Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-248).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of La Verne, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-123).

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 22, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-63).

Truancy, an unexcused absence from school, is a common, but worrisome reality for many of America’s school children. Truancy results in missed academic instruction for the student and missed state funding for schools based on average daily attendance figures. More importantly, chronic truancy can serve as one of the first indicators that a student is need of support, whether it is academic, economic, family, or personal (such as mental or physical health), before the onset of more serious delinquency. However, this early warning flag is often ignored or mismanaged, such as when truancy is criminalized and truant students and their parents receive tickets for the offense, including a large fee and early involvement with the juvenile justice system. Responses like this can further burden students and their families and cannot effectively address truancy, unless the root causes of truancy are addressed. States and school districts across the nation continue to implement programs and policies in an attempt to successfully prevent, reduce and manage truancy. Yet, information and consensus regarding the components of successful programs or policies are lacking. Without this information, jurisdictions are utilizing or attempting to implement a broad range of interventions and responses with very little attention being paid to evaluations to understand what to implement or to determine what works for youth and why. As a result, many truancy responses are just best guesses about what might work for youth, and some are even counterproductive. Failing to effectively address truancy fails youth in the short and long-term as future prospects are reduced. More information is known about what works and what does not with regard to truancy than many jurisdictions may realize. This report seeks to increase understanding of truancy and its causes, highlight the success (or lack thereof) of programs and policies, and demonstrate the wide variety of programs currently being implemented. Equipped with better information, jurisdictions can make better decisions to improve outcomes for students and their communities. / text

The disproportionate exposure to exclusionary discipline for students with disabilities is an acknowledged phenomenon. However, a theoretical understanding for this phenomenon is unknown. Recent claims have been made that the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline for students with disabilities results from a long-standing historical pattern of discrimination. The use of exclusionary discipline for students with disabilities results in the denial of opportunities and services at a more frequent rate than their peers without disabilities. This denial would indicate the possibility of prejudice, a construct understood to arise from the existence of a perception of threat by the ingroup in an intergroup relationship. The purpose of this study was to (a) determine if school administrators hold perceptions of threat from students with disabilities and (b) if a relationship exists between identified threats and disciplinary decisions. A survey measured threat perception, administrators' attitude toward students with disabilities, and administrators' disciplinary action preference in instances involving students with disabilities. It was hypothesized: H1. Perceived realistic threats will have a direct effect on administrator disciplinary decisions. H2. Perceived threats (both realistic and symbolic) will have a direct effect on administrator attitudes towards students with disabilities. H3. Perceived threats (both realistic and symbolic) will have an indirect effect through attitude on administrator disciplinary decisions. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed an acceptable model fit of the four latent variables of realistic and symbolic threat, educational administrator attitude toward students with disabilities, and educational administrator discipline decisions for students with disabilities. An acceptable fit was found for the originally hypothesized structural model, and no improved alternative models were identified. Realistic threat was found to have a significant relationship to educational administrators' disciplinary decisions for students with disabilities. No significant paths were identified for symbolic threat or attitude. / text

This study looked at the link between life-course crime and attachment levels in schools. The correlation between high attachment levels and lower adult criminal activity was first explained. Once this correlation was understood, attachment levels in alternative schools were studied. There are two main types of alternative schools: AEPs (Alternative Education Programs) and DAEPs (Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs). AEPs are often self-selected, meaning that the students have to apply and are usually not assigned; they are often long term. The DAEPs are set up by school districts to serve students who commit specific disciplinary or criminal offenses; the students are usually assigned at the DAEP for a short period of time, ranging from one day to six months. This study looked at whether one type of program yields higher attachment levels than the other. One school of each type was surveyed in the central Texas area. The AEP had 261 participants in the survey; the DAEP had 102. The students ranged from 6th to 12th grade. A teacher focus group at the DAEP was also given a survey, as well as a postsurvey questionnaire. The purpose of the teacher focus group was to see if the teacher perception of student attachment was accurate, and if they felt that anything needed to be changed at their school to yield higher attachment levels. The student and teacher surveys were analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that the AEP is more successful than the DAEP at attaining higher attachment levels. The AEP students are happier with their school and like their teachers more than do the students at the DAEP. The focus group illustrated that the teachers at the DAEP perceived that their students were happier than they really were. The focus group also showed that the teachers enjoyed working at their school and wanted to help the at-risk students, but did not want students to like it at the DAEP because they did not want the students to return. However, the teachers felt that success of their program was based on the rate of recidivism not on attachment levels.

Office disciplinary referrals (ODR) and classroom exclusions among students from minority backgrounds have been a persistent concern for decades. The purpose of this dissertation was to assess disciplinary characteristics of American Indian students in special education. More specifically, the purpose was to determine (a) the rate at which American Indian students in special education programs received ODRs in comparison to students in special education programs of differing races/ethnicities significantly represented in the population, (b) the rate at which American Indian boys in special education programs received ODRs in comparison to American Indian girls in special education programs, (c) the rate at which American Indian students in special education programs received ODRs in comparison to American Indian students who were not in special education programs, (d) the specific types of ODRs American Indian students in special education received, and (e) the impact race/ethnicity had on administrative decisions stemming from behavior violations. Logistic regression was used to examine ODRs for 10,469 students from kindergarten through 12th grade in two Southwestern public school districts with a large combined American Indian population (23.2%). Results indicated that although American Indian students in special education are less likely to obtain an ODR than Caucasian students in special education, and those ODRs are most often given for defiance, disrespect, and noncompliance, American Indian students in special education are still more likely to be given out-of-school suspensions and expulsions as an administrative consequence, than Caucasian students also in special education. Additionally, American Indian boys in special education were referred more than four times higher than American Indian girls in special education. Implications for practice and directions for future research which highlight culturally responsive disciplinary practices are provided.

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