Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project, Houston, TX

Examining the Long and Short Term Effect of Police Visits: Analyses of Variance
Two analyses of variance were explored to determine if the police visits had significant
short- and/or long-term effects on attendance. The first analysis compared average attendance
during the 31 days before the police visit, to the ten days after the police visit, to the 20 days
following that (days 11 through 31). The average absence rate before the police visit was .35;
that is, approximately 35% of all students who received knock and talks were absent on any
given day before the police visit. This rate dropped to .24 during the first ten days following the
visit (24% of students were absent immediately following the police visit), and then rose slightly
to .28 during days 11 through 31. Post-hoc comparisons showed that the initial drop in the
absence rate as well as the longer term drop were statistically significant (p