ArticlePDF Available

Cyber-Truancy: Addressing Issues of Attendance in the Digital Age

September 2013
Journal of Research on Technology in Education 46(1):1-28

DOI:10.1080/15391523.2013.10782611

Authors:

Leanna Archambault

Arizona State University

Kathryn Kennedy

Michigan Virtual University

Although mandatory attendance is easily determined in a traditional, brick-and-mortar school, monitoring and enforcing attendance and truancy in an online environment is less obvious. Despite this challenge, virtual schools, especially those that are publicly funded, have a requirement to ensure that students who are enrolled are actually logging on, completing lessons, and “attending” classes in an online setting��is article describes how attendance and truancy laws apply to online students and explores the notion of cyber-truancy. Within the context of Minnesota Virtual High School, one of the �rst schools to develop online attendance policies, we explore the impact and significance of enforcing cyber-truancy policy.

Example of Student Progress Conversion to Number of Absences

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Example of MVHS attendance tracking.

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Figures - uploaded by Leanna Archambault

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Content uploaded by Leanna Archambault

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Content uploaded by Leanna Archambault

Content may be subject to copyright.

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 1

Cyber-Truancy: Addressing Issues of Attendance in the Digital Age

Cyber-Truancy: Addressing Issues of

Attendance in the Digital Age

Leanna Archambault

Arizona State University

Kathryn Kennedy

International Association for K–12 Online Learning

Stacy Bender

Minnesota Virtual High School

Abstract

Although mandatory attendance is easily determined in a traditional, brick-

and-mortar school, monitoring and enforcing attendance and truancy in an

online environment is less obvious. Despite this challenge, virtual schools,

especially those that are publicly funded, have a requirement to ensure that

students who are enrolled are actually logging on, completing lessons, and

“attending” classes in an online setting. is article describes how attendance

and truancy laws apply to online students and explores the notion of cyber-

truancy. Within the context of Minnesota Virtual High School, one of the

rst schools to develop online attendance policies, we explore the impact and

signicance of enforcing cyber-truancy policy. (Keywords: Virtual schooling,

K–12 online, attendance, truancy, Minnesota Virtual High School)

As we progress into the 21st century, one of the key criticisms of the

U.S. education system has centered on a comparison of our schools

to factories, in which students are grouped by age, where progress

occurs through a series of isolated subjects in a lockstep fashion (Gro,

Smith, & Edmond, 2010). ere are a number of inherent problems with

this model, including a one-size-ts-all approach to instruction that sties

creativity, individuality, and innovation. is, coupled with an emphasis on

recall of declarative factual knowledge associated with high-stakes stan-

dardized testing, is particularly disconcerting, considering that the current

generation of students will face some of the most complex and dicult prob-

lems the world has ever encountered.

One of the mechanisms keeping this antiquated system in place is the stu-

dent evaluation process. Outdated measures of student achievement, particu-

larly seat time, or the number of minutes spent in the classroom, continue to

perpetuate underperformance among students, who are still able to graduate

as a function of attending and minimally participating in a face-to-face setting.

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

Within the traditional school model, students are either physically

present or absent. Attendance is dened as physical presence for a prede-

termined amount of time during which the school holds academic pro-

gramming. is becomes a signicant issue for schools when students are

chronically absent, legally referred to as “truant.” Truancy occurs when stu-

dents’ lack of attendance does not t into the excused categories provided by

the laws of the students’ states of residence. To address this problem, states

have written and implemented truancy laws based on traditional, brick-and-

mortar schools. Schools have an obligation to enforce truancy laws not only

because they are serving as caretakers of students under in loco parentis, but

also because it is the responsibility of the state to educate its citizenry. Under

the current educational system, this responsibility ends simply with students

being physically present in a classroom.

Whereas attendance and truancy are not dicult to determine in the

face-to-face classroom, dening truancy at an online school is challenging

to establish and enforce. However, virtual schools have an equal respon-

sibility to assure that students are attending lessons, progressing in their

learning, and benetting from instruction. Especially in the case of public

online schools, including cyber-charter schools, state-led virtual schools, or

district-level supplemental online classes, a legal obligation exists to ensure

that funds are being spent appropriately. With the growing number of stu-

dents attending online learning programs, the concept of attendance needs

to be revisited and redened to determine how to enforce truancy within the

online setting.

is article oers an examination of current truancy laws and the role

that online schools play in the enforcement of these laws. It explores the

concept of “cyber-truancy” through an analysis of Minnesota truancy laws

and the policies and procedures of Minnesota Virtual High School. e

purpose of this analysis is to examine how truancy laws can and do apply to

online students as well as the responsibility of online schools to enforce state

attendance laws, even as they are currently written. We examine these issues

by exploring the truancy laws, policies, and procedures of the state of Min-

nesota and how the Minnesota Virtual High School has implemented these

existing laws.

Review of Related Research

Signiﬁcance of School Attendance

Regular school attendance has been established as a key factor in student

achievement in school settings (Gottfried, 2010; Musser, 2011; Roby, 2004),

and more recently, attendance has been determined to be associated with

better performance on standardized test scores (Gottfried, 2011). Research

has shown that consistent attendance is a statistically signicant predictor for

improved performance in school (Musser, 2011). In light of this relationship,

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monitoring attendance becomes an important factor in assisting students

and families to increase school achievement. In addition, lack of attendance

is an indicator of students who may be at risk and require intervention on

the part of school personnel (Musser, 2011).

A chronic lack of attendance without legitimate reason, or truancy, is

a signicant issue that continues to present a challenge to schools. ere

are many possible reasons for truancy that may be school and/or student

related. School characteristics may include poor leadership, lack of com-

mitment to school improvement, inexperienced administrators, high sta

turnover, and ill-advised policies (Sheldon, 2007). Internal family issues

that aect attendance include socio-economic status (SES), family attitudes

toward education, parental situations, and child abuse and neglect (Teasley,

2004). Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) identify three major reasons for students

missing school: (a) students who cannot attend school due to illness, family

responsibility, homelessness, having to work, or dealing with the juvenile

justice system; (b) students who will not attend school due to bullying, safety

concerns, harassment, etc.; and (c) students who do not attend due to a lack

of value either on their part or the part of their parents, or nothing prevents

them from not attending. Currently, millions of students are missing exten-

sive amounts of schooling, with compounding negative eects (Balfanz &

Byrnes, 2012).

Given the signicant role attendance plays in student achievement, in

addition to the goal of decreasing the likelihood that students engage in

delinquent or destructive behaviors (Sheldon, 2007), schools are responsible

for making sure that students are physically present in classrooms on a daily

basis and, if they are not, taking necessary steps to determine the reasons

behind such truancy. Schools, both brick and mortar and virtual, are respon-

sible for intervening to correct the underlying problem. Not only are they

obligated by state law to enforce truancy statutes, but it is benecial for them

to leverage state resources to help promote student success. e most posi-

tive outcomes are experienced when schools, families, and students work to-

gether to solve the problem of truancy in schools (Gullatt & Lemoine, 1997).

Due to a lack of funding needed to dedicate sta and personnel to pursue

truancy violations, including ling necessary paperwork and spending time

in court, schools are oen reluctant to le truancy petitions (Smink & Heil-

brunn, 2005). Unfortunately, the cost of looking the other way can be more

devastating to society. According to Heilbrunn (2007), dropouts are unpre-

pared to enter the workforce and use additional social services and criminal

justice process services than do graduates. Each dropout costs the public

an average of $800,000 over the course of the individual’s lifetime (Smink

& Heilbrunn, 2005). In addition, as adults, those who were truant are more

likely than others to be incarcerated, live in poverty, have poor physical and

mental health, work in low-paying jobs, use public assistance extensively,

and have children with behavior problems (Baker, Sigmon, & Nugent, 2001).

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

us, attendance issues not dealt with can lead to a destructive cycle of

increased truancy, dropout rates, and subsequent poverty (Smink & Heilb-

runn, 2005).

Virtual Schooling: Growth and Concerns

From 1891 to the present, distance education has evolved and ourished in

the United States. In the past 25 years, K–12 online learning in particular

has emerged as an educational choice for youth around the nation. e rst

virtual school, Laurel Springs, opened in 1991. Today there are countless

numbers of online learning programs for K–12 students. In fact, as of 2011,

K–12 online learning programs are present in every state and the District of

Columbia (Watson, Murin, Vashaw, Gemin, & Rapp, 2011). ese programs

also vary in their amount of Web-based instruction. While some schools are

fully online, others are blended, oering a mixture of online and face-to-face

learning.

