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A novel intervention framework operating at the nexus of middle school, traumatic stress, and missing voices to mitigate disparate rates of chronic absenteeism: together, we got this!
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A novel intervention framework operating at the nexus of middle school, traumatic stress, and missing voices to mitigate disparate rates of chronic absenteeism: together, we got this!
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1
A Novel Intervention Framework Operating at the Nexus of Middle School, Traumatic Stress,
and Missing Voices to Mitigate Disparate Rates of Chronic Absenteeism:
Together, We Got This!
Sonya Therese Berle
University of Southern California
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Dr. Michael Rank
August 2024
© 2024 Sonya Berle
2
Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................7
Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................8
Acknowledgements Continued ............................................................................................................9
Positionality Statement.......................................................................................................................10
Problem of Practice and Literature Review .......................................................................................11
Problem of Practice ........................................................................................................................12
Grand Challenge of Eliminating Racism and its Relationship to Chronic Absenteeism ...............13
Pandemic Exacerbations ............................................................................................................15
Mental Health: Critical for Understanding the Problem and Solution Landscape.........................16
Mental Health Relating to Deprivation of Basic Needs.............................................................18
Discretionary Funding Gap: Flexibility and Empowerment ..........................................................19
Conceptual/Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................21
Trauma Informed Care (TIC) Framework......................................................................................23
Second Window of Opportunity.....................................................................................................24
Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) ........................................................24
Methodology ......................................................................................................................................25
Design Team...................................................................................................................................26
Design Justice Principles................................................................................................................26
Market Analysis..............................................................................................................................28
“What Is” Design Stage and Tool Use ...........................................................................................29
Approach to Initial “What Is” Tools and Interviews..................................................................29
Design Thinking: What if Stage Gaps............................................................................................30
Design Thinking What Wows and a Low-Fidelity Prototype ........................................................31
Design Thinking: What Works.......................................................................................................32
Project Description.............................................................................................................................32
Builds Upon Relevant Models and Initiatives................................................................................33
Prototype Description.....................................................................................................................33
Grand Challenges Addressed .........................................................................................................34
Design Criteria ...............................................................................................................................35
3
Theory of Change (ToC) and Solution Goals.................................................................................36
How It Works .............................................................................................................................37
Revised Logic Model .....................................................................................................................37
Likelihood of Success ....................................................................................................................39
Implementation Plan ..........................................................................................................................40
Context and Existing Collaborators ...............................................................................................40
Described Implementation .............................................................................................................41
Engaging Stakeholders and Users Throughout ..............................................................................42
Fund Development Plan .................................................................................................................43
Marketing and Brand Plan..............................................................................................................43
Evaluation Plan ..................................................................................................................................44
Measuring Social Change/Impact ..................................................................................................44
Data Collection Plan.......................................................................................................................45
Formative and Summative Evaluation ...........................................................................................46
Communication Plan for reporting results/impact .........................................................................47
Challenges/Limitations...................................................................................................................47
Conclusion and Implications..............................................................................................................48
References..........................................................................................................................................51
Appendix A ........................................................................................................................................79
The Buckets........................................................................................................................................79
Appendix B ........................................................................................................................................91
Brief Analysis of Existing In-School Climate Solutions to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism: IPS MS
Experiences Shared ............................................................................................................................91
APPENDIX C ..................................................................................................................................102
Disparate Punishment Rates.............................................................................................................102
Appendix D ......................................................................................................................................103
History and Evolution of CA and Racism........................................................................................103
Appendix E Timeline .......................................................................................................................105
Appendix F Indiana School Finance Profile ....................................................................................106
Appendix F Continued .....................................................................................................................107
Appendix G ......................................................................................................................................108
TIC Visual & Intersecting MS..........................................................................................................108
4
Appendix H ......................................................................................................................................109
Second Window of Opportunity Visual............................................................................................109
Appendix I........................................................................................................................................110
Community-Based Participatory Action Research Approach..............................................................110
Appendix J........................................................................................................................................ 111
Innovation Framework for Preventing and Intervention: Let’s Go!..................................................... 111
Appendix K ......................................................................................................................................112
Appendix Initial Interviewees Identity Coding Sample ......................................................................112
Appendix L.......................................................................................................................................113
Middle School Feedback and Recommendations...............................................................................113
Appendix L Continued .....................................................................................................................114
Appendix L Continued .....................................................................................................................115
Appendix M......................................................................................................................................116
Design Thinking What Is: Stage One Keywords .............................................................................116
Appendix N ......................................................................................................................................117
Initial Information Gathering Plan for the Problem Space ..............................................................117
Appendix N Continued.....................................................................................................................118
Appendix O ......................................................................................................................................119
Brainstorming Problem of Practice ..................................................................................................119
