations and laws to curtail truancy through state and local community initiatives. The second approach focus on potential in-school programs that administrators may embrace within their schools. The third capitalizes on evaluating anti-truancy interventions through computer technology. The fourth approach focuses on community intervention programs implemented on a state to state basis.

An in-depth meta-synthesis of existing literature reveals that truancy interventions are primarily implemented through law enforcement, and/or communities and schools within the court-system (Dembo and Gulledge, 2009). While numerous interventions prefer using sanctions to deter absenteeism, more recent programs, and initiatives recommend truancy prevention. According to Dembo and Gulledge (2009), employing a holistic approach that builds positive rapport between school and families is more effective than using legal sanctions. Better even, Sutphen et al. (2010) identify that community-based programs should integrate mental health services, social services, police, and schools in solid partnership to lessen truancy.

Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, a rise in the world’s aspirations in need to improve education remains an aspect that has widely culminated in the growth in demand for education, mainly as a fundamental human right and as an investment directed towards the development of the workforce. Every state, in this case, has established the rights of children, proving that every child has the right to acquire the education that plays a fundamental role in the development of their talents, personalities, as well as their physical and mental states to ensure that they reach their full potential. Any state or nation’s children are often considered as the future generation of citizens, leaders, and workers. Given this, it is evident that education that develops the mental starts of an individual remains one of the tools used by people to ensure that they are economically and socially skilled or empowered (Enea and Dafinoiu, 2009). However, there is a need to underscore that this situation is majorly affected by the costs that come with the achievement of education. In other words, the costs regarding sharing policies remain the costs that are mainly incurred by parents in the provision of education to their children. Parents are therefore obliged to ensure that they meet the costs of schooling their children, efforts that establish the need to engage in the purchase of supplies, the development of infrastructural systems, transport, health as well as boarding facilities while the state plays a fundamental role in financing institutions, equipment costs and other factors with the intent of supporting education (Chen, Culhane, Metraux, Park & Venable, 2016). This, therefore, reveals that when parents are not in a position to meet these costs, a rise in dropout rates plays a significant role in diminishing the levels of education among low-income families. Child capital as alleged in the views of Dalun Zhang, Willson, Katsiyannis, Barrett, Song & Jiun-Yu (2010) is considered as the levels of education, knowledge, skills, as well as opportunities that come with the increase of an individual’s status within the society.

According to Dalun et al. (2010), cultural capital remains one of the significant factors that determine how parents arrive and the decision to ensure that their children miss their schooling. This aspect is alleged to play a vital role in impacting the outcomes of education. This, therefore, reveals that affluent parents often push their children into missing school for the sole purpose of traveling and going for family vacations. In contrast, the less wealthy parents often request excuses over the absence of their children because they lack the required resources to ensure that their children are in school. It is, in this case, not clear on how learning institutions differ in regards to their responses and requests; however, one fundamental element that is clear lies in the fact that the claims to miss school do not have an impact on the learner’s educational outcomes.

On the other hand, this establishes that the experiences that learners have regarding their school equally affect their attendance (Santelmann, 2007; Skola & Williamson, 2012). Research studies have, in this case, demonstrated that several factors are related to students, teachers, and learning institutions’ policies on the element of excused as well as the unexcused absences that may have an impact on the attendance of school among learners. These factors are associated and categorized as significant in determining the overall learning and educational experiences.

The primary reasons that influence truancy rates among learners fall under four essential domains that include family factors, student factors, and school as well as community factors. On the other hand, it is crucial to establish that research studies on the element of school attendance remain an element that is not new. According to Rodríguez & Conchas (2009), family factors play a significant role in contributing to learner’s school attendance. The factors, as established in the views of this author, mainly include family disorganization, poverty, mobility, and health insurance. It is equally determined that families may often fail to support their children’s educational goals, may inadvertently reinforce the increasing rates of school absenteeism, or may result in the development of culturally based forms of attitudes regarding the school that may not align with the need to attend school regularly. Living in abject poverty has a direct implication on student’s attendance as well as academic achievements.