Recognizing the importance of preparing students to learn in online

environments, some states have mandated taking an online course or online

learning experience as a high school graduation requirement, includ-

ing Michigan in 2006, New Mexico in 2007, Alabama in 2008, and, most

recently, Virginia in 2012 (Sheehy, 2012). is has led to an increase in the

number of students taking online courses, with district-led online programs

and blended learning initiatives becoming the fastest growing trend in K–12

online learning (Watson et al., 2012, 2011).

Research focused on establishing the eectiveness of online learning has

led to a number completed meta-analyses. ese studies have compared

various learning outcomes from online learning environments to traditional

ones and have concluded no signicant dierence between the two. In addi-

tion, online education resulted in similar outcomes to traditional instruction

(Bernard et al., 2004; Cavanaugh et al., 2004; Means et al, 2009; Ungerleider

& Burns, 2003). With the conrmation of the viability of K–12 online educa-

tion, recent literature has begun to delve into other areas of consideration,

including student characteristics (Roblyer, 2002–2003), teacher character-

istics (Archambault & Crippen, 2009), and teacher preparation for online

environments (Kennedy & Archambault, 2012).

Although online education has been in existence for a relatively short

amount of time, recent advancement shows enrollment in K–12 online

learning continues to grow at an exponential rate throughout the United

States (Watson, Murin, Vashaw, Gemin, & Rapp, 2011). With this expan-

sion, the issue of monitoring and enforcing attendance becomes problem-

atic. is is because the traditional denition of truancy in a brick-and-

mortar school (a certain number of unexcused absences over a given period

of time) does not easily translate to the online environment. One of the

issues has been that attempting to track seat time in the online environ-

ment is complex. Currently, 36 states have moved more toward completion

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or competency-based progress as a method for measuring student progress

through prociency-based diplomas, credit exibility, or seat-time waiv-

ers (Patrick & Sturgis, 2013). A competency-based approach means that

students must demonstrate mastery of specic skills to progress to higher-

level work and earn credits toward high school graduation. Progress toward

meeting predetermined criteria, as established by multiple measures, rather

than an arbitrary number of minutes spent sitting in a classroom, deter-

mines when students complete a class and fullls the requirements neces-

sary for graduation (Sturgis & Patrick, 2010). However, this progress must

be carefully monitored to ensure that students are, in fact, moving forward

and mastering the necessary skills. is requires a carefully coordinated plan

with ongoing formative assessment that drives instruction.

With advances in K–12 online curricula and instruction, the possibility

for individualized instruction based on mastery is increasingly feasible. In

the online environment, students are not bound by traditional age group-

ings that may or may not correlate with their skill levels in particular content

areas. However, despite the growing popularity of online education, one of

the challenges has been to ensure that students are in fact “attending” and

receiving instruction as well as progressing in their studies. How is com-

pulsory attendance monitored in the online classroom? How does a virtual

school determine when a student has a problem with excessive absenteeism,

and more important, what do they do when this is the case?

Because many areas of concern with online education, particularly policy

issues such as attendance and truancy, have not yet been examined, we wanted

to explore ways and implications of establishing a mechanism for track-

ing student attendance in the online environment. Given the nature of this

advancement, the issue of attendance and truancy in the online environment,

or cyber-truancy, needs to be considered. us far, this topic has not been

addressed systematically in the literature, but as online programs continue to

grow and expand to serve an ever-increasing number of students, exploring

models of how to deal with attendance issues in virtual settings is critical.

e purpose of this study is to examine how truancy laws can and do

apply to online students, as well as the responsibility of online schools to

enforce state attendance laws, even as they are currently written. Using a

case-study design, we examine these issues by exploring the truancy laws,

policies, and procedures of the state of Minnesota and how these existing

laws have been implemented at Minnesota Virtual High School.

Theoretical Framework

School engagement has been identied as important to overall student suc-

cess and school completion (Finn, 1993). According to Finn’s Participation-

Identication Model of School Engagement, active student participation,

along with a feeling of identication with the school, are vital aspects to

graduation (Figure 1, p. 6). Student participation can be determined by

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

school attendance in addition to coming to school prepared and participat-

ing in various activities, including those that are extracurricular. According

to Finn (1993), “Attendance is a particularly important participatory behav-

ior throughout the school years because non-attendance prevents the young-

ster from being exposed to learning activities and to other eorts to promote

his or her involvement” (p. 10, emphasis in original). Student participation

in activities is directly related to successful school performance, which pro-

motes identication, by which students internalize a feeling of belonging as

part of the school (Finn, 1993).

Finn’s model concentrates primarily on the behavioral as well as the aec-

tive aspects of school engagement. One can measure behavioral elements by

examining attendance, avoidance of disciplinary action, classroom partici-

pation, and involvement in extracurricular activities. Aective measures

include feelings of belonging and identication with school. As Finn (1993)

notes, “As long as early participation is accompanied by some rewards for

success, a sense of comfort or ‘belonging’ can develop and become internal-

ized. e inuence of performance rewards plus the increased identication

with school serve to perpetuate youngsters’ active participation in the class-

room and the school environment generally” (p. 15). If students are actively

engaged in their school environment, then they are more likely to persist in

the face of diculty and avoid negative outcomes, including failing classes,

dropping out, and/or engaging in delinquent behaviors (Finn & Cox, 1992).

What remains to be seen is how school engagement in a traditional environ-

ment translates to an online one, and what mechanisms need to be in place

to encourage students to continue their participation and help them develop

a sense of identity within an online school.

In addition to behavior and aective aspects, there are also cognitive

measures of engagement, including motivation, self-regulation, and strategy

use. Bandura’s social cognitive theory (1989) emphasizes the importance of

modeling and observation of others’ behaviors as a primary mechanism of

Figure 1. Participation Identiﬁcat ion Model ( Adapted from Finn, 1993 )

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learning. It recognizes the signicance of ongoing interactions among be-

havioral, cognitive, and environmental factors and can be applied to online

learning.

rough a constructed online environment, students learn via model-

ing and observation. Being an active participant through observation and

modeling in the online environment enables students to learn what is being

taught. Because students learn from and within this environment, those

who are not present are not exposed to the required content, and they have

diculty producing the same results as those who regularly attend. Bandura

outlines four specic aspects of the modeling process: (a) attention—to learn

anything, students must pay attention, (b) retention—students must be able

to remember what they have been paying attention to, (c) reproduction—

students need to translate observation into behavior, and (d) motivation—to

be able to accomplish anything, students must have sucient reinforcement

to want to do so (Bandura, 1989). In addition, certain cognitive measures are

predictors of academic success in K–12 online education, including self-

regulation, self-motivation, the ability to structure one’s own learning, previ-

ous experience with technology, a good attitude toward the content, and

self-condence in academic endeavors (Roblyer & Marshall, 2002–2003).

For each of these elements to occur, a student must be present in an online

environment in order to successfully make progress. is progress can then

serve as a measure of attendance rather than seat time.

Taking into consideration the behavioral, aective, and cognitive aspects

of school engagement, by virtue of the state laws in which they are operating,

virtual schools have a legal obligation and responsibility to monitor students

in online environments. is includes whether or not students are logging

on and what learning outcomes they accomplish during this time. Currently,

the extent to which attendance laws are enforced in online environments is

unknown, and this is an area for future research. e current study, however,

provides an in-depth look at how one such virtual school is addressing this

issue. As such, the research questions for the current study are as follows:

1. How do the concepts of compulsory attendance and truancy apply to

the K–12 online learning environment? What is cyber-truancy?

2. How might attendance and truancy be enforced in a virtual school setting?

Methodology

Setting

is study took place in the state of Minnesota at Minnesota Virtual High

School (MVHS). is is a fully online virtual school that oers classes to

middle and high school students throughout the state. MVHS serves ap-

proximately 1,350 students. Students can take single classes to supplement

their traditional, face-to-face schools, or they can choose to go to MVHS full

time. If they choose full time, upon graduation, students receive a diploma

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

from the accredited public charter school, Minnesota Transitions Charter

School, which sponsors MVHS.