Appendix P Teacher Survey Visual ..................................................................................................120
Appendix Q ......................................................................................................................................121
Why Youth and Families Report Missing School ............................................................................121
Appendix R ......................................................................................................................................122
Storyboard and low fidelity explanatory prototype for innovative framework ....................................122
Appendix S.......................................................................................................................................123
Iterated N=98 with 50% Response Rate & 46% Provided Reason..................................................123
Texting Template for Caregiver Outreach........................................................................................123
Appendix T.......................................................................................................................................124
Stakeholder Mapping .......................................................................................................................124
Appendix U ......................................................................................................................................125
Brainstorming and Initial Outreach Plans Partially Completed ...........................................................125
5
Appendix V ......................................................................................................................................126
501c3 Approval ................................................................................................................................126
Appendix W .....................................................................................................................................127
Literacy Study via Ahmad Kersey, LSC ..........................................................................................127
Appendix X ......................................................................................................................................128
Design Criteria .................................................................................................................................128
Appendix Y ......................................................................................................................................131
Flow chart for Phase I and School Cooperation...............................................................................131
Appendix Z.......................................................................................................................................132
Original Logic Model.......................................................................................................................132
Appendix Z Continued .....................................................................................................................133
Revised Logic Model .......................................................................................................................133
Appendix AA....................................................................................................................................134
Equity in Tool Creation ....................................................................................................................134
Appendix BB....................................................................................................................................135
Implementation Plan ........................................................................................................................135
Appendix CC....................................................................................................................................138
Budget ..............................................................................................................................................138
Appendix DD ...................................................................................................................................139
Gannt Chart ......................................................................................................................................139
Appendix EE ....................................................................................................................................140
Excerpt from Grant Proposal............................................................................................................140
Appendix FF.....................................................................................................................................141
Partnership Flow Chart.....................................................................................................................141
Appendix FF Continued ...................................................................................................................142
Cathedral-IPS MS Partnership -Active-Updates to be made ...........................................................142
Appendix GG ...................................................................................................................................144
Marketing Promotional Items...........................................................................................................144
Appendix HH ...................................................................................................................................145
Original Website Framework ...........................................................................................................145
Appendix II ......................................................................................................................................146
6
Early Tool Exploration: Assessment Tools for Together, We Got This!...........................................146
Appendix II ......................................................................................................................................147
Perceived Wellness Survey...............................................................................................................147
Appendix II ......................................................................................................................................148
CANS Family Stress Domain ..........................................................................................................148
Appendix II ......................................................................................................................................149
PHQ-9...............................................................................................................................................149
Appendix II ......................................................................................................................................150
Severity Measure GAD ....................................................................................................................150
7
Abstract
Chronic absenteeism (CA) disparately affects Black youth. While CA is not new, and affects
students of all ethnicities and races, pandemic exacerbations highlight the crisis. CA is the problem of
practice yet is only an indicator of other unmet needs. Current literature and practice seem to reveal
middle school (MS) is mostly understudied or umbrellaed in PK-12, ignoring biopsychosocialemotional and physiological sensitivities and resiliencies of this developmental stage. The stage is
critical as CA and dropout rates spike in high school. Mental health is now a national crisis, as factors
of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) poverty, racism, plus COVID-19 grief, loss and disruption
converge. Surveyed MS youth report anxiety, stress, and feelings of overwhelm decrease their ability
to focus on school learning. The inclusion of MS voices in exploring problem and solution spaces is
not universalized; youth report feeling unheard. Or, if a need is expressed, conventional funding lanes
cannot address it. Teachers are experiencing burnout due to feeling helpless. Using CBPAR approach
and ethnographic study, data was collected from 338 local stakeholders, users, and beneficiaries from
December 2022 to June 2024 via self-reports, structured and unstructured in-person interviews, Zoom
meetings and anonymous qualitative and quantitative surveys. National and international expert
interviews were also conducted. Iterating occurred at an IPS MS. The research culminates in a new
framework operating at the nexus of Trauma Informed Care (TIC), the Second Window of
Opportunity Theory, and CBPAR to shift onus off youth, provide a thinking and intervention template
for equitable access to holistic, evidence-based, home-centric, beneficiary-requested resources to
reduce CA and improve social determinants of health outcomes for youth and family.
Keywords: social determinants of health, Title I, traumatic stressors, systemic oppression, racism,
chronic absenteeism, trauma-informed care, trauma-informed design, community-based participatory
action research, second window of opportunity, Covid-19 pandemic, Indianapolis Public Schools,
Mckinney-Vento, homelessness, Black families, middle school, Weathering, Intersectionality
8
Acknowledgments
Dr. Michael Rank, Committee Chair and expert in traumatic stress, thank you for your
unwavering availability, insight, consistency and levity. Dr. Alice Trent, Director of DEI with CHN,
my gratitude runs unspeakably deep for the precious time spent and the constructive lens provided.
Dr. Laura Schneider, innovator and driving force behind reducing CA, the press celebrated your
work as do I; thank you! To Erica Muhlenkamp, LCSW, LCAC & IPS CHN SB Team Leader,
you’re my reframing hero! Thank you, Dr. Bottley, for your ongoing care and partnership. To
Ahmad Kersey, LSC at CHN; thank you for always sharing your truth and time. Dr. Alyssa
Rheingold, Ph.D. and Meg Wallace, MSW, LISW, from MUSC NCVR&TC, you are always in my
thanks. Dr. Brittany Bryant and Dr. Altheria Caldera, I am blessed our paths cross. Dr. Roger
Sherman and Dr. Allah-Fard Sharrieff at Simmons University, SW, you inspire me daily. Dr. Cornel
Reinhardt of Skidmore College, your dedication was unwavering, Dr. Elitza Ranova, MUIH
professor, Linda Guzman, LCDP, and Ann Achille, LMHC, LCDP of Care New England, I treasure
our time together and your expertise. Dr. Eric Rice and Professor Richard Newmyer, USC SW, you
catalyzed astounding cross-disciplinary assimilating thoughts in me; thank you. Dr. David Williams,
Harvard University, your time spent with me is treasured, honored, and invaluable. To the late Julia
Child, thank you for letting me sit on your kitchen countertops, editorial photographer Artemis
Papageraki for capturing beauty I did not see, and to Mr. Giorgio Armani, thank you for letting me
walk your runways; all touch points were needed more than you know. Ms. Deanna Collins, Dr. Ana
Arias-Pandey, Ms. Millibeth Currie, Mrs. Carolyn Filak-Royan, Ms. Racquel Chevremont, Dr.