The provision of education, as well as the establishment of efficient training opportunities, remains one of the long-standing objectives of a state. In other words, state government institutions have made significant efforts directed towards addressing some of the challenges that face the education sector through the integration of several policy initiatives to achieve meaningful outcomes. However, one of the significant challenges has been in the achievement of an effective approach that would ensure that education is equitable, accessible, and relevant in terms of quality to children. Given this, it is essential to note that the onset of the 21st century saw several states faced with a series of challenges regarding effective educational policies that may affect the universality and the access to education and the essence of enhancing the rapid development of human resources.

Economic, as well as social policies, have, in this case, played a fundamental role in shaping the education sector. In several other states, despite the efforts of the government to improve the education sector, poverty remains an aspect that has continued to increase and rise, with precision to the past few years following the recession (Charlton, Panting & Willis, 2004; Conry & Richards, 2018). This has seen many families live below the established poverty line. These aspects have continued to promote the dropout of children from school in an effort directed towards the pursuit of other alternative measures for survival. In this regard, it is imperative to establish that socio-economic factors often affect education, an aspect that has had significant challenges on the subsequent attendance of school. In other words, the correlation between school attendance and poverty remains one of the elements that is promoted by the socio-economic conditions and status of a society.

In a research study directed towards underpinning the element of family income in influencing truancy rates among students, Charlton, Panting, and Willis, 2004; Conry and Richards (2018), revealed that attendance issues are often pronounced in several urban settings as well as among students from some of the low-income families. This, therefore, shows that the disparity in the levels of attendance between learners based on the element of SES remains significant. Goldberg (2019) consequently revealed that as opposed to more affluent learners, children, or preferably students living in abject poverty-ridden families, are 25% more likely to flee or rather miss days off school per term. The absence from school among such students is often associated with residential mobility, illnesses, as well as challenges that are primarily associated with childcare. This means that families that struggle with their basic needs are less likely to place education as an essential element, thus revealing that they fail to see sense in sending their children to school. On the other hand, family disorganization, as well as unmet emotional and impassive needs of the parents, is equally cited as factors that significantly contribute to student’s truancy. This, therefore, reveals that in such cases, children may not have the influence of requiring adults to assist in addressing the challenges that are mainly related to the attendance of school or rather to motivate the children to attend school.

According to Ismail & Jusoh (2016), parental neglect remains another frequent contributor to truancy. Several families of truant students fail to find value in education. This has seen several students kept at home for babysitting. Other students are equally prevented from attending school, with this attributed to the challenges that they face at home, their neighborhood, as well as at school. This equally reveals that parents typically decide as to whether their children may miss school during the early years of their elementary school. At the age of 8, Hallfors et al. (2002), reveal that several students engage in active negotiations with their parents or guardians on whether to miss school. Absences and are attributed or instead result from the student’s discretion often occur because the parents and the students fail to understand the importance of school attendance, students simply resort to engaging in other activities, or the school or instead of learning institution lacks a stronger culture of participation. These absences are, therefore, difficult for the schools to handle and address given the fact that the parents mainly support their children in staying out of school. Whether or not families have health insurance equally affects school attendance. It is, therefore, revealed that close to 28% of learners who lack health coverage of insurance lack the regular plans of addressing their health concerns (Pengpid and Peltzer, 2017). This plays a significant role in contributing to absenteeism, given the fact that routing illnesses may be treated and addressed early through visits to the physicians.