Sampling

e current study used stratied purposeful selection of cases (Patton,

2002). is method allows for researchers to study cases within cases. Specif-

ically, the researchers chose cyber-truancy practices within Minnesota and

particularly those associated with MVHS. In addition, further stratication

is illustrated by the focus on individual students within this context from

various counties to see how the application of cyber-truancy aects them. To

attain this information, the researchers focused on the experiences of Stacy

Bender, dean of students at MVHS, and her processes surrounding the phe-

nomenon of cyber-truancy. It should be noted that her role in the current

research was two-fold: both as a researcher/observer and as a participant.

According to Spradley (1980), two purposes exist for participant observa-

tion: (a) to observe the activities, people, and aspects of a situation; and (b)

to participate in activities that provide useful information and are appropri-

ate given a specic context. Because of her administrative position, Bender’s

role was that of a privileged, active observer throughout the course of the

research. is introduces the potential for bias concerning cyber-truancy,

including how related policies are developed and implemented. However, in

interviewing the dean of students, the two lead researchers sought to mini-

mize this by working together to examine the data, comparing impressions

with each other, and member checking with the dean to ensure accuracy.

In addition, because of the small sample size, generalizing to other settings

is not recommended. Despite the lack of transferability, key characteristics

from this case can help to illuminate and illustrate the importance of explor-

ing cyber-truancy issues and policies.

Data Collection

is study used case-study methods (Yin, 2004). Case-study methodol-

ogy requires detailed investigation of a situation (Feagin, Orum, & Sjoberg,

1991). In this case, it allowed the researchers to examine cyber-truancy in

Minnesota, specically at MVHS. is case study, as in all case studies, helps

to illuminate the intricacies of a given situation using multiple data sources.

We collected data sources from the Minnesota Attendance and Truancy Stat-

utes, Chisago County Truancy Policy, and interviews with the dean of stu-

dents, whose position it is to monitor truancy and enforce attendance in the

online school. We sought documents and sources that would give a complete

exploration and description of cyber-truancy both within the school and in

the legal process (Yin, 1994). e phenomenon of cyber-truancy has shown

up only recently in the media (Bender, 2010).

In addition to collecting the policy documents, we interviewed the dean

of students, who enforces attendance and monitors cyber-truancy at MVHS.

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 9

e interviews were semi-structured and used interview guides. e semi-

structure of the interviews also allowed for the use of prompts and follow-up

questions if an answer required clarication. ere were three interviews,

and each interview lasted between 50 and 90 minutes. ere was a need

for multiple interviews with the dean because it allowed time to review the

additional data sources between interviews and ask follow-up questions on

those additional data sources. Interviews centered on asking the dean of

students key questions about dierent student cases of cyber-truancy and

their outcomes. Her position puts her in direct contact with every truant

student at Minnesota Virtual High School. She keeps track of each student

on a tracking sheet, which allows her to have the relevant information about

each student, the steps that MVHS has taken to intervene, and the upcoming

court or county meeting dates that she needs to attend. is sheet also docu-

ments if the student has a truancy agency or social worker who can support

the student in terms of attendance. We conducted interviews with the dean

of students over the phone, recorded them using a digital recorder, and

transcribed them. Phone interviews had advantages in this particular situ-

ation due to the fact that the researcher participant (dean of students) was

located in Minnesota, and the other two researchers were located in Maine

and Arizona. We made contact prior to the interview to build a comfortable

relationship prior to the rst interview (Seidman, 2006).

e interview guides consisted of an explanation of the study and ques-

tions to answer and discuss. Questions and prompts for the interviews

included the following:

•Dene cyber-truancy.

•Describe your process of establishing a cyber-truancy policy at MVHS.

•Describe how cyber-truancy is enforced at MVHS.

•How do the concepts of compulsory attendance and truancy apply to the

K–12 online learning environment?

•How might attendance and truancy be enforced in a virtual school set-

ting?

•What is the impact of enforcing cyber-truancy policy, and why is it im-

portant?

•What are examples of students who have been aected by the enforce-

ment of cyber-truancy?

•What motivates you to help students who are truant?

Data Analysis

We analyzed data using multiple methods. We analyzed the policies with

the help of the dean of students’ interviews, both during interviews as well

as via note-taking that the dean had done on her own. Prior to interviews,

we reviewed the policies and the dean’s notes on the policies. During the

interviews, we asked questions based on our reviews and the dean’s notes.

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

Based on the dean’s additional explanations, we were able to understand the

decisions that were made to align attendance policy with K–12 online learn-

ing environments. She was able to provide a historical background as well

as a description of the problems that sparked the policy creation. She also

explicated the goals of the policy and addressed the feasibility and impact of

implementation (Karger & Stoesz, 2009). e analysis of these documents

allowed us to better understand a problem, suggest possible solutions, and

examine the results of implementation in a given context.

In addition to analyzing the documents, we transcribed all interviews

with the dean of students verbatim. en we listened to the interviews a

second time to ensure that the transcriptions were accurate, noting pauses

and emphases where applicable. We then assigned open codes to each of the

interviews by using meaning-units as points of separation. We read the data

and coded, focusing on excerpts that elicited qualities of applicants and the

actions that ensue based on those qualities. Codes that we used included

open (rst level), focused (second level), and selective (third level) (Strauss

& Corbin, 1998). en we reviewed the data to see what themes were con-

sistent (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). We used memoing to help move the coding

of the data to a more analytic level by seeing how codes at dierent levels of

analysis worked together to create a greater understanding. ese steps col-

lectively provided a way to identify common themes within the interviews.

Data Validation

Qualitative research is validated dierently from quantitative research—i.e.,

“formal comparisons, sampling strategies, or statistical manipulations that

‘control for’ the eect of particular variables” (Maxwell, 1998, p. 91). In addi-

tion, validation of qualitative research relies more on trust and authenticity

(Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). To ensure credibility, transferability, dependabil-

ity, and conrmability, we used member checks, feedback, and discrepant/

negative instance scans. Aer we collected and analyzed the data and wrote

conclusions, we asked the dean of students to review the ndings. is

ensured the depiction stayed true to the actual experience (Guba & Lincoln,

1994; Miles & Huberman, 1994). Finally, while we were analyzing data, we

checked to make sure that we could nd no discrepant/negative instances

that counteracted the ndings (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Results

Minnesota’s Online Learning Law

Examining Minnesota’s state law pertaining to online education reveals that

per-pupil state funding follows students from their traditional schools to the

online setting (Minnesota Statute 124D.095). As a result, an online school

is a public school, and its students then are subject to state attendance and

truancy laws. As with many issues related to education, laws and deni-

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 11

tions regarding truancy dier in each state. In Minnesota, Statutes 120A.22

and 260A require that, once students enroll in school or by age 7, they must

attend school every hour of every school day through the age of 18, unless

or until they are formally withdrawn with parental consent aer age 16. e

law grants schools the ability to dene what is considered an excused or

unexcused absence (see Appendix A, p. 24). e diculty lies in being able

to apply an outdated compulsory attendance law to an online environment.

Attendance Enforcement at MVHS

According to the dean of students, MVHS uses a competency-based calcula-

tion to determine what attendance means in the online classroom. Fund-

ing is not based on the number of hours that a student “sits” in the online

classroom; rather, it is based on course completion and credits earned by the

students. Because students can work at any time of day/night from any place,

the only common denominator among them is progress completion. What

takes one student to complete in 1 hour may take another student 3 hours.

However, the required number of assignments to be completed in a spe-

cic course remains constant for all students in that course. While the path

students take to that completion will likely dier, the anticipated outcome

is the same. From the dean’s perspective, the reason that the conversion to

progress-based attendance makes sense is that attendance requires a con-

stant. In seat-based schools, this constant is time in a school building. is

does not work for online schools, so a constant needed to be based on the

goal of the virtual school. What made the most sense as a goal was students

passing classes and earning credits.

e progress model assumes that the goal is students passing classes. It then

divides that requirement over the course of weeks, and ultimately days, in the

school term. Based on this goal, MVHS school ocials determine the required

percentage of increase in each class per week toward full completion. Most

students take a minimum of ve classes each semester. School ocials divided

the total percentage of completion needed to earn credit by the number of

weeks in a semester and multiplied it by ve classes. is equates to a 25% in-

crease needed (cumulatively considering all classes) per week for attendance.

