TRUANCY IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

A MAJOR SOCIAL PROBLEM FOR EDUCATORS

Presented by: Ms. J. Kreichman

Minerva Mirabel School of Law and Journalism-IS 321

There is a knock at the door to your apartment in New York City. A uniformed officer asks for you. A shiver runs down your spine. What

could they want of me, I am sick? The man at the door says, “ I am a TRUANT OFFICER”. You were not in school for three days and we are here to find out why. You or your parents could be arrested under the law. In your case, this was a mistake. You were sick and your mother just forgot to call the school. But you wonder, why is a truant officer needed? Why does the City of New York go through such drastic measures for students?

The answer is simple. On any given day, thousands of students, under the age of sixteen, cut school. This is an epidemic that has lewd to major social problems for all new Yorkers, Students, who cut school, find themselves in trouble with the law, never graduate and live the next seventy years of their life in misery because they have no education. Truants are more likely to become involved with drugs, become teenage parents or felons.

Millions of dollars have been spent on trying to stop truancy in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg has a special council in the New York City Board of Education and in the Police Force just to deal with truants. Police search all neighborhoods during school hours arresting cutters.

The schools are overburdened with many other problems and have little time to spend on truancy. Now it is your turn. You will become a Public Policy Analyst and find solutions to the truant epidemic. In this web quest you, along with your group classmates, present a report to your school principal. He, in turn, will implement your suggestions and make it school law. Good luck. We need you. Your research could save your family, friends and classmates from truancy or the affects of those who cut school.

1: Each group will create a poster that expresses their research on Truancy and depicts a public policy that the Principal can follow. The poster could have pictures, illustrations, graphs, charts, diagrams and text. It should eye-catching and act as an advertisement for your findings. It will include the elements of the Public Policy Analyst described in the “process” section below.

2: Each member of the group will also be responsible for a three page research paper. The paper must be typed using MS Word and have illustrations from the Internet. This paper will be given to your principal for him to make school policy. Your paper MUST include all the elements of the Public Policy Analyst.

1: The class will be divided into groups of FOUR

2: Each member of the group will have a specific function

3: The group will decide upon individual roles from the list below:

I: RESEARCHER- The students will research all categories of the PPA through internet and text research. He/she will report back to the group, from this research, the six step PPA categories will be completed.

II: PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST- This student will coordinate the research and complete the writing of the six-step PPA worksheets. He/she will have input from all group members and will help coordinate the creation of the POSTER.

III: POSTER MAKER: This student will take the PPA steps and create an artistic poster that represents the conclusions of the group on Truancy and its solutions.

IV: COORDINATOR- This student will keep track of deadlines and coordinate all research material for the poster makers. He/she will be in charge of presenting the findings to the Principal and the class and will proof read the poster and all written material.

4: All members of the group have the responsibility to complete the six worksheets linked below.

5: These worksheets will be the resource material the group will use to complete the Poster and paper.

THE SIX STEP PUBLIC POLICY ANANLYST

LINKS AND WORKSHEETS

STEP # 1: Define the Social Problem

2: Find Evidence for the Problem

3: Find the Causes for the problem

4: Examine Public Policies that exist today in

Regarding truancy

5: DEVELOP OWN SOLUTIONS FOR THE

PROBLEM

6: SELECT THE BEST SOLUTION

Remember-work together and coordinate all efforts

IV: You will complete ALL the worksheets on the links

To the PPA and these will be used as resource

Material for your POSTER.

V: You will be graded by the Rubrics in the

“Evaluation” section of the web quest

VI: You will use the INTERNET RESOURCES given

below along with printed material to complete the

worksheets and your product. You should also use text material.

Charts, pictures and graphs are included in the web quest and resource

and can be used in your final product.

GENERAL WEB SITES

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

WWW.YAHOO.COM

WWW.AASKJEEVES.COM

WEB SITES SPECIFIC TO THE PUBLIC POLCIY ANALYST

FACTS & POLICES REGARDING TRUANCY

LAWS AGAINST TRUANCY

THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY TRUANCY PDF FILE

OVERALL BULLETIN ON TRUANCY

CALIFORNIA LAWS TO STOP TRUANCY

CAUSES & PUBLIC POLICES

SEREVING ICE CREAM

FINES FOR TRUANTS

GRAPH-TRUANCY RATGE

CHART-EFFECTS OF TRUANCY

CHART-SOLUTIONS

Making A Poster : TURANCY

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Teacher Name: J. Kreichman

CATEGORY	4 EXCELLENT	3 VERY GOOD	2 SATISFACTORY	1 UNACCEPTABLE
Graphics -Clarity	Graphics are all in focus and the content easily viewed and identified from 6 ft. away.	Most graphics are in focus and the content easily viewed and identified from 6 ft. away.	Most graphics are in focus and the content is easily viewed and identified from 4 ft. away.	Many graphics are not clear or are too small.
Graphics - Originality	Several of the graphics used on the poster reflect an exceptional degree of student creativity in their creation and/or display.	One or two of the graphics used on the poster reflect student creativity in their creation and/or display.	The graphics are made by the student, but are based on the designs or ideas of others.	No graphics made by the student are included.
Required Elements	The poster includes all required elements of PPA as well as additional information.	All required elements of PPA are included on the poster.	All but 1 of the required elements of PPA is included on the poster.	Several required elements were missing.
Attractiveness	The poster is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness.	The poster is attractive in terms of design, layout and neatness.	The poster is acceptably attractive though it may be a bit messy.	The poster is distractingly messy or very poorly designed. It is not attractive.
Title	Title can be read from 6 ft. away and is quite creative.	Title can be read from 6 ft. away and describes content well.	Title can be read from 4 ft. away and describes the content well.	The title is too small and/or does not describe the content of the poster well.

You should have learned from this web quest that TURANCY is a major social problem that must be addressed. It affects the lives of millions of children, parents and community members. You have also learned the importance of the Public Policy Analyst. This is critical role

in a democratic society, in which people govern themselves. These social scientists investigate systematically investigate problems and find solutions through new laws and new public policies. Elected officials from Mayors up to Presidents require their services. Let’s hope you made a difference and participated in the democratic process. Maybe you have helped stamp out Truancy. We thank you for your participation

English Language Arts

Standard 1:   Language for Information and Understanding

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Standard 4:   Language for Social Interaction

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Standard 5:   Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.