Mentorship As An Intervention For Chronically Absent Ninth Graders At An Urban High School: An Action Research Study

This action research study explored the use of mentorship as an intervention to improve the attendance chronically absent ninth grade students at an urban high school. Chronic absenteeism is a phenomenon with multiple compounding negative impacts on students. Moreover, it is a complicated problem with multiple contributing factors and potential root causes. Considering the complexity of the issue, this study used a modified version of Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model of Human Development to identify areas where schools can leverage their influence to solve problems of practice. This action research study employed a mixed methods approach to explore any changes in student engagement, perception of school and attendance importance, attendance behavior, or grades after participating in the intervention. While some research suggests mentorship as a positive intervention for chronically absent students (Allensworth & Easton, 2007; Balfanz & Byrnes, 2013, 2018; Balfanz et al., 2007; DeSocio et al., 2007; Guryan et al., 2017; May et al., 2021), this body of research is not extensive and often does not address the participants involved in this study. Although this study was delimited by both sample size and time, the results show a statistically significant decrease in participant absenteeism. The findings suggest that interventions that target students with a history of chronic absenteeism, and interventions involving mentorship, especially when a school-family relationship is established, hold promise for further decreasing chronic absenteeism. Further study replication for larger samples and longer periods of time in other contexts could help to confirm the presented findings.