Aer deliberation and consideration, MVHS administration collectively de-

termined that each 5% increase amounted to one school day based on a 5-day

school week, as is found in traditional schools. For example, if a student fails

to make 10% progress in a particular week, that student would be considered

absent for 2 days (Table 1, p. 12).

Aligning student progress toward course completion with a number of

days based on a predetermined expectation provides virtual schools a way to

calculate attendance. Although this formula may not work for other online

programs, the policy necessitates computing a specic amount of progress to

a “school day.” In doing so, existing attendance and truancy laws that do not

directly speak to online learning processes become applicable. Translating

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

and dening truancy vocabulary words (attendance, unexcused absence, ex-

cused absence, etc.) for the online environment in a way that county ocials

can easily interpret allowed MVHS to use and enforce existing compulsory

attendance statutes.

Academic Considerations

e dean also indicated that students who become truant because of academic

struggles will also be identied and will have academic interventions rather

than truancy interventions. Using progress as a measure allows MVHS to

monitor who is struggling academically as well as those students who are ab-

sent/truant. In either case, identifying students who are struggling to progress

is vital. e investigation into why a student is behind is part of the interven-

tion team’s responsibility to know how best to get students to meet their goals.

e majority of students who require truancy intervention need it because

they simply are not accessing the curriculum or because they are not spending

the time necessary to master the content in their coursework. ese students

need formal intervention designed to assist the school in getting them online

or registered back in a traditional classroom setting. Oen, these students

either have the ability but lack the motivation, or they are not able to self-regu-

late enough to complete their studies online.

Feasibility of Truancy Enforcement in Minnesota Virtual Schools

One of identied themes included truancy enforcement in the state of

Minnesota. is is a topic that the dean expounded on during her inter-

views with the researchers. In enforcing the truancy statutes, each of the 87

counties in Minnesota diers in its method and approach. Whereas some

counties place students on probation, others provide social services to assist

students in reestablishing acceptable attendance. Despite the variation, the

responsibility for the initial reporting of truant students falls on the schools.

Once students accrue seven unexcused absences or more, schools must le

truancy petitions in the students’ counties of residence. rough this ling,

schools, county representatives, and families of truant students become con-

nected in an eort to support improved attendance, interpreted in the online

setting as student progress and performance.

Minnesota Virtual High School’s enforcement procedures, including

the development of specic interventions, have continued to develop in

response to students’ needs. Initially, Chisago County ocials approached

Table 1. Example of Student Progress Conversion to Number of Absences

Week 1 Percentage of Work Completion Week 1 Days Absent/Potentially Truant

Student A 5% 4 days

Student B 10% 3 days

Student C 25% 0 days

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 13

Wolf Creek Online High School and asked why the school did not petition

truants to county intervention. In response to this inquiry, while employed

at Wolf Creek, the dean of students worked with the county attorney and the

administrative team to review the state statutes and develop a cyber-truancy

policy that would apply to the online environment.When she moved to the

position at MVHS, the dean of students, in collaboration with the direc-

tor, modied this policy to t the needs of the new school. In her current

role, the dean of students is responsible for implementing and enforcing the

cyber-truancy policy as well as the policy of attending all county meetings

and court hearings. She expounded on that process in one of her interviews:

In coordination with the director of the MVHS, I wrote the attendance

policy for MVHS. We used the Chisago (MN) County required atten-

dance elements as our foundation and referred to Wolf Creek Online

High School’s attendance policy for guidance. We then dened the vari-

ous terms (attendance, absence, etc.) based on how they apply to the stu-

dents at MVHS given the Internet-based learning environment found at

MVHS. We chose to use progress as our measurement of attendance rath-

er than amount of time spent online due to the fact that some students

take longer or less time than others to complete the same amount of work;

however, the expectation of the school is that students make progress to-

ward successful completion of their courses. (Int. 2, DS)

e dean explained that, at rst, parents/guardians can struggle with the con-

cept, but that she holds weekly parental webinars to walk through the tracking

spreadsheets, where the information comes from, and how students can achieve

the requirements, as well as to allow parents/guardians to ask questions, which

she reports has proven to be very helpful. In addition, she noted:

e rst line of intervention is always to attemptto have a parent meet-

ing one on one with a truancy intervention sta in order to address

specic issues.Truancy problems tend to be worse when parents/guard-

ians are not receptive to this process. Typically, those who do engage are

able to help resolve the issue without their students requiringtruancy

intervention.(Int. 3, DS)

To assist in the tracking process, an attendance coordinator was hired to

monitor student progress and send warning letters when necessary (see Ap-

pendix B, p. 26). e following September, the department grew with the ad-

dition of another attendance coordinator as well as two truancy intervention

program specialists, whose job it is to intercede before students become legally

truant. e intervention program specialists help students get back on track

to successful course completion by making additional phone calls to students,

assisting students in contacting teachers, and talking parents through the

structure and mechanics of the online platform. is is accomplished using a

tracking system to monitor student progress in the online environment so

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

that personnel are aware of potential issues with student attendance (Fig-

ure 2). Personnel attempt to intervene using communication as a primary

mechanism. MVHS anticipates an increase in course completion as well as

a decrease in truancy lings at the county level because of the addition of

these positions and procedures. e dean of students described more about

how attendance and truancy might be enforced in a virtual school setting

and what impact that enforcement may have:

Attendance and truancy can be enforced in the virtual school in the same

way that it is in a seat-based school. e main dierence is what is being

measured (progress vs. time in a seat). Similar consequences and inter-

ventions can be used in the online setting: parent/student/school meet-

ings, referrals to counties to intervene, and court attendance if the truancy

cannot be remedied. In Minnesota, students who do not attend school

for 15 consecutive days or more must be dropped from their schools’

enrollment. Enforcing cyber-truancy policies supports student engage-

ment, learning, and course completion. Students who do not attend are

not learning and jeopardize their graduation date. is is not an easy part

of the online school as it requires personnel and resources; however, its

positive impact makes it important. One of the most important impacts

is that students who are not doing well in the online environment can

be identied sooner and counseled to change their behavior or change

school settings. (Int. 2, DS)

Figure 2 is an example of a student’s Excel spreadsheet used at Minnesota

Virtual High School to track weekly, progress-based attendance. Each stu-

dent has a spreadsheet to track their individual attendance because there are

87 counties in Minnesota, and each county requires dierent information

when ling a truancy petition or requesting an intervention. e spread-

sheet includes all of the information required in the 87 counties.

e numbers in each of the columns next to the class names represent

the course grade the student has earned in that class as of the last date in

the week. To attain this information, sta members run a report and then

input the numbers. A sta member with knowledge of macros in Excel has

written a macro to make this possible without too much sta time. Prior to

this method, MVHS used to copy and paste the numbers into each student’s

spreadsheet.

e numbers in the bold boxes are the result of formulas used to deter-

mine the progress that a student has made over the week and his/her atten-

dance for the week. e “Total Percentage of All Classes to Date” designates

a cumulative sum of each week’s snapshot, which in turn calculates the

course grade in all classes. A formula conveniently does the calculations for

the school. e “Weekly Increase” section provides the dierence between

the current week and the week prior; this number should be 25 or higher if

a student is in full attendance for the week. And again, a formula does this

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 15

work for the school. “Days Absent Each Week” is a row that represents the

subtraction of the “Weekly Increase” divided by 5 from the number of days

in a week (5) and determines the number of days that a students has been

absent each week, which allows them to have negative absences and make

up work or work ahead in the system. And nally, the “Cumulative Absences

in Term” constitutes the total absences a student has had in the term. is

particular row is very important in Minnesota because when a student ac-

cumulates seven absences, he/she is considered truant and could be sum-

moned before a judge.

It is important to note that that this approach does not assume that time

must be spent online each day. In fact, it is based on the premise that ongo-

ing progress to complete course content/assignments needs to be made on

a regular (in this case, weekly) basis. e focus of this approach to online

attendance is to promote exibility, productivity, and accountability. While

the formulas that Minnesota Virtual High School uses are described, a simi-

lar concept could be applied to any virtual school to track the attendance of

students. e dean of students at MVHS has assisted other virtual programs

in developing a similar concept.