Tamatha Psenka, Ms. Jessica Coleman, and Ms. Emily Abedon: thank you for long-standing
friendship and for having my back. To my sisters and brother-in-law Bea, Mary, and Dolf, and to
my brother Bill and my favorite cousins-Debbie Peltier, Doug Gray, and George Gray (and families)
and guidepost Ms. Catherine Lanigan…#Family! To my late father-in-law Peter Berle, thank you
9
Acknowledgements Continued
for always accepting me and to my mother-in-law, Lila W. Berle, thank you for your steadfastness,
wisdom, and mothering compliments: they mean the world to me. I love you both. To my late
relatives, Foleys, Warrens, and Lanigans, and to the late Mr. Tom Foley, Mr. Arthur Foley and Tink
(Ford) Foley, Mr. Cornelius Dwyer, Mrs. Miriam Warren and William Foley, your love and greatergood thinking are held in my soul. To my late “other mother,” Betty J. Mancuso, I know you are
proud, and to my late mom, Mairin, I love you. Dr. William Foley (Col. Ret.), you are the driving
force of values behind this doctorate, my role model, and the person who made me believe I could
do anything; I love you, Dad. My best friend Bob- after three weeks, we said, “I do,” and yes
indeed, it's “Written in the Wind,” best friend. To our children: Adeline-a steadfast family rock and
driven professional, Augustus-an intelligent and selfless helper, Beatrice-a loving and competent
force; Lila-our Lila B. and first love, Oliver-a profoundly wise and focused teen, Miles-our
inspiration and passion, and Miriam-our engaging and endearing facilitator; thank you for accepting
me wholeheartedly, trusting in the parenting journey, and always knowing my streams of
consciousness, transparency, leadership, and vulnerability to a fault are teamwork and friendshipbased. Thank YOU for this doctorate. Trust me; it is yours too!
10
Positionality Statement
As a white cisgender woman, I feel honored and uncomfortable sitting in the space of race
differences and human sameness. As a peer stated, “Look you have to understand that a White male
and a White female are at the table to say “no” or even to kill you. Think about the police. Now,
you’re a white female, not male, but please understand whenever someone needs help from a teacher
for their child or social services, does that Black person have to depend on? A white lady. So, you are
the gatekeeper, and if it didn’t happen to me firsthand, you bet it’s happened to my family, my mom,
or my grandma. This is generations, Sonya (Interview with Clinician, personal communication, June
18, 2023). I earnestly believed I understood racism and systemic oppression before a Black
birthmother selected, blessed, and honored us with the privilege of adoption. Our son’s life
profoundly changed mine for the best; I realized how naïve I was. As a parent of seven children (one
with Black skin and six with white), I cannot unsee the different experiences encountered. Why are
my white boys perceived as driven at school, yet my Black boy is perceived as stubborn? Equally, I
know the capabilities of all of my Black patients and families; none deserve the disparate treatment,
dearth of resources, and incessant daily toxic stressors.
I also hold my own severe childhood traumas, barely survived middle school myself and
traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to heal wounds, literally and figuratively. I am aware my skin
color provided me with opportunities disproportionately available in my industry at that time. I am
here to continue walking and sitting in uncomfortable spaces asking us to open our minds to
automatic thoughts (APA, 2018) and systemic oppression effects. I am here to say racism will not
happen on my time. I will always be stepping up. That is why I am here. My work with middle school
youth and families occurs in Charleston, SC, Providence, RI, and Indianapolis, IN. I am hopeful this
culmination of my life’s work, to date, can empower some and allow others contemplation while
providing tools to partner and move forward together. Together, We Got This!
11
Problem of Practice and Literature Review
The problem of practice is chronic absenteeism (CA) and the disparate absenteeism rates for
Black school-aged students compared to white students. The grade-level focus is middle school
(MS) as the cognitive, socio-emotional, and physiological developmental changes during these
educational years intersect acutely with youth-reported increased awareness of traumatic exposures
and toxic stress, including poverty, racism, and systemic oppression events that affect wellness and
their school attendance. The literature supports youth reports. Immediately after MS, chronic
absenteeism and school dropout rates spike. Below begins the CA discussion, its intersection with
racism, and the subsequent pandemic exacerbations.
In summation, pre and post-pandemic disparate rates of traumatic stressors existed, a lack of
pre-existing, traditional funding lanes for what the community requests has not been available,
inequitably disseminated knowledge and access to holistic wellness to mitigate stressors exists, and
the myriads of non-intervened family-reported home-based needs that lead to CA before a student
enters the building are omnipresent. However, historically, the home environment has not been
addressed for intervention. This discussion defines the problem of practice, its exacerbation, and the
importance of understanding the intersection of mental health. Lastly, the historical problem of
funding lanes not being created using a CBPAR approach perpetuates CA. Families and school
admin state that even if a family tells a school why the youth is absent, there are no methods to help
with their barrier. Appendix A contains the buckets of home-centric interventions learned via the
ToC approach and a summarized literature review. Appendix B contains further literature reviews
of in-school interventions that intersect with IPS family reports of reasons for CA, school culture,
and belongingness. While the concept of intersectionality is not new (Crenshaw, 1989), its
application to CA exacerbation-based realities of racism effects that are unique to the human
development stage of middle schoolers and systemic barriers to intervention might be novel. Dr.
12
Geronimus Weathering explains the process and this researcher sees MS growing tired already
(Davies, 2023; Geronimus, 1992; Geronimus et al., 2006).