In a research study conducted by Hallfors et al., (2002) directed towards finding the correlation between the attendance of school as well as the achievement of an aggregate data revealed that participation remains a phenomenon that is evaluated as an independent variable that plays a significant role in affecting student performance and progress in a learning institution. Gage et al. (2013) equally used a similar method in a research study and came to the identification of a strong correlation between achievement and attendance. Maynard et al. (2013) made use of a similar approach in a study intended at underpinning the growing cases of truancy in several school districts, revealing that there was a separation between the achievement of learners and the attendance of school. Student attendance in learning institutions where the element of mobility remains higher is considered as low as opposed to the schools where the learner’s population is attributed to be safer. This, therefore, reveals that students who mainly withdraw or skip school in several cases loose several days going through the process besides the missed days that come as a result of moving from one region to the other. Family members, on several occasions, support the element of absenteeism mainly by allowing the students to engage in some of the activities they enjoy when they miss school. Allowing learners to participate in the watching of television or engage in playing games remains an aspect that provides positive reinforcement to the students who mainly miss school.

A recent study on the tenth-grade students regarding absenteeism by Maynard et al. (2013) revealed that several factors correlate with truant behaviors. Kim and Barthelemy’s (2011) study, therefore, illustrates that the lower a parent’s education, the more likely that a student is expected to engage in truant behaviors. The chance that children or students engage in committing truancy remains higher when a student’s mother is a school dropout. Additionally, Strand and Lovrich (2014)’work revealed that the longer a child stays unsupervised after attending school, the more likely they are to become truant. This, therefore, establishes that close to 29.9% of the truant students were mainly unsupervised after school, while 11.3% of the truant children were mostly unsupervised after learning. In a recent study conducted on some of the truant offenders in juvenile justice systems revealed that there was a correlation between truancy and a family’s household income.

In other words, the findings of the study found that minors referred to the juvenile justice system are often financially impoverished, establishing that a relatively higher percentile of households and families that make less than $15,000 annually that those who regularly attend school (Strand and Lovrich, 2014). This, therefore, reveals that affluent parents often push their children into missing school for the sole purpose of traveling and going for family vacations. In contrast, the less wealthy parents often request excuses over the absence of their children because they lack the required resources to ensure that their children are in school. This, therefore, reveals that students from such families are often likely to exhibit cases of truancy given the fact that their families earn less to support their basic needs.

On the other hand, Duarte and Escario (2006) reveal that families may resort to changing their places of employment or residence; or instead may be faced with a financial crisis, resulting in students moving out from one school to the other. This, therefore, reveals that the families may equally acquiesce to the requests of children to change schools in the middle of a semester. Given this, Duarte and Escario (2006) establish that such movements come with consequences as noted in a research study that was conducted in the U.S. on the public school learners; revealing that students who move in and out of learning institutions are four times likely than the non-mobile learners to be considered as chronically absent. Schools or instead of learning institutions are equally known to be the contributors of the mobility, with this attributed to school choices as well as policies that are designed to reduce school or classroom overcrowding. According to Shoenfelt & Huddleston (2006), students within the process of changing schools or rather being assigned to new classrooms may cause and lead to irregular attendance. This, therefore, reveals that mobility remains a factor that is often prevalent in rural, urban, as well as predominant minority populations and usually has a severe consequence for learners.

Students who often experience or rather encounter the element of mobility, therefore, need to make academic adjustments to fit within the new learning environment socially. Research reveals that students who equally experience mobility are similarly likely to struggle with their academic performances, with this attributed to the element of curricular incoherence or a mismatch between what is taught in the former and current learning institution. However, there is a need to establish that the factors that are in several cases associated with mobility, such as cases of family instability, are predominant reasons and causes of the increasing levels of truancy rates among students (Shoenfelt and Huddleston, 2006: Miller and Plant, 2013). In a study conducted in California, the element of moving a family’s residence remained the primary reason why students often experience mobility. In this regard, educational and residential mobility are both factors that are associated with the rising cases of dropouts among students, as established by (Tam 2005). This factor has a significant impact, as well as a likelihood that students may drop out of school later.