Despite these eorts to track students and aer the interventions, if a student

continues to accrue unexcused absences, MVHS les a truancy petition in the

student’s county of residence, provides documentation of the absences, and

makes appearances in court as required by the counties. e way that Minnesota

Figure 2. Example of M VHS attendance tracking .

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

counties execute their roles in the attendance and truancy statutes diers as

much as the landscape of Minnesota itself. Although the statutes provide guid-

ance to the counties, there is not a mandated course of action that they must

follow, and each county enforces in varying ways. From the dean’s perspective

and experiences in dealing with a myriad of counties on truancy enforcement,

some counties take a punitive approach while others take a preventative or

restorative approach and use punitive measures only as a last resort. e follow-

ing descriptions represent identied themes associated with various counties.

Punitive Approach

Counties that lean toward a punitive approach call students and families

directly into court without any county worker outreach prior to court. e

judges in these counties may give one chance for change in behavior, but

subsequently, a review hearing of 30 days may be set. At the review hear-

ing, the student’s school attendance is questioned. If the student has met the

attendance requirement, the judge may dismiss the case. If the student has

continued to be absent without excuse, the judge will sentence the student

to time at a “consequence camp,” resulting in community service or a ne. In

many circumstances, the judge will order the student to attend a traditional

school rather than the online school as a way to provide a more structured

environment with more typical rules in place. In these counties, MVHS

reports to the court about the student’s attendance (progress), and the court

determines the path for the student. From the dean’s perspective, this ap-

proach does not necessarily focus on the underlying problem and is more

reactive in nature. It penalizes students for not attending and associates a

consequence for their past actions. Although it might remove students from

online settings who are not a good t, it may not get at the root of what is

causing the cyber-truancy, which could lead to continued problems.

Preventative/Restorative Approach

Other counties take an approach that attempts to prevent further truancy or

involvement with the court. In these instances, a diversion worker—either a

social worker or probation ocer—will meet with the family, question the

cause of the truancies, and attempt to assist the family in complying with the

law. In these cases, the social worker connects the families with social ser-

vices, counseling, and other agencies to alleviate issues that may be underly-

ing causes of the student’s truancy. e diversion worker follows the family

closely and ensures that criteria for staying out of court are met. e school

and the diversion worker collaborate together in these cases to guide the

family to correct choices for attendance compliance. e goal of a preventive

approach is to identify the root cause and work to prevent cyber-truancy

from happening in the future. A more preventive approach accesses social

services to assist students and their families in solving existing problems as-

sociated with attendance.

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 17

e following section describes examples of individual cases that the

dean of students provided as a result of her direct interaction with indi-

vidual students who were truant and their cases within the court system. She

selected the proled students to illustrate the dierent approaches counties

take when it comes to cyber-truancy, in addition to the outcomes that might

result. She also chose them to illustrate the dierences that exist with indi-

vidual student situations.

Impact of Cyber-Truancy Enforcement: Individual Student Cases

Natasha1. Natasha, a 10th grade student, had truancy issues at her high school

throughout 9th and 10th grade. Attempting to avoid court proceedings, she

enrolled at Minnesota Virtual High School in the fall. Natasha found that

work and friends took priority over school. She became truant by MVHS’s

denition, which included not logging in to the online curriculum for days

and weeks at a time.According to the dean of students, while extreme, this is

not entirely uncommon in Minnesota. Many students who end up in court

because of a traditional truancy violation based on seat time will register for

an online school thinking that they will be able to avoid the judicial system.

Due to her issues with cyber-truancy, the attendance team at Minnesota

Virtual High School referred her to her county of residence. Natasha’s coun-

ty used a punitive approach. Typically, students who live in punitive counties

oen choose to return to traditional schools, as they ultimately learn that the

standard of attendance based on seat time is easier to follow than that of an

online school using a competency-based approach.

A social worker determined that, due to her history with truancy, Natasha

needed to go directly to court. When her family heard this, they chose to

re-enroll Natasha in her local, traditional school. e social worker assisted

the family in communicating with the district about an appropriate school

placement. When the student went to court, the judge issued stern words to

Natasha and required that she complete community service hours as well as

return for a review hearing in 60 days. e judge warned that Natasha could

be sentenced to time in juvenile detention if she missed even a single day of

school in those 60 days. Natasha returned to court, and her case was dis-

missed because she had followed all of the judge’s orders.

Allison. Allison, a seventh grade student, enrolled at Minnesota Virtual

High School while her parents went through a divorce. Allison lived with her

mother, who worked the rst shi and had to leave Allison at home during

the day. Her mother’s expectation was that Allison would do her schoolwork;

instead, Allison spent her time elsewhere. She became truant, and the at-

tendance team at MVHS notied her mother through letters and phone calls.

Because this did not resolve the issue, the attendance team referred Allison

1 Pseud onyms a re used to p rotect s tuden t identi ties.

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

to her county of residence for truancy. Allison’s county uses a preventative

approach, which allowed social services assign a social worker to identify the

issues leading to truancy, work with the school, and take steps to return Al-

lison to attendance without the need for punitive action. Despite this restor-

ative approach and intervention, Allison’s truancy continued, and the county

contemplated referring the student to court. In this case, the dean of students

at MVHS was able to intervene and provide Allison with very concrete in-

structions concerning her participation in the online setting, and she told her

that if she did not follow these directions, she would be dealing with the court

system in her county. Fortunately, Allison chose to follow the guidelines, and

because of this, she avoided court, stayed enrolled at the online school, and

became a successful student, earning A’s and B’s in her classes.

Marcus. Marcus, an11th gradestudent, enrolled at MVHS during the sec-

ond semester of the school year. Marcus was on probation for fraudulently

charging on his mother’s credit card, and as part of the probation order, he

was to attend school each and every day. In Marcus’ case, the countywas

punitive due to his prior illegal actions.However, they also allowedMarcus

to remain in the online school, hoping that the punitive approach would get

him toattend.To help him succeed, the school intervened by identifying the

barriers to attendance, working with Marcus to help him see that attendance

was in his best interest through conversations with the dean of students. e

truancy interventionist worked with Marcus tocomplete daily and weekly

checklists. As Marcus completed his assignments, he discovered that he

wasa successful student.By engaging more with the school and the curricu-

lum, his eorts were reinforced, which led him to see himself assuccessful

rather than as a failure. e truancy intervention sta built on this success

by having conversations with Marcus about his future, allowing him to con-

nect his current success with future dreams.

Within a few weeks, the probation oce from the student’s county of resi-

dence contacted the school to request weekly attendance records. Coincid-

ing with the request, Marcus had a bad week and did not attend at all.e

probation ocer reported the violation, and Marcus, his family, and a school

representative were required to attend a court hearing. As a result of the

hearing, Marcus was required to serve a weekend at the local consequence

camp, where he had to perform community service, attend group sessions

about behavior, and complete missed school work. is sequence of events

occurred again before Marcus realized that he could make positive changes

and healthy choices to avoid consequences. Soon, he began to realize that he

was good at school work. In a conversation with the dean of students, Mar-

cus shared that he would like to attend college someday and possibly become

a social worker. He recognized the amount of time and commitment on the

part of the probation ocer, and he wanted to be able to do that for others.

Due to the nature of his oense, Marcus will remain on probation for another

year, but he continues to stay on track and is keeping up with his coursework.

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 19

Discussion

In the case of MVHS, enforcing mandatory attendance required coming

together to establish a common understanding of what it meant to attend

in an online setting, including developing denitions of attendance, unex-

cused absences, and excused absences. Although this presented a challenge

at rst, it was decided that progress on instructional activities toward course

completion could be converted using an agreed-upon formula. Once this

was established, tracking and enforcing attendance became straightforward,

and MVHS was able to use a consistent interpretation of existing attendance

laws that were originally intended for use in traditional, brick-and-mortar

settings. is is important because it allowed the virtual school to implement

enforcement of chronic unexcused absences in addition to oering better

understanding of the benets of addressing cyber-truancy. Several themes

are evident from the current study, including the fact that ensuring student

success in K–12 online learning environments requires additional resources,

communication, and education for stakeholders.