Problem of Practice
CA is defined as a student missing 18 days of the 180 mandated days per year (10%), including
all absences from unexcused to suspension and excused days (Reports, 2023). See Appendix C for the
infraction, disparity of suspension, and expulsion rate findings. To clarify, individual student
absenteeism is measured differently from Average Daily Attendance (ADA), which aggregates data and
masks individual attendance rates (Reports, 2023). “Research suggests the reasons for chronic
absenteeism are as varied as the challenges our students and families face-including poor health, limited
transportation, and a lack of safety-which can be particularly acute in disadvantaged communities and
areas of poverty (U.S. Department of Education, 2019, p.7).” Also, Hedy Chang’s research quickly
connected early CA rates to high school dropout rates (Chang & Romero, 2008). Furthermore,
“Patterns of CA reflect common equity issues, “Students who come from low-income families, students
of color, students with disabilities and students involved in the juvenile justice system are more likely to
be chronically absent (AFT, 2016, p.1).” Additionally, major social determinants of health (SDOH),
substance use, unsafe school conditions, bullying, and housing instability are intimately linked to CA
(AFT, 2016). Poverty is a common factor, yet the holistic effects of systemic oppression compound
the picture, bringing the problem back to racism as historical and current experiences prohibit
optimal flourishing.
The problem of CA is holistic, and the most comprehensive lenses examining solutions need to
match the complexities of the problem. Interventions, to date, are not yet fully successful in improving
the absenteeism and education disparities for Black children (Morsy & Rothstein, 2019); educationonly efforts have failed, and policymakers, according to Morsy and Rothstein, underestimated the
holistic underpinnings and, therefore, the pathways to successful interventions to date (Morsy &
13
Rothstein, 2019). A priority is shifting the onus off the student and family while including them in the
solution (Friedman, 2020), which allows for voice and choice, a TIC tenet. Futurist and internationally
renowned scholar and chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H.
Chan School of Public Health, Dr. David Williams, discussed the importance of cohesive messaging,
related to a separate topic, in a personal interview in May 2023. However, applying his words to the
solution space of CA is interesting when examining holistic interventions that pay careful attention to
the systemic, intersecting drivers behind chronic absenteeism for Black youth and families (Interview
with Dr. David Williams, Harvard University, personal communication, August 31, 2023).
Grand Challenge of Eliminating Racism and its Relationship to Chronic Absenteeism
"The world got along without race for the overwhelming majority of its history. The US has
never been without it." David Roediger. The National Association of Social Work (NASW) created
a Grand Challenge (GC) in 2020 addressing racism at all levels of humanity titled Eliminate Racism
(NASW, 2021). The goal is to improve the conditions for all persons affected by all forms of racism
and racial profiling which violates human rights (ACLU, 2019), and violates social work's core
values, including the dignity and worth of a person, the importance of human relationships, and
social justice (Arlene Loera, 2017). The grand challenge focuses on the micro, mezzo, and macro
levels of society. It promotes reflection and awareness about the pernicious nature of racism at the
individual, system, and policy levels. “Race is a social construct, and White Americans created
superiority and hierarchy in colonial times to rationalize conquest and slavery (Green, 2023, p.3).”
Racism’s effect on absenteeism and outcomes is ongoing. Dr. Nat Malkus’s testimonial to
Congress, January 30, 2024 (Committee on Oversight, 2024; Hess, 2024) reinforced that all
students, regardless of race, experienced higher absenteeism rates (post-pandemic), yet Black and
Hispanic urban students were absent the most at 46% and 41%.
14
From the creation of defining and practicing attendance-taking and defining what constitutes
an absence as excused or unexcused, disparate adverse policy and practice implementation hurt
Black compared to White youth (see CA History Appendix D). “A contributing factor to the lower
academic performance of Black students in public schools is greater rates of absenteeism compared to
White students. Simply put, if Black students are less likely than White students to be in school, they are
less likely to learn and do well on examinations and other assignments” (Williams, 2021, p.1).
Additionally, excused and unexcused absences leave students at home, and the compounding effect of
unexcused absences leads to a suspension, adding more missed days. Moreover, defining markers of
what is considered an excused or unexcused absence hurts the multi-stressed family (Madsen, 2007; S.
Williams, 2021). “Typically, unexcused absences are the result of transportation issues, family concerns
such as providing care for younger children so parents can work, safety concerns, truancy, etc. The
problem here is that unexcused absences often result in disciplinary actions such as in-school
suspensions, which further remove these students from classroom instruction (Williams, 2021, p.1)."
Indiana’s history (See Appendix E), Indianapolis-specific data, and some current practices
perpetuate systemic oppression and relate to adverse SDOH outcomes (WHO, 2023) while intersecting
with environmental circumstances affecting student attendance rates. Two brief examples of economic
and physical environmental disparity are provided below. As the Opportunity Atlas reveals, Black
children growing up in the urban core of Mass. Ave. earned $20,000 per year, once adults, whereas
Whites earned $55,000. The same is seen in Emerson Heights, with an income disparity of
$26,000(Colombo, 2018). The Fair Housing in Indiana 2022 report illuminates reports of gentrification
and Black loan denial rates as two to five times higher than white denial rates are reported (2018-2021),
along with a 14% decline in Black homeownership across the county with historically Black
neighborhood residents experiencing significant displacement (FHCCI, 2022; Rafford, 2022).