Tam (2005) explicitly conducted a research study and established that attendance remains the single most vital variable used in measuring the achievement of student levels, thus establishing the reason why it is significant that corrective measures are taken against instances of chronic absenteeism. Efforts directed towards eliminating or slightly decreasing the element of truant behaviors among students denotes the need to determine the possible causes for such behaviors. The potential long-term and short-term effects of cases of unexcused school failure to attend are equally considered as of value, especially in ascertaining the importance and immediacy of such issues. The other possible actions would include the need to prevent, decrease, as well as engage in the elimination of behavior-efforts that should be acknowledged. Family factors that involve contributing to truant behaviors include the lack of proper parental supervision, parents’ education, as well as a household income. According to Tam (2005), students who mainly attend; larger schools are prone to harbor feelings of isolation or alienation within a school setting, efforts that are directed towards escaping these feelings over the choice to attend school.

Such students often feel comfortable, accepted valued, lacking a connection to trustworthy individuals, and secure within a learning institution (Tam, 2005). On the other hand, oversized classrooms, as well as diverse students’ needs, may not be met consistently when the teacher-student relationship is not developed. This, therefore, results in the development of a school attitude and climate that allows every learner to fend for their selves. Aqeel and Akhtar (2017) establish that close to 23% of truant students skip school due to the nature of unsafe school environments. Moreover, when students do not feel secure, comfortable, or safe, they logically choose to skip school. Aqeel and Akhtar (2017), therefore, suggest that imposing severe punishments results in truant behaviors. This aspect reveals that discipline is counterproductive in the establishment of measures directed towards addressing chronic absenteeism. Other factors that often lead in truant behavior mainly include and are not limited to class size, school learning environment, attitudes, the school’s discipline policies, and the ability to ensure that proper measures are instated in meeting the student’s diverse learning needs.

Aqeel and Akhtar (2017), alleges that the element of truancy’s consequences are immense and extensive, an aspect that results in a series of adverse implications in different levels of society. In other words, the short-term effects of truancy include the element of poor academic performance, maladjustment, substance abuse, school dropouts, teenage pregnancies, and delinquency. Over the long-term, pieces of evidence form a series of literature that establishes that truancy remains one of the predictors of poor learning outcomes, including job insecurity, incarcerations, and criminality (De Witte and Csillag, 2014). Moreover, it is crucial to establish that the aspect of truancy may exert adverse effects on the community, given the fact that it is correlated with the growing cases of crime, delinquency, as well as other adverse outcomes. The aspect of student dropouts from learning institutions remains one of the apparent reasons for chronic absenteeism. According to De Witte and Csillag (2014), truancy and the element of increased dropouts are often concentrated with the worsening of racial segregation. This aspect is central in several cities, especially in some of the learning institutions that are frequented and attended by low-income youths. In other words, the increase in the dropout rates in some of the areas that are twice as much as the national average establishes that stand at 20% in some of the regions within the United States.

In all societies, it is essential to establish that the family plays a fundamental role in the shaping of educational achievements and experiences of children besides the transmission of values that are essential for the very existence of a society from one generation to the other. Throughout history, children who originate from high-income parents are often likely to be enrolled in the best schools or learning institutions that exist in the United States of America as compared to those from low-income families. This, therefore, reveals that the element of household characteristics remains a fundamental determinant in the making of school decisions as well as outcomes. The household production model that was designed by Pengpid and Peltzer (2019) is frequently used by several researchers within the economics of education, an aspect that plays a fundamental role in revealing the impact of household features such as the levels of parental education and income levels in establishing whether students can attend school, learns, or stays in school, or makes significant progress in education. This model is equally used within the economics of education, especially in determining household education or schooling decisions that include the type of educational institution that a child seeks to attend. It is, in this case not clear on how learning institutions differ in regards to their responses and requests, however, one fundamental element that lies in the fact that the claims to miss school do not have an impact in the learner’s educational outcomes (Pengpid and Peltzer, 2019). On the other hand, this establishes that the experiences that learners have regarding their school equally have an impact on their attendance.