Additional Resources

Although it may seem like a dicult task, enforcement of truancy statutes

is mandated by state law. MVHS has taken up this charge by committing

resources to follow through to monitor the individual progress of students,

keep track of absences, and enforce cyber-truancy. is takes dedicated sta

who are well versed in the curriculum, system tracking, and working with

families to address potential problems. MVHS decided to create several

positions, including two new attendance coordinators as well as two truancy

intervention program specialists, and dedicated an administrative role to

oversee the process. is investment in human resources has yielded positive

results in helping to keep students on track in the online environment. Other

students, for whom online education is not a good t, should be counseled

into more traditional settings. In fact, truancy courts have ordered students

to return to brick-and-mortar schools, as was the case with Natasha.

Due to signicant documented issues of student dropout and attrition rates

in addition to lack of achievement in online settings (Hawkins & Barbour,

2010; Miron & Urshel, 2012; Rice, 2006; Smith, Clark, & Blomeyer, 2005), vir-

tual schools need to take an active role in overseeing students’ progress, which

may require additional sta focused specically in this area. If progression is

not occurring, it is incumbent upon the virtual school to dedicate resources to

investigate the situation, determine what level of intervention should be made,

and evaluate the outcome. In some cases, this might include utilizing existing

state attendance and truancy laws to access social services.

Communication

With personnel in place who can monitor student progress, communication

becomes a vital component. MVHS has found that keeping track of student

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Volume 46 Number 1

Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

progress in the online environment allows for early intervention. At times,

this simply means notifying a parent/guardian (see Appendix B, p. 26). e

school must also make sure that parents understand what is required of

students, how MVHS is calculating absences, and what needs to be accom-

plished to avoid being considered absent. Although parents/guardians may

not understand the concept at rst because they are more familiar with the

traditional notion of seat time, communication through parental meetings,

webinars, and e-mails serve to explain how students can achieve the require-

ments. is communication is also important to acquaint parents/guardians

with the tracking mechanisms used to determine attendance in the online

setting so that they can help to ensure student progress. In addition, these

opportunities provide parents/guardians a chance to ask questions and

gain clarication. Communication becomes a critical factor in the online

environment when it comes to cyber-truancy. is encompasses convey-

ing expectations unique to the virtual setting, not only to students and their

family members, but also to members of the judicial system, including social

workers, probation ocers, and truancy judges.

Misconceptions Surrounding Online Education

Another implication from this study is that misconceptions about online

education continue to persist, and education is needed to council students,

families, and the court system on the appropriateness of online educa-

tion depending on a number of factors. ese might include predictors of

academic success in K–12 online education, including self-motivation, self-

regulation, the ability to structure one’s own learning, previous experience

with technology, a good attitude toward the content, and self-condence in

academic endeavors (Roblyer & Marshall, 2002–2003). Other considerations

may be the level of support oered at home and by the virtual school, as well

as the specic reasons students might be seeking their education online. Stu-

dents may assume that classes at MVHS are easier, but this is not the case.

Oen these students nd that an attendance standard based on progress is

more dicult to meet than one using seat time. Additional education and

accurate counseling is required to assure the right t and to seek a preven-

tive approach to attendance problems in the online environment.

Limitations

As with all research studies, the current investigation has limitations that need to

be acknowledged. First, the topic of cyber-truancy is one that has not been ex-

plored in the literature. Because of this, a review of related policies from virtual

schools on a national scale is not yet available. An understanding of how virtual

schools from the across the country are addressing or ignoring this issue is an

important topic for future research. Secondly, this study employs a qualitative,

case-study method to explore how one virtual school in Minnesota is dealing

with issues of attendance in the online environment. As a result, ndings are not

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 21

generalizable to the broader context of online schools. Although the approach

described has experienced success at MVHS, this may or may not be the case

in a dierent setting. Despite these drawbacks, the issue of cyber-truancy is a

signicant issue that needs to be examined further.

Conclusions

Monitoring, encouraging, and enforcing attendance are key responsibili-

ties of school personnel (Sheldon, 2007) to ensure that students are in fact

receiving instruction. However, without updated policy that pertains directly

to the online environment, virtual schools are le to interpret existing atten-

dance laws, many of which originated in the later part of the 19th century.

e concept of attendance in K–12 online education needs to be redesigned

to meet the needs of a growing number of online students. Until this can be

instituted, virtual schools would benet from establishing procedures for

enforcing existing truancy statutes. Because these laws dier among states,

it is essential that online schools investigate the statutes in their states and

construct an attendance policy that is understandable to all stakeholders,

including students and families, school personnel and administration, and

judicial system employees.

For online schools to assert and maintain a credible presence as a vi-

able form of schooling, they must adhere to the state and federal statutes

governing educational practices. In the same way that virtual schools are

mandated to comply with federal No Child Le Behind (2001) policy, they

must also be held accountable for state attendance and truancy statutes.

With the growth of online education across the nation, states have a duty to

write policies that dene and govern attendance and truancy in the online

environment. is may involve equating progress within a course to a given

number of school days until attendance laws can be revisited to include

language specic to online education.

At the same time, virtual schools would benet from establishing proce-

dures that enact cyber-truancy policies. is may include communicating

with students and parents about absences and truant behavior, interven-

ing for students in an eort to alleviate the causes of the truancy, and ling

truancy petitions when necessary. e purpose of doing so is to intervene

when a student may be struggling so that action can be taken and assistance

can be immediately provided where necessary. Without careful monitoring

and enforcement, students who are not visible in the online environment

run the risk of falling through the cracks. At a time when students—many of

whom are already at risk—have turned to online education as an alternative

to a traditional setting, schools must pay particular attention to attendance

as measured by performance. While the notion of cyber-truancy continues

to evolve, it must be addressed if K–12 online education is going to continue

to be a viable and realistic choice for 21st century students.

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Author Notes

Leanna Archambault is an assistant professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at

Arizona State University. Her research interests focus on teacher preparation and professional

development for online and blended classrooms; educational policies and practices in online

settings; and eective methods/modes of content delivery to help educators understand and teach

future generations about the key economic, environmental, and social challenges of our time.

Please address correspondence regarding this article to Leanna Archambault, P.O. Box 37100,

Mail Code 3151, Phoenix, AZ 85069. E-mail: leanna.archambault@asu.edu

Kathryn Kennedy is the knowledge manager/researcher for the International Association for

K–12 Online Learning (iNACOL). Her research interests focus onpreservice and inservice teach-

er, technology specialist, and school librarian professional development for technology integration

and instructional design in traditional, blended, and online learning environments.

Stacy Bender is the dean of students at Minnesota Virtual High School (a program of Minnesota

Transitions Charter Schools). Her research interests focus on student accountability and success,

online attendance policies and procedures, truancy laws nationwide, and how to engage parents

with online schools.

References

Archambault, L., & Crippen, K. (2009). Examining TPACK among K–12 online distance

educators in the United States. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education,

9(1). Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/vol9/iss1/general/article2.cfm

Baker, M. L., Sigmon, J. N., & Nugent, M. E. (2001). Truancy reduction: Keeping students in school.

Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Washington, DC: Oce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,

U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdles1/ojjdp/188947.pdf

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Appendix A

Minnesota Attendance Laws

These laws apply to all students, regardless of age, who are enrolled at any publicly

funded school in the state of Minnesota. Once students enroll at a publicly funded

school, they subject themselves to these laws.

Minnesota Statute 120A.22 (Compulsory Instruction)

•Deﬁnes students who are required to attend school.

•Allows for students aged 16 and 17 to withdraw from school with parent’s writ-

ten consent after student and parent attend a meeting with school personnel to

discuss education options.

•Allows for student aged 18 and older to withdraw from school on their own accord

•Allows schools to deﬁne excused versus unexcused absences.

Minnesota Statute 120A.30 (Attendance Ofﬁcers)

•School boards may authorize attendance ofﬁcers to investigate truancy or non-

attendance at school and enforce all laws and district rules regarding school

attendance.

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Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 25

•Attendance ofﬁcers must notify parents or guardians when students reach habitual

truancy or continued nonattendance of school.

•Attendance ofﬁcers must also report to county of residence any student who is

habitually truant.

•Appropriate intervention services should be provided.

Minnesota Statute 120A.34 (Violations; Penalties)

•Deﬁnes educational neglect (keeping a child from education).

•States that penalty of such is a petty misdemeanor.

Minnesota Statute 121A.40–121A.56 (Pupil Fair Dismissal Act)

•Deﬁnes exclusion, expulsion, suspension, and other reasons why students may be

kept from attending a particular school.

•Allows for readmission of a student given certain guidelines.