15
Environmental disparities such as the White River, running through the core of the city and
historically ranked as one of America’s most polluted rivers for 200 years, also disparately affected
nonwhite residents until 2006. The sewage and water flow culminated in river entry points and river
overflow points predominately interfacing with Black youth and families. Reportedly, decades of
concern ultimately culminated in the Federal Environmental Protection Agency’s intervention with the
Environmental Protection Agency’s intervention and a 2011 Dig Indy project completed in 2025 to
remediate raw sewage and sewage overflow into the river (Annis, 2024; Johnson, 2023; Rush, 2023).
New concerns exist as a multimillion-dollar shopping and new professional soccer stadium deal are
underway; gentrification will remove Black families from the newly improved sites.
Finally, a new national report illuminates the ongoing burden for Black students who are 3.5
times more likely than whites to attend a chronically underfunded public school (J. Williams, 2024),
denoted an “Inequality Factory,” in the article’s title. The higher poverty districts are less funded, leading
to equity gaps across multiple SDOH domains. Further illuminating ongoing actions, some states such
as North Carolina and Florida, are reported as the monies are available yet not being allocated. Williams
denotes them as “low-effort states (J. Williams, 2024, p. 5).” The State School Finance Profile for
Indiana is available in Appendix F and also is denoted low-effort state (B. Baker et al., 2024).
Pandemic Exacerbations
Chronic absenteeism and subsequent interventions are receiving increased attention. It is
important to note that disparate CA rates were a problem of practice long before COVID-19. However,
absences then almost doubled nationally to 30%, with the closure of brick-and-mortar learning
environments (Merod, 2024), and millions of children are not re-engaging. During the pandemic, K-12
CA spiked in Indiana to 19% of all students and to 38% for Black students, the highest of any race or
ethnicity. And IPS reportedly missed 40% of students while a Gary, IN MS, reported 96% CA with
81.5% of its students on free or reduced lunch services and 88% nonwhite enrollment. in 2022 (Rix,
16
2024). Absences increased with online learning and coincided with decreased high school (HS)
graduation rates the following year in Indiana, Florida, and Wyoming (Modan, 2023). Currently, at least
40% of students statewide are missing 10 days of school, and 25% are still denoted CA (Smith, 2023)
with some districts missing upwards of 70% of their students, as seen in Gary, IN (Rix, 2024). Current
Indiana student data reveals trends of 74% of Black children pass reading proficiency assessments at
third grade (IRead), yet by 10th grade, only 24.7% pass the grade-equivalent English/Language
Proficiency (IDOE) (NAACP, 2023), and in IPS only 5% of Black students pass both English and math
portions of the 10-grade ISTEP (Drenon & Herron, 2022); CA is a leading factor.
Nationally, post-Covid school re-openings also illuminated racism and fear of safety issues
(Associated Press, 2021). Parents had witnessed racism firsthand via Zoom and reported being less
likely to return their children to school (Associated Press, 2021) (Oster, 2021). Others argue that the
pandemic only heightened existing gaps (Office for Civil Rights, 2021). The decisions to return students
to school, when mandatory, affected absenteeism rates as Black families did not want to return a child to
brick-and-mortar buildings. A University of Pennsylvania researcher, Michael A. Gottfried, also linked
peer relationships to the pandemic exacerbations, noticing that when 10% of a student’s friends miss
school, that youth increases the likelihood of absence the following day (Mervosh & Paris, 2024)
underscoring the importance of middle school peer relationships.
Mental Health: Critical for Understanding the Problem and Solution Landscape
“Today, childhood trauma is identified as “America’s hidden health crisis” as youth trauma has
risen to the forefront of the trauma landscape (Thomas et al., 2019). The dearth of interventions that
recognize treating trauma and stress due to race-based experiences (M. T. Williams et al., 2022) and
middle-school specific is noteworthy. To reduce CA, we must address trauma (Chang, 2018). This
solution analysis focuses on interventions that use a trauma-informed care (TIC) lens and fill the
gap to conceptualize the unique needs MS and help before students enter the school building.
17
The White House Education Relief Protection (ERP) funds in 2022 revealed almost 60% of
schools were using funds to partially address the mental health of students and educators, and a 600
school superintendents survey demonstrated 82% of districts will use monies to expand wellness needs,
including traumatic grief services. (House, 2022). In general, school spending skyrocketed to a fiftystate total of over 3 billion dollars per month from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion P-12 package focused
on keeping schools open safely. The White House 2023 report utilizes the phrase “All Hands on Deck”
in its title (The White House, 2023). May 2024 brought the Center for American Reform (CAP)
summit titled Reset. Reframe. Reform (CAP, 2024) and the understanding of home-centric gaps and the
use of texting modalities to reach families (House, 2024); it appears a CBPAR approach is underway.
Moving into 2025, we must focus on what happens before a student gets to school. Federal relief, postpandemic, focused heavily on in-school support, yet the exacerbation of disparity and its ensuing effects
were crumbling homes and communities before students walked into the school door. So, while the
school can be welcoming and safe, if the child cannot get there, it does not matter. And conversely, if the
home intervention is placed, yet the school is unwelcoming or hostile, interventions do not matter. In
response to Gary, Indiana’s 2022 chronic absenteeism rate of 70% (Rix, 2024), Chang with Attendance
Works states, “My first question would be, ‘Do I make sure that every kid has an adult on that
campus they can talk to?’” Chang said. She said that physical and emotional safety and a feeling of
belonging are among the core conditions necessary to engage students. Chang states, “You can send
out communications saying, ‘We miss you,’ but if a student doesn’t feel like anybody at the school
cares about them, some little note might not do a lot” (Rix, 2024, p.3).
