The Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program began in 1998 as a cooperative effort of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (U.S. Department of Education), and the Executive Office for Weed and Seed (now OJP's Community Capacity Development Office).

Program sites from across the country were selected to implement truancy reduction programs incorporating the following components: community collaboration, public awareness efforts, a continuum of services for families, and successful system reform.

Related Publications

10 Things a School Can Do To Improve Attendance
Colorado Foundation for Families and Children
This fact sheet provides a checklist of measures schools can take to decrease truancy and improve attendance.

Best Practices in Developing Truancy Reduction Programs
Colorado Foundation for Families and Children
This fact sheet identifies five elements of a comprehensive community and educational strategy to combat truancy.

Exemplary & Promising Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools Programs 2001
U.S. Department of Education, April 2002
This report describes exemplary and promising programs identified in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Education's Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools expert panel.

How Can a School Achieve High Levels of Parental and Community Involvement?
National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education
This fact sheet lists keys to success for parental and community involvement in schools.

Joint Efforts To Improve School Attendance
Colorado Foundation for Families and Children
This fact sheet provides guidelines for coordinating efforts at the state and local levels to improve school attendance.

Model Truancy Prevention Programs
Colorado Foundation for Families and Children
This fact sheet provides an overview of effective truancy prevention programs nationwide.

Overcoming Barriers To School Reentry
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, October 2004
This fact sheet describes a model for overcoming barriers to school reentry developed by the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services in New York City.

School Dropouts: Education Could Play a Stronger Role in Identifying and Disseminating Promising Prevention Strategies
U.S. Government Accountability Office, February 2002
This Government Accountability Office report to Congress examines the dropout prevention efforts underway by federal, state, and local governments.

Truancy: First Step to a Lifetime of Problems
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, October 1996
This bulletin describes seven promising community programs that are reducing truancy and juvenile delinquency by enlisting and coordinating a broad array of local resources.

Truancy Reduction: Keeping Students in School
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, September 2001
This bulletin highlights major research findings regarding the problem of truancy and illustrates why communities should work to prevent and reduce its incidence.

Related Web Sites

Blueprints for Violence Prevention
Launched by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Blueprints comprises 11 model violence prevention and intervention initiatives and 18 promising programs that effectively reduce adolescent violent crime, aggression, delinquency, and substance abuse.

National Center for School Engagement (NCSE)
NCSE provides training, technical assistance, and research and evaluation on school attendance, attachment, and achievement for school districts, law enforcement agencies, courts, and state and federal agencies.

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network Model Programs
Sponsored by the National Dropout Prevention Center, this database lists hundreds of dropout prevention programs nationwide.

National Truancy Prevention Association (NTPA)
NTPA helps communities develop, support, and sustain effective truancy prevention practices by providing leadership and encouraging collaborative practices.

OJJDP Model Programs Guide
This online portal to scientifically tested and proven programs profiles more than 175 prevention and intervention programs and helps communities identify those that best suit their needs.

Operation Graduation
This Web site contains a range of resources for youth to help them stay in school, such as homework assistance and referrals to crisis organizations and community groups.

Prevention Pathways
Sponsored by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Prevention Pathways provides information on substance abuse prevention programs, program implementation, evaluation, technical assistance, and online courses.

Strengthening America's Families: Effective Family Programs for Prevention of Delinquency
This site lists the results of a search undertaken by OJJDP and SAMHSA in 1999 to identify best practices in family strengthening programs.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Model Programs
This directory features SAMHSA model programs that have been tested in communities, schools, and workplaces nationwide and have been proven to prevent or reduce substance abuse and other high-risk behaviors.