Minnesota Stat. 126C.05, Subd. 8 (Average Daily Membership)

•Deﬁnes how number of students on a daily basis are counted.

•States that students absent from school for 15 consecutive schools days during the

regular school year or for 5 consecutive school days during summer session shall

be dropped from the roll and classiﬁed as withdrawn.

•Compulsory attendance provisions cited in section 120A.22 still apply based on age.

•Allows for re-enrollment of students if space is available or if student resides in

district of school.

Truancy Laws

These laws apply to all students under the age of 18 years who attend any school—

including a homeschool—in the state of Minnesota. Because students must be

enrolled in some form of school environment after the age of 7, these laws apply to

all students aged 7 until their 18th birthday. Counties vary on their enforcement of

the truancy law because of parent/student ability to withdraw from school at age 16;

however, several counties pursue truancy until the day of the student’s 18th birthday.

Minnesota Statute 260A.02 (Deﬁnitions)

Deﬁnes continuing truant student as one who is absent without excuse for 3 or more

class periods on 3 days in middle school or high school.

Minnesota Statute 260A.03 (Notice to Parent or Guardian When Child is

Continuing Truant)

•Requires that the school notify the parent or guardian of the following:

•The student is truant

•The deﬁnitions of excused absences

•How to report those absences

•That parents are obligated to compel attendance of the child

•That the parent and child could be subject to juvenile or family court proceedings

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Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

•Requires that the school attempt to intervene and make appropriate efforts to

resolve the student’s attendance problems.

Minnesota Statute 260C.007, Subd. 19 (Habitual Truant Deﬁned)

•Deﬁned habitual truant student as one who is absent without excuse for one or more

class period on 7 school days if the student is in middle school or high school.

•Places habitual truancy under the prevue of county attorneys as a Child in Need of

Protection matter.

•Requires that the school attempt to intervene and make appropriate efforts to

resolve the student’s attendance problems.

Minnesota Statute 260C.143 (Procedure; Habitual Truants, Runaways, Offenders)

•Attendance ofﬁcers report habitual truants to the county of residence and follow

their procedures.

•County of residence may ﬁle notice that habitual truants must appear before a judge.

•Parents are notiﬁed in every case and required to appear with habitual truant in court.

•Peace ofﬁcers may transport habitual truant to court or to school as needed.

•Child’s absence from school presumed to be due to parent’s failure to comply with

laws if the child is under 12 years old.

•Child’s absence from school presumed to be due to the child’s intent to be absent

from school if the child is older than 12.

Appendix B

Sample Communication Letter to Parents—5 Days Unexcused Absence

Dear Parent or Guardian of _________________,

We are concerned about your student’s lack of progress in our school. How can we help?

Expectations of successful students at MN Virtual High School are outlined below:

•Students consistently log 20–25 hours/week of documented learning on the

computer.

•Students make adequate weekly progress (25% or more overall completion per

week).

•Students communicate questions, computer problems, and school struggles with

the school immediately so as to be able to make adequate weekly progress.

•Students attend all required testing days as per school policy.

Your student has been absent without excuse for at least 5 consecutive days. State

law requires that students who do not attend school for 15 consecutive days must be

removed from the school’s enrollment.

In addition, your child is considered to be a continuing truant according to Min-

nesota law. Depending on your county of residence, your student may be referred to

the county attorney’s ofﬁce. If that occurs and you receive notiﬁcation from the county

Volume 46 Number 1

Journal of Research on Technology in Education | 27

attorney’s ofﬁce, you and your student must comply with all requests and orders

from that ofﬁce. The point of all interaction with the school and with the county is to

impress upon the student the importance of school attendance and work completion

as well as what the school requires of your student in order to avoid further truancy

interventions by the school or by your county of residence. In order to resolve this mat-

ter, your student’s school attendance (logging in and completing work) must improve

immediately.

If you have reason to believe that these absences should be considered excused

absences, please obtain proper veriﬁcation (doctor’s note, funeral information, etc.)

and provide that documentation within 3 days of the absence. Please note that the

curriculum is available to students 24 hours each day, 7 days each week. Therefore,

excused absences are granted in extreme circumstances. Please email the attendance

email: mvhsattendance@emailmtcs.org.

If your student continues to meet the criteria for unexcused absences and accrues

7 or more days of unexcused absences, your student will be considered a habitual

truant, and the school may ﬁle a truancy petition on your student in accordance with

the procedures within your county of residence.

Minnesota state law requires every child under the age of 18 to attend school

each day. Children 16 and 17 years old must have parental permission and formally

withdraw from school to discontinue attendance. We are mandated by law to refer tru-

ant students to the County’s Attorney Ofﬁce, but we would very much like to see your

student’s attendance improve before county intervention. Please refer to the student

attendance policy if you have further questions.

If your student’s case does get referred to the County Attorney’s Ofﬁce and your

student is found to be truant, the court will make orders so that your child goes back to

school and is no longer truant. While every county in Minnesota differs in its approach to

truancy, they all take truancy seriously. The court can order that your child be assigned

a probation ofﬁcer or the court may order the county’s social services agency to provide

service to your student. In addition, the court can order community service work hours

and has the authority to take away a student’s driver’s license or learner’s permit.

Minnesota law states:

CHAPTER 260A

260A.03 Notice to Parent and/or Guardian When Child is a Continuing Truant

Upon a child’s initial classiﬁcation as a “continuing truant,” the school attendance ofﬁcer

or other designated school ofﬁcial will notify the child’s parent or legal guardian, by ﬁrst

class mail or other reasonable means, of the following:

•That the child is truant

•That the parent or guardian should notify the school if there is a valid excuse for

the child’s absence

•That the parent or guardian is obligated to compel the attendance of the child at

school pursuant to Section 120A.22, and parents or guardians who fail to meet

this obligation may be subject to prosecution under Section 120A.34

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Volume 46 Number 1

Archambault, Kennedy, & Bender

•That this notiﬁcation serves as the notiﬁcation required by section 120A.34

•That alternative programs and services may be available in the district

•That the parent or guardian has the right to meet with the appropriate school

personnel to discuss solutions to the child’s truancy

•That if the child continues to be truant, the parent and child may be subject to

juvenile court proceedings under Chapter 260C

•That if the child is subject to juvenile court proceedings, the child may be subject to

suspension, restriction, or delay of the child’s driving privilege pursuant to Section

260C.201, education programs, and, in extreme cases, out of home placement

Sincerely,

Dean of Students

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Effects of virtual learning environments: A scoping review of literature

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Apr 2022
Educ Inform Tech

The purpose of this scoping review is to isolate and investigate the existing data and research that identifies if the synchronous face-to-face visual presence of a teacher in a virtual learning environment (VLE) is a significant factor in a student’s ability to maintain good mental health. While the present research on this explicit interaction among VLE implementation and student mental health is limited, the material suggests a framework for strong utilization of VLEs. Overall, our research has shown that authentic, high quality VLEs are ones that have as their primary focus the communication between students and their teachers and between students and their peers. This communication is best generated through synchronous connections where there exists the ability to convey the student’s immediate needs in real-time. Our research results and discussion will outline how a team approach that brings together teachers, students, administration, counsellors, mental health support staff, instructional designers, and ICT specialists is necessary to create a genuinely enriching VLE where both learning and social-emotional needs can be met. The authors present a case for further study in order to reveal the nature of the interaction among VLEs and student mental health.

Chinese EFL Teachers' Strategies to Encourage Parental Involvement in Emergency Remote Learning

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Jan 2023

Dongni Guo

Teachers’ Perceptıons of Their Technological Competence in Learning and Teaching Process

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Oct 2021

This study determines Turkish in-service teachers’ perceptions of their technological competence in learning and teaching process. In the study, case study method was employed. The participants of the study consisted of 23 in-service teachers working in Turkey during 2019-2020 academic year. The questionnaire technique was used in obtaining the data. For this purpose, six open-ended questions were prepared. In the analysis of the data, content analysis was employed. The findings of the study showed that most of the teachers use technology in preparing the course content and presenting it to the students, for in-class and out-of class activities. It was also obtained that most of the teachers feel inadequate in using technology in education. Lastly, teachers indicated that online systems used during pandemic process enabled the continuity of education, provided opportunity for teachers to improve themselves, increased family support and provided flexibility.

