Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project, Houston, TX

It is commonly believed however, that student engagement in general worsens as the
school year progresses and as students get older. This, in fact, occurred with both comparison
groups: the Lee comparison groups worsened on 7 items, but improved on 5 items and the Milby
comparison group worsened on 6 items, and only improved on 1. See Appendix C for the
changes in the comparison groups. Consequently, since all groups worsened somewhat, from
pre- to post-test, it is unlikely that the worsening attitudes should be attributed to case
management. Instead, it is possible that attitudes simply changed due to a natural process. That
is, the Lee treatment group was worse in the beginning and worsened over the course of the year
and so did the comparison groups.
Family Engagement Surveys
The parents of students who received case management were also asked to respond to the
National Center for School Engagement’s Family Survey, a survey intended to measure parental
attitudes toward school, measure involvement with the school, and gather information about the
student and school engagement from the parents’ perspective. Only treatment group parents
participated in the Family Engagement Survey. Each parent was asked to fill out a pre and post
survey.
Twenty-one parents had matched pre and post surveys. Results indicate that parent
perceptions changed little over the course of their children’s involvement in case management.
However, four significant differences emerged:
• More parents reported attending a parent-teacher conference at post-test. Responses
indicate that before case management services, most parents never attended a
conference, but following services they were more likely to report that they attended
one.
Evaluation of the Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project 21