America's Mental Health Survey Report 2022 stated one-third of care providers believe
children's mental health is worse than pre-pandemic. 87% of adults are extremely worried about MH of
youth and 80% are concerned about their own youth (HFC, 2022), and a recent survey of 3000 parents
demonstrates shifting attitudes about school every day as 73% of caregivers, nationally, and 64% in RI
18
where state takeover of schools occurred in 2019 believe students should be allowed MH days off
(Richmond, 2024) some experts agree (Jacobson et al., 2023) On a macro-level two-thirds of the
nation’s youth experience a traumatic event by age 16 (SAMSHA, 2023b) not including racism. From
there, systemic racism is so embedded in systems that it often is assumed to reflect the natural,
inevitable order of things (Braveman et al., 2022, p.3). Neuroscience helps us understand the chronic
production of stress hormones affecting learning, memory, emotional processing, and mental health
(Appendix A). New research finds structural racism, with poverty as a main driver, and traumatic
events affect the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex development, and amygdala development; gray
matter volume differences exist between Black and White children (Dumornay et al., 2023; HMS,
2021; Schauble & Lu, 2023). If kids hold traumatic stress, they cannot learn. Consequences of
traumatic stressors create threat appraisal and unrest for the human mind. The brain shunts processes,
reserves resources, and is in survival mode, not memory mode (Schauble & Lu, 2023). When they
do not learn, they disengage. “ Whereas student voices reveal, "I had teachers tell me…that I was not
smart, that basically, I was incompetent…it gets so discouraging (B. Drenon & Herron, 2022, p.1)."
TIC addressing the complexities of CA is delivered with an understanding of structural racism
(SAMHSA, 2021). One of the six guiding principles, Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues, directly
names racism, and the other five principles work to address toxic stress exposures (TICIRC, 2020). One
such measure, the original adverse childhood experience (ACE) study, did not include traumas such as
racism, bullying, and community violence exposure that overly affect youth of color, as the expanded
ACES does (National Human Trafficking, 2022). Preventing ACEs and mitigating effects such as CA
are leading national concerns (CDC, 2019).
Mental Health Relating to Deprivation of Basic Needs
As mentioned, there are numerous reasons a student is absent; a holistic exploration of causes is
critical to understanding the drivers of absenteeism and perhaps the proverbial last straw that causes
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absence from school on a particular day. During the pandemic, one in four Black compared to one in
eleven white families also experienced food insecurity (Feeding America, 2022). Food insecurity has
powerfully detrimental effects on children (Ettinger de Cuba et al.., 2019), and a scarcity mindset
neurologically engrains (Mullainathan et al.., 2013). This reinforces feelings of unsafety. The finding
coincides with national interventions to increase free meals, decrease absenteeism, and Indianapolis
interviews with students reporting significant food needs. A current 2.9 million grant serving 200 people
as a project with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities is currently underway
and addressing food delivery to reduce barriers too (IU School of Medicine, 2023).
Discretionary Funding Gap: Flexibility and Empowerment
Discretionary funding is a critical gap as current systems are not set up to provide what
families request; nationally, this recognition is rising greatly. For the proposed solution based upon
CBPAR research, the funding is not directly aligned with current school-system funding constraints
and permissions to allocate. Colleges and universities are also providing non-traditional funds to
help keep students in school longer (Knox, 2023). In Indianapolis, providing discretionary funds to
the Indianapolis Continuum of Care, leaders believe flexible funds are the “golden ticket to
success;” to increase success rates to create home permanency for the unhoused. However, it is yet
to be implemented as “Other priorities and red-tape appear to be involved,” per interviewee
(confidential interview, March 2021).
Historically, if solution funding was too federal-grant-heavy, the ratio of flexible funds does
not provide monies for such items as gas cards or extra clothing items (Sheets, 2022). The
California state superintendent launched a new webinar series to combat CA in January 2023, and
part of that plan includes a 13% increase in discretionary fund allocations to the local levels (CDE,
2023), which will be useful to watch. From 2022-2024 at IPS MS, absences not related to illness or
injury contained care provider feedback via open-ended, informal conversation or surveyed
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response containing nontraditional needs related to small dollar amounts (ranging from one gas or
Uber trip to one fashion or hygiene, middle-school-friendly item) that kept their child home.
Understanding that the current proscribed funding lanes do not meet needs is not new; the pandemic
has illuminated the gap. These findings are congruent with child and family communications on the
ground in both the greater Charleson, SC, and Providence, RI areas. In Los Angeles, for the unhoused,
and related to Indianapolis's needs for families and youth, the picotee was similar to Covid funding
ends. LAHSA needs flexible direct operating funds to address ongoing and new issues. "We've said
this to HUD over and over again," she said. "We need a lot more flexibility (Sheets, 2022, p.4)."
LAHSA’s CEO, Heidi Martson, resigned due to unstable funding and the inability to implement
permanent housing solutions because of “rules, red tape, and bureaucracy” (Martson, 2022).
At our national level, Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 illuminated the same problem at the postsecondary level where level funding, budget caps, and inflation are leaving decreased monies for
Pell and low-income students with basic needs financial assistance (Knox, 2024; McKibben &
Huelsman, 2024). As Vice President of Education Trust states, “The failure to increase investments
in those programs is particularly damaging for Black, Latino, and Native students and students from
low-income backgrounds,” Augustus Mays (Knox, p.3 2024).
