Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project, Houston, TX

Savings Under the Moderate Definition of Case Management Success
Following the same formula for three successes rather than five yields the following
outcomes.
The success rate equals 3/32 or 9.38%.
Total savings equals ($188,377 x 43 x .0938) - $47,511 = $712,289.
The return to each dollar invested equals $15.
Savings Under the Rigorous Definition of Case Management Success
The success rate equals 1/32 or 3.13%.
Total savings equals ($188,377 x 43 x .03125) - $47,511 = $205,621.
The return to each dollar invested equals almost $4.33.
Even our most restrictive definition of success yields a highly positive estimated return
on investment in case management services. A return of $4.33 is considered quite good
compared to the returns generated by other successful social service programs.
It must be noted however, that even the “rigorous” definition of success may
overestimate program benefits for two reasons. First, being successful while case management
services are being offered does not equate to high school graduation. Despite having developed
a better habit of school attendance, many things may yet occur to impede graduation, particularly
for students who are overage for their grade. Second, we can only assume that the students
identified as successful would not graduate without the case management. In order to really
understand the impact of case management we would need to track the progress of these
students, along with the progress of a comparison group using the TRAIN data who did not
receive case management, until all students either graduated or dropped out of high school.
Evaluation of the Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project 26