In 2004 the U.S. reported that several states had a high incidence of poverty (69-84%). The poor in these areas are physically isolated, have poor access to essential goods, education, and other services. The urban developing countries constitute about 46% of the total poor in the United States of America. One major characteristic of the poor in the U.S. is that they are landless, lack education and literacy. Peng id and Peltzer (2019), in her doctoral dissertation on school, stipulate that there is an increase in work time and reduction in school attendance for children where there are one or more siblings aged 15-18 in the household. She attributes this to lower-income associated with large families.

According to Hartnett (2017), the significant challenge facing the government is that over 20% of the individuals in the state of California are miserable and, as such, are unable to participate actively in educating their children at the primary level, which is a fee-paying sector. The proportion of individuals living below the poverty line is on the increase within the urban population accounting for the highest percentage of this increment. The proportion of low-income families is projected to stand 65.9% by 2015 if the current trend continues. According to the education sector Review and Development (2003), the primary sub-sector recorded a national dropout rate of 4.6% for boys and 5.1% for girls in 1999. The lowest completion rate for the years 1990-2000 was recorded in the 1990-1993 cohorts when it was 68.9%. The repetition rates for the same group were calculated at 1.7% and 1.5% for boys and girls (Hartnett, 2017).

Parental occupation influences the school participation of their children, and according to Hartnett (2017), the higher the social-economic group, the more often they discussed with the teaching staff about the progress of their children at school. Hartnett (2017) conducted studies in the state of Alaska and Utah and found that parental education, especially that of mothers, was strongly related to the educational attainment (completed tears). As parents earn higher incomes and gain knowledge, their aspirations for their children rise. Hartnett (2017) stipulates that as income increase, the gap between boys’ and girl’s educational attainments tend to close; for the richer the household, the more significant the achievement of the children and parents who earn high income send their children to school.

Charlton et al., (2004), assert that drop out and repetition appears to be most common among students from the low social-economic background and is more prevalent in rural areas than urban areas and among female students than male students are. Charlton, Panting & Willis (2004) portray this outcome as he cites that an educational economist on the poverty view towards education. Studies conducted by the World Bank (2001) found that it is more difficult for low-income families to provide educational inputs for their children, and disparity in the ability of parents to meet the direct costs of education has contributed to the discrepancy in the school resources. In a similar study by the World Bank (1994) in the U.S., the poor children were found to attend schools with limited resources (Charlton, Panting & Willis, 2004). Parental income also influences the survival rates. Conry & Richards’s (2018) findings in primary schools on causes of absenteeism found that lack of school fees led to absenteeism, which resulted in poor performance in national examinations.

Conry & Richards (2018) concurs with findings of earlier studies that the disadvantaged children from low-income families drop out of school much earlier. Extensive research done on repetition and wastage by Conry & Richards (2018) concluded that the problem of dropout and repetition is a serious one in the developing countries. Conry & Richards (2018) attributed the problem of dropout and redundancy to the low social-economic background, and he further stressed that this problem is more prevalent in rural areas and among female students. Most of the girls who drop out were found to be aged between 17-19 years and are victims of early pregnancies. Worse still, it was found that over ½ of the fathers are schoolboys of similar age. On the effects of absenteeism, Santelmann (2007) says that it creates severe problems for the learners both academically and socially and that a student who is always absent from school lags behind in his /her school work. Santelmann (2007) stresses that absenteeism culminates in dropouts.

A significant number of quantitative research studies on the patterns of truancy or a rather chronic school absenteeism among students, schools, families, and community factors that are correlated reveal that student truancy in the United States learning system remains an epidemic that significantly affects families, students, and the community (Truancy programs keep crime rates down, 2017). In other words, truant students often miss out on social interaction and academic instruction, an aspect that leads to an increase in the risks of dropping out of school. Santelmann (2007) came up with types of absenteeism, and one of the models was parental withdrawal. This is where the parents keep away the child from school for their (parents) own purposes.