Back in Indianapolis, Title I funds were long exhausted before the school year’s end, 2023-
24, and did not cover small needs, in real-time, for youth and family. Also, the McKinney-Vento
funding is insufficient and only assists those families officially reporting unhoused status; many are
not reporting due to shame and fear of their citizenship status (Bhargava, 2022; Chavez, 2023;
McQuaid, 2024; NAEH, 2021). Indianapolis Metro police confirmed these barriers in Indianapolis
via personal interviews (T. McLemore, personal communication, November 14, 2022) Also
problematic is liaison education and understanding of funding breadth is inconsistent across the
nation and out of this paper’s scope, yet another factor holding CA in place (Allison Humplik,
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LISW-CP, personal communication, November 15, 2020; Cermak, 2018; National Center for
Homeless Education, 2017; NCHE, 2020).
In Rhode Island, Gov. Daniel McKee uses a holistic lens and takes a multifaceted approach
to include the community and create a team atmosphere between teachers, admin, and government
officials. He states, “Schools cannot do this work alone, and they shouldn’t have to” (Arundel,
2024b, p.2)” to mitigate chronic absenteeism via a holistic approach (House, 2024a).
Conceptual/Theoretical Framework
So, what is missing is looking at the same problem through a different lens. A novel
conceptual and theoretical framework is needed to examine, shift thinking styles, and intervene in
distinctive ways that are specialized to MS development before a student arrives at school.
Innovation, Together, We Got This! which is the theory of change (TOC), arose from using a
CBPAR approach to the problem and solution landscape spaces and then navigating the
complexities of needing to layer a TIC clinical and age-specific lens to support the thematic severe
environmental stressors reported. This intersected with feeling unheard and unseen at school during
critical developmental and intervention years. The Second Window of Opportunity theory is
strengths-based, it instills hope, and undergirds where this practitioner-researcher’s ethnographical
findings support this niche MS examination. Lastly, the CBPAR approach allowed for stories,
words, and accounts of trauma and exposure to traumatic stressors for generations and postpandemic; the main arising themes are grief and loss, violent loss, racism and systems, and food and
basic needs insecurities, and reportedly intersecting with systems as barriers. A trauma-informedcare (TIC) lens, as research, professional practice, and community voices reinforced, is needed postpandemic. So, the evolution unveiled a friendship of building clinical rapport to mitigate earned
historical mistrust of White professionals and current systems, with the social work core values,
middle school human development, and the social determinants of health. How can such a countless
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number of factors get boiled down for a more universalized conceptualization of this problem and
solution, while helping all parties get comfortable talking about the uncomfortable.
This small slice of middle school years leads to the impact-filled high school ones where
attendance and successful school completion plummet. This innovation posits that it is both an acute
intervention framework, a new theory of change (ToC), with high impact-yielding results to mitigate
early childhood traumas and toxic stress while perhaps being preventative to aid in greater possibilities
of high school success. The resulting ToC framework provides a flexible template personalized to
each home system. Also, there are recommendations for schools, policy, and funders to understand
and intervene in the resource and communication drivers for CA.
As stated, toxic stress, the theory of causation, is not the stressor or traumatic event, per se,
rather it is the response to the events, and for Black youth, the exposure to event frequency,
duration, type, and the number of events and exacerbating factors far outweighs that of white
counterparts (Dumornay et al., 2023; Morsy & Rothstein, 2019; Nelson et al., 2020; SAMSHA,
2023b). A brief dive into toxic stress follows as an explanatory prelude to why and how the new
framework evolved from the three existing frameworks and approaches that create this solution.
Toxic stress causes a cascade of physiological, social, psychological, cognitive, and
behavioral deleterious outcomes for a child, and "Children with toxic stress are more likely to fit the
parameters for chronic absenteeism, or excessive school absences (Waterford, 2020). The
consequences of traumatic stressors create toxic stress where threat appraisal and unrest for the
human mind are consistently engaged. The brain shunts processes, reserves resources, and works in
survival mode, not memory mode (Schauble & Lu, 2023). Neuroscience helps us understand the
chronic production of stress hormones affecting learning, memory, emotional processing, and
mental health (Appendix A). If a youth or family's basic food needs are insecure, abstract thinking is
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placed on hold, and new learning is less efficient (Aanstoos, 2019). Brief explanations of the three
existing frameworks and approaches and relevant content to their MS intersection follow.
Trauma Informed Care (TIC) Framework
TIC is a strengths-based, evidence-based approach credited to Fallot and Harris’s original works
in 2001 (Fallot & Harris, 2001) proven efficacious in the healthcare setting, schools, and
living/working space design for unhoused and race-specific populations (SAMHSA, 2022) and in
schools. A visual is provided in Appendix G, and a researcher-created intersection visual relates its
intersection with MS youth. "Becoming trauma-informed means recognizing that people have many
different traumatic experiences which often intersect in their lives (National Coalition for the Homeless,
2022, p.1). Trauma is an experience that overwhelms the system's capacity to cope, and being unhoused
is trauma itself (Brien et al., 2019) which also intersects with youth and families in the school systems.
TIC can also support the social work code of ethics principles: each person's dignity and self-worth
(Arlene Loera, 2017).
This monumental shift from internal to external variables aligns with social work core values
(NASW, 2019), systems theory, and person-in-environment approaches (Adams et al., 2014;
Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Rosa & Tudge, 2013) seen in TIC. The TIC framework has six principles. They
are Safety (including built environment), Trustworthiness and Transparency (care provider to client),
Peer Support (trained individuals with lived experience supporting others), Collaboration and Mutuality
(equal partnership in the care-providing relationship), Empowerment, and Voice and Choice (clients
holding decision-making power and options during all steps of care), and Cultural, Historical and
Gender issues (historical mistrust, gender identity and discrimination recognized and honored) (Center
for Disease Control, 2022). This intervention emphasizes trauma-informed design (Safety) in the home
environment with Collaboration and honoring Current and Historical Traumas, Empowerment, and
Voice and Choice for interventions. Of note, the EBP’s framework lacks universalized steps, which can
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be problematic if a clear implementation plan is not enacted (Centers for Disease Control, 2022).