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Dec 2022

The study explored the priorities and intentions of working students who manage the challenging roles of being a student and a worker. This qualitative study used a descriptive phenomenological design. Five (5) working students from a state university volunteered to be the informants of the study and were selected through the snowball sampling technique. Data collected were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's six-step thematic analysis resulting in five themes. Results showed that 93 The Normal Lights Volume 16, No. 2 (2022) working while studying was perceived to be challenging yet financially helpful. Students faced time constraints with school tasks, leading to poor grades. Hence, working students tended to have difficulty managing both roles, and the pandemic forced them to work that negatively impacted their academic performance. The study suggested that universities provide more flexibility for working students with options to adjust study loads for working students.

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Dec 2022

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Class attendance is an important predictor of academic success, but students encounter behavioral barriers preventing them from attending. In this experimental study, we investigated a commitment intervention to improve online attendance among university students (n = 973) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the experimental condition, we asked students to commit to attending all classes and divided this group into students who made the commitment and those who did not commit. The data was analyzed from a psychological perspective (the effect on the individuals who responded positively to the commitment request) and a policy perspective (the effect for all individuals that received the request). No intervention effect was found when comparing students’ attendance in the experimental condition to the control condition, but students who made the commitment attended class more often than non-committing students and those in the control condition. Exploratory analyses revealed that the intervention effect was found in the course with lower attendance, indicating that a ceiling effect possibly prevented the intervention from showing results regarding attendance. However, exploratory analyses also revealed selection bias as a possible explanation for the effects. Additionally, the intervention backfired for non-committing students, reducing their attendance. Future research should focus on different strategies to improve online attendance.

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With the large increase in online instruction, including remote instruction with online materials during the COVID-19 pandemic , there also was an increase in the use of instructional materials that were made to be displayed online or were digitized for online use. However, teachers have not had access to guidance about how to select and evaluate online instructional materials for classroom use. The lack of guidance has the potential to harm historically excluded populations of students and could frustrate teachers as they learn to teach with digital materials. The purpose of this paper is to share the 4A Framework for evaluating online instructional materials. The framework is organized around the premise that quality online instructional materials are accessible, promote active engagement, advocate for inclusion, and are accountable for their relationships to standards and data privacy. Each feature is discussed and examples of teacher work in applying the framework are shared.

The Perspectives of the Academic Staff and Students of the American University of Madaba (AUM) on Cyber-Truancy during Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Solutions

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Objectives: This paper examines the perspectives of academic staff and students at the American University of Madaba (AUM) on cyber-truancy during the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing challenges and proposing solutions to enhance student engagement in online learning. Methods: Case-study methodology requires detailed investigation of a situation. To attain the required information, two methods of data collection were utilized, namely, a structured (Likert scale) questionnaire and an interview distributed to a representative sample of AUM’s academic staff and students. The data was analyzed by using SPSS. Results: The study found the following results. First, all respondents show a high level of awareness of the cyber-truancy. Second, technological and behavioral factors contribute to increasing truancy rates among students. Third, the novelty of the experience as well as enforcing strict policies are crucial challenges that hinder online learning. Conclusions: The paper concludes with suggested solutions, which include enforcing strict policies to curb cyber-truancy, enhancing parental control, and spreading awareness among students regarding the detrimental effects of cyber-truancy.

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Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a style of academically effective learning in which students must set goals and develop strategies before beginning to learn. Learners must monitor and regulate their cognition, motivation, and conduct, as well as reflect on their learning process, under this pandemic environment. Online learning is catalyzing a pedagogical shift in how we teach and learn. There is a shift away from top-down lectures and passive learners to a more participatory, collaborative approach in which students and teachers co-create the learning process. Instructors should use the right method to ensure that their students can benefit from the online learning environment. In this study, we acquired, summarized, and analyzed 45 publications published between 2012 and 2021 on diverse subjects relevant to SRL, with a focus on SRL techniques and problems in an online learning context. In order to provide a thorough study, this review incorporates many models, phases, and a few extra SRL-related subjects.

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J Res Int Educ

The closure of school buildings due to COVID-19 and the resulting rapid transition to online education dramatically altered the lives of educators, students and parents. While previous literature demonstrates the vital role of parents in effective online education (Hattie, 2020; Liu et al, 2010), pre-pandemic literature focuses on parents and students who have opted in to online education. As such, the outbreak of COVID-19 has presented new challenges for understanding the relationship between parents and their child/ren's online learning. Since the start of the pandemic, studies have emerged exploring parental experience adjusting to their child/ren's online remote learning (Bhamani et al, 2020; Brom et al, 2020; Dong et al, 2020; Garbe et al, 2020; Lee et al, 2021). However, less is known about the online learning experiences during COVID-19 of families with children enrolled within international schools. Accordingly, the present study draws upon insights from 44 parents of children attending international schools who took part in 22 focus groups, across three countries and in three languages. The study investigates the parental experience with online education and unpacks four themes that emerged from the data: challenges faced by parents, parental perception of their child/ren’s wellbeing, impressions of the learning quality and parental suggestions for consideration by school leadership. With these findings, school leaders have a unique opportunity to leverage lessons learned and support parental growth so that families, educators and students may all contribute to the promise of a brighter educational future.

A comprehensive look at distance education in the K–12 context

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2006

Kerry Rice

A Case for the Case Study.

Article

Full-text available

Sep 1992

Since the end of World War II, social science research has become increasingly quantitative in nature. A Case for the Case Study provides a rationale for an alternative to quantitative reserach: the close investigation of single instances of social phenomena. The first section of the book contains an overview of the central methodological issues involved in the use of the case study method. Then, well-known scholars describe how they undertook case study research in order to undersand changes in church involvement, city life, gender roles, white-collar crimes, family structure, homelessness, and other types of social experience. Each contributor contronts several key questions: What does the case study tell us that other approaches cannot? To what extent can one generalize from the study of a single case or of a highly limited set of cases? Does case study work provide the basis for postulating broad principles of social structure and behavior? The answers vary, but the consensus is that the opportunity to examine certain kinds of social phenomena in depth enables social scientists to advance greatly our empirical understanding of social life. The contributors are Leon Anderson, Howard M. Bahr, Theodore Caplow, Joe R. Feagin, Gilbert Geis, Gerald Handel, Anthonly M. Orum, Andree F. Sjoberg, Gideon Sjoberg, David A. Snow, Ted R. Vaughan, R. Stephen Warner, Christine L. Williams, and Norma Williams.

A Synthesis of New Research on K-12 Online Learning

Technical Report

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Jan 2005

Public k-12 education as an industrial process: The school as a factory

Article

Mar 2010

In this paper we argue that public education in the United States is essentially an industrial process organized to produce a finished product. Rising government spending on public education, and the lack of an established rubric to evaluate school performance or accountability deems our analysis relevant and timely. Viewing education as an industrial process will allow policy-makers to obtain more accurate measures of costs and develop appropriate funding mechanisms. Furthermore, regulators may use managerial accounting concepts, particularly activity based costing, to establish future school performance evaluation rubrics.

Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research

Article

Jan 2012

Qualitative research and evaluation methods. London: Sage Publications

Article

Jan 2001

M.Q. Patton

Competing paradigms in qualitative research

Article

Jan 1994

Research on school attendance and student achievement: A study of Ohio schools

Article

Jan 2004

D.E. Roby

Predicting Success of Virtual High School Students

Article

Dec 2002

Results are reported on a preliminary use of the Educational Success Prediction Instrument (ESPRI), a measure designed to discriminate between successful and unsuccessful students in virtual high school (VHS) courses and provide a basis for counseling and support for future VHS students to make them more effective online learners. When used with 135 students in 13 virtual high schools, the instrument was found to discriminate with high accuracy and reliability between groups of successful and unsuccessful students. Suggestions are given for how ESPRI results might be used to help VHS students, and recommendations are discussed for further research in this area.

Absenteeism and Truancy: Risk, Protection, and Best Practice Implications for School Social Workers

Article

Apr 2004

Martell Teasley

The author discusses the context in which absenteeism and truancy occur through an analysis of risk and protective mechanisms and suggests best practice methods based on a review of literature and research on several successful absenteeism and truancy prevention and reduction programs. The author suggests ways that school social workers can participate in truancy prevention and reduction projects through collaborative efforts with other school professionals, community organizations, social services agencies, parents, and school children.

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