Most of these purposes are related to the opportunity costs of educating children. Chronic absenteeism and repetition lead to students being ill-equipped for living and further studies. There is a positive correlation between parent’s socio-economic status and their children participate in school. In developing countries, it was twice as high compared to those of professional parents. Dropout was concluded to be the advanced stage of absenteeism families of low economic status have inadequate facilities for studying outside school from such families return from the farm after dark and have insufficient light to do their homework. This affects their performance, discourages them, and may eventually drop out. Santelmann (2007) strongly argues that non-school factors like family background can influence educational achievement to such a great extent that they may overshadow the effect of school inputs.

Parental Attitude towards Education and School Participation

Enrolment in the education system is primarily a parental decision that could partly be influenced by factors like school quality, school availability, direct costs, and the opportunity cost of sending children to school. Apart from influencing enrolment, parental altitude also affects dropouts wherein determining or influencing the probability of dropout is strengthened by community norms such as the preferred age of marriage. This is reflected by the pressure put by parents on their girls to marry early, which in turn offers a powerful distraction to the girl child as Skola & Williamson (2012) puts it. This depicts that the majority of the pupils comes from a low-income household whose poor economic background deprives them conducive environment for their studies, including a lack of suitable housing.

Skola and Williamson (2012) stated that an increase in an individual’s income relatively increases the quality of their children. Families with high socio-economic status with appropriate housing facilities often succeed in preparing children for schooling because they have access to a broader range of activities. From the results of the study, the majority of the parents (74.4%) reported that they were facing constraints in financing pupil’s education. In comparison, 25.6% indicated that they never faced obstacles in financing a pupil’s education. As Skola & Williamson (2012) points out, when more sacrifices are demanded, a low-income family contemplates bearing their child’s cost of education or might abandon the whole exercise. Parents also face difficulties in finding high-quality health care and a safe environment for their children due to low income and others due to poverty hence making it becomes a struggle to afford the price for quality care and secure environment.

On whether the parents/guardians help the pupils in doing the homework, 77% of the pupils attested that their parents/guardians never helped them in doing their homework. (Skola & Williamson (2012) stated that with appropriate assistance, children achieve academic success just like their neighbors and peers. Charlton, Panting & Willis (2004) noted that poor parents” participation in guidance and homework is detrimental to academic achievement. From the findings, only 23% of the pupils or students revealed their parents often assist them in completing their homework. This aspect significantly revels that the element of poor parental engagement and participation in a student’s involvement remains fundamental. On the reasons the children failed to attend school, most of the teachers cited parent’s failure to afford essential items for their children as the primary cause for students’ absenteeism.

In contrast, others cited students’ involvement in a money generating activity and poor nutrition as the cause of absenteeism (Charlton et al., 2004). The study also concluded that the provision of the basics materials does not cater to by education program but provided for by parents was fair and that students’ school attendance is fair. The study also concluded that there is a gradual decline in student enrollment, access, and participation in education for the past five years despite the inception of free primary education by the government.

Among the significant reasons that resulted in students’ absenteeism, which was reported to be regularly, include lack of school fees, helping parents/guardians at home, caring for their sick parent, disease, students’ involvement in income-generating activities, and poor nutrition. There is a need for the government to improve proper mechanisms for financing child education, especially in poverty-stricken areas. Research studies have, in this case, demonstrated that several factors are related to students, teachers, and learning institution’s policies on the element of excused as well as the unexcused absences that may have an impact on the attendance of school among learners. These factors are associated and categorized as significant in determining the overall learning and educational experiences. This should go along with effective monitoring of disbursed funds to avoid misappropriation and thus enhance proper utilization to facilitate the participation of the children as well as easing the burden of incurring costs (Charlton et al., 2004). The study recommends proper campaigns geared towards public sensitization of education and information needs and to ensure that no one prohibits children from participating in mainstream education. This will also go along with sensitizing the parents on the need to providing the relevant materials such as books, school uniforms, and fees, thus raising the level of participation during the learning process. Policy development needs to be based on a thorough situation analysis outlining the region context, which identifies the prevailing needs and states precise policy requirements to achieve the inclusion of children with disabilities.

