Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project, Houston, TX

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
This report details the evaluation outcomes of two components of the Gulfton Truancy
Reduction Demonstration Project: police visits to the homes of truant students and case
management for truants. The goals of this portion of the evaluation were to 1) assess the
effectiveness of these two components in reducing absences and improving grades, 2) assess the
effectiveness of case management in improving school engagement, 3) to a lesser extent examine
the relationship between grades and attendance in general, and 4) compare the costs and benefits
of case management 3 .
In Chapter 2 we assess attendance and grade outcomes based on police visits, also known
as “knock and talks”. To do this, we examined school records for the 2004-2005 school year for
students who received police visits between Fall 2003 and Spring 2005. In Chapter 3 we
examine the effects of case management on attendance and grades by analyzing school records
for the 2004 – 2005 school year and school engagement surveys from students and parents. As
part of this examination, we compared the data from students who received case management to
two groups who did not. The comparison group students were identified by school staff as being
truant, but they were not involved in this intervention. One group was from Lee High School
(also the treatment group school) and the other was from Milby High School. Descriptions of
the project and the locations of study follow. In Chapter 4, we examine the costs and benefits of
case management. Finally, Chapter 5 discusses the overall findings and presents
recommendations.
Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project - Houston, TX
The Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project was funded by the Office of
3 A cost-benefit of police home visits was also planned; however, given the short-term effects of police visits it would be
unfeasible to perform this analysis.
Evaluation of the Gulfton Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project 2