Date of Degree
2023
Degree Name
Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
Department
Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations (LEPF)
Director
Summers, Kelly
Committee Members
Creed, Ben; Oest, Dan
Keywords
school refusal behavior, attendance, school avoidance, student mental health, attendance intervention, school climate, student services, chronic absenteeism
Abstract
INTERVENTIONS UTILIZED TO IMPROVE ATTENDANCE AMONGST SECONDARY STUDENTS EXPERIENCING SCHOOL REFUSAL BEHAVIORS
This study examined the interventions utilized to improve attendance amongst secondary students at a Midwest suburban high school as well as their relationship to the research-based interventions presented in the literature review. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 student services faculty members to identify what interventions are being utilized to help students with school refusal, which interventions they felt worked best for returning students experiencing school refusal behaviors to consistent attendance, and in what ways the school district can best support school student services personnel when working with these students.
Developing and maintaining relationships is the key to increasing student attendance and returning a student to regular school attendance. Throughout every interview, participants talked about the web of relationships that exist when supporting students. When school staff members talk about supporting students exhibiting school refusal behaviors, they talk about the layers to relationship building and the interventions reflect those layers.
The intention of this research was to shed more light on what interventions are being implemented daily in a school compared to the interventions provided in the literature review. It was determined through the interviews that relationship building is key to the development of an intervention for students who are struggling. This research is important because it highlights the important work student services personnel do to help students and families.
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses and dissertations are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors, unless otherwise indicated.
Recommended Citation
Bronke, Kristen E., "Interventions Utilized to Improve Attendance Amongst Secondary Students Experiencing School Refusal Behaviors" (2023). Dissertations of Practice. 4.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-disspractice/4
