TRUANCY INTERVENTION PROGRAM WORK GROUP

TIP provides individualized services to students and families regarding attendance and academic progress. They focus on:

• building relationships,
• providing support and education on the importance of school attendance,
• identifying risk behavior and reasons for truancy, and
• pinpointing effective strategies, in-school-resources, and community resources to utilize in reducing absences.

History

TIP is the Clay County Collaborative’s longest running program, and has earned state-wide and national recognition. The program began in 1998, when, after reviewing data from the 1996-1997 school year, the Children's Mental Health Collaborative identified truancy as a priority issue. The program initially served only the Moorhead High School but has since expanded to serve all Clay County public school students. Originally, family advocates were employees of the Clay County Joint Powers Collaborative.  As of September 1, 2005, they became employees of The Village Family Service Center.

Goals

The purpose of TIP is to address truancy and attendance issues with students and involve parents in the process. Increasing parental involvement and becoming involved with the students early on results in increase academic success and communication with the school, as well as decrease absences and court referrals

Program Evaluation

During the 2009-10 school year TIP served approximately 1500 students at a cost of approximately $107 per student. Since the program’s inception student days missed have been reduced by sixty percent, from 5.3 days per month in 1998 to 2.13 days per month in 2004-05. Court referrals have also been reduced by approximately sixty percent, from 9.8 per month in 1998 to 4 in 2005-06.

Funding

The budget for the 2009-10 school year was $160,992.

Work Group Members

Links

• Work Group minutes and program reports (quarterly & annual)