Students who are often prone to the risks of truancy often need people such as their teachers, counselors to ensure that they are kept accountable and mentors to meet them every week to focus and address the issues regarding their attendance as well as other factors that would play a vital role in enhancing their educational outcomes. Having such individuals connections plays a crucial role in the creation of school engagement for a student, an aspect that may increase higher attendance rates to increase the learner’s academic achievements while eliminating the disconnects from a learning institution’s school environment. Learning institutions, therefore, need to find mentors within the school to support learners who struggle with truancy. On the other hand, when learners have individuals within the family that support their aspirations, the element of intrinsic motivation plays a fundamental role in enhancing their performances. Given this, it is essential to note that the onset of the 21st century saw several states faced with a series of challenges regarding effective educational policies that may affect the universality and the access to education and the essence of enhancing rapid development of human resources (Conry & Richards, 2018). Economic, as well as social policies, have, in this case, played a fundamental role in shaping the education sector. In several other states, despite the efforts of the government to improve the education sector, poverty remains an aspect that has continued to increase and rise, with precision to the past few years following the recession.

Summary

As revealed in this chapter, it is estimated that close to 15-20% of students often miss entire months during their school years. This, therefore, establishes that close to 29.9% of the truant students were mainly unsupervised after school, while 11.3% of the truant children were mostly unsupervised after learning. In a recent study conducted on some of the truant offenders in juvenile justice systems revealed that there was a correlation between truancy and a family’s household income. In other words, the findings of the study found that minors referred to the juvenile justice system are often financially impoverished, establishing that a relatively higher percentile of households and families that make less than $15,000 annually that those who regularly attend school. This, therefore, reveals that students from such families are often likely to exhibit cases of truancy given the fact that their families earn less to support their basic needs. Past research studies on learners who are considered chronically absent often find that relative to their peers who frequently and consistently attend school, the chronically absent learners are often prone to adverse academic outcomes such as dropping out and grade retentions. A significant number of quantitative research studies on the patterns of truancy or rather a chronic school absenteeism among students, schools, families, and community factors that are correlated reveal that student truancy in the United States learning system remains an epidemic that significantly affects families, students, and the community. One of the significant challenges has been in the achievement of a practical approach that would ensure that education is equitable, accessible, and relevant in terms of quality to children.

Every state, in this case, has established the rights of children, confirming that every child has the right to acquire the education that plays a fundamental role in the development of their talents, personalities, as well as their physical and mental states to ensure that they reach their full potential. Any country or nation’s children are often considered as the future generation of citizens, leaders, and workers. Given this, it is evident that education that develops the mental starts of an individual remains one of the tools used by people to ensure that they are economically and socially skilled or empowered. However, there is a need to underscore that this situation is majorly affected by the costs that come with the achievement of education. In other words, the costs regarding sharing policies remain the costs that are mainly incurred by parents in the provision of training to their children. Absences and are attributed or instead result from the student’s discretion often occur because the parents and the students fail to understand the importance of school attendance, students simply resort to engaging in other activities, or the school or rather learning institution lacks a stronger culture of participation. These absences are, therefore, difficult for the schools to handle and address given the fact that the parents mainly support their children in staying out of school.

Whether or not families have health insurance equally affects school attendance. This, therefore, reveals that close to 28% of learners who lack health coverage of insurance lack the regular plans of addressing their health concerns. This plays a significant role in contributing to absenteeism, given the fact that routing illnesses may be treated and addressed early through visits to the physicians. This, therefore, reveals that mobility remains a factor that is often prevalent in rural, urban, as well as predominant minority populations and usually has a severe consequence for learners. Students who often experience or rather encounter the element of mobility, therefore, need to make academic adjustments to fit within the new learning environment socially. Research reveals that students who equally experience movement are similarly likely to struggle with their academic performances, with this attributed to the element of curricular incoherence or a mismatch between what is taught in the former and current learning institution. However, there is a need to establish that the factors that are in several cases associated with mobility, such as cases of family instability, are predominant reasons and causes of the increasing levels of truancy rates among students.