However, TIC’s flexibility can facilitate personalizing settings, populations, and users (Cole, 2019).
Second Window of Opportunity
The Second Window of Opportunity (See Appendix G) evolved from UNICEF’s 2016 The
Adolescent Brain symposium, intersecting evolving neuroscience knowledge and research to visualize
and depict the psychological, social-emotional, and cognitive period of dynamic change and how it can
intersect with practice interventions and understanding of how early childhood traumas effects can be
mitigated during this critical time focus is strengths-based and hones on humans’ development in ages
9-14 (Telzer et al., 2022; UNICEF, 2018). The National Academies of Science published the consensus
studies report (Bonnie & Backes, 2019) and the theory provides enlightenment, understanding, and
hope, with a neuroscience background and evidence-based outcomes, for the efficacy of intervention at
this age. “A growing body of scientific knowledge shows that experience and environment also
combine with genetics to shape the brains of adolescents. This presents a second, crucially
important window of opportunity to influence the development of children’s brains – and thus, their
futures (OCHA, 2018, p. 1). This explanation of the unique developmental proven period for
interventions instills hope in caregivers, teachers, nurse staff, administration, clinicians, and most
importantly, youth, family, and community.
Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR)
The CBPAR (Appendix I) undergirds this framework as the gaps in practice and true needs at
the IPS MS would not have been revealed without it. As Dr. Stoeker explains, “CBPAR is not a
research project. It is a social change project of which the research is one piece. As such, it has three
goals: learn relevant knowledge and skills; develop relationships of solidarity; and engage in action
that wins victories and builds self-sufficiency…” (Culhane-Pera et al., 2010, p.2). The community
defines the problem, and the researcher ponders their position as an outsider within the systems of others
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(Steiglitz & Levitan, 2021). This approach is a cornerstone of this new implementation framework, as
it aligns with NASW Codes of Ethics (Arlene Loera, 2017), helps mitigate earned historical mistrust,
and allows for the possibilities of high-yield, low-impact outcomes that effectively solve problems of
practice. The core philosophy of CBPAR innately professionally and personally resonated with the
framework’s creator and reminds of a powerful Ted Talk Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut
up and listen! (Sirolli, 2012). Iterations using CBPAR created and grounded the framework and
remain as the action lens throughout implementation and sustainment cycles.
The creator’s expertise in therapeutic, trauma-informed, and biophilic design, clinical trauma
practitioner focus, strengths-based and positive psychology wellness coaching, and business academic
and start-up experiences converge with the empathy of being a mother of seven children balanced
with a Socratic questioning practice as all humans experiences are not the same. The novel ToC
framework Together, We Got This! (Appendix J) is created by the family system, the root system, and
the missing voice for the specificity of the unique middle schoolers, needs, mindsets, growth, and goals.
Methodology
The design thinking process evolved while reflecting on the North Star of partnering with
MS Black youth and families during these critical developmental years. However, improvements
upon reported experiences can take countless forms. Next was how to partner and what ways might
produce low impact, high yield, and lasting change that mattered for the beneficiary. While the
problem of practice, CA, permeates beyond the family and school system to the community,
country, and across the globe, as the design thinking process evolved through literature, practice,
and interview, the intervention foci became crystal clear. Yet, both the school and home
environments are critical ones to foster wellbeing and success. However, the numerous intervention
points and programs already underway in the school domain, yet none with universalized success,
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also left the question of who or what is still missing unanswered. CBPAR, self, and other reflections
then easily honed that focus, helping before the school bell rang.
Design Team
Before further explaining the prototype description and subsequent sections of the
evaluation plan, it is important to describe the design team and define the users, beneficiaries, and
stakeholders referenced herein. The design team consists of the thoughtfully requested Doctoral
Capstone Committee members, whom the researcher is honored the invitations were accepted, and
who provided expertise in the areas of DEI, Dr. Mary Alice Trent, trauma, Dr. Michael Rank, and
CA, Dr. Laura Schneider, from their doctoral research and practices that perfectly align with the
three domains of this novel ToC innovation. Also integrally involved with provided data access and
ongoing consult in cooperation with Dr. Bottley, MS Director of IPS Public Schools and current
Principal of MS. Community Network LSC, Ahmad Kersey provided his literacy research,
materials, and insights along with SB Team Leader Erica Muhlenkamp who disseminated TIP sheets
and other researcher outcomes to the SB clinical team for feedback and use.
The primary beneficiary is the middle school student, and otherwise, when pluralized, is
extended to the student and immediate caregivers (family system) of biological, non-biological,
foster, guardian ad litem caregivers, and at-home siblings. Users are caregivers, too, and
schoolteachers, admins, and school-based mental health clinicians who use the initial texting
template as a coaching medium for uncomfortable conversations.
Design Justice Principles
Exploration is grounded in a CBPAR approach (Burns et al., 2020; Friedman, 2020)
embedded design justice principles of empowerment of the researcher as a facilitator, not an expert
(Costanza-Chock, 2020; Design Justice, 2018) while understanding the problem and current
solution spaces along with the innovative design. The continuous question posed to self and others
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was, “What is still missing? Whose voice is missing?” The design justice (DJ) cornerstone question
evolved organically over two years of research and iteration. Of equal importance was mindful
awareness of social norms (Bicchieri, 2016) articulated well as follows: “From there, systemic
racism is so embedded in systems that it often is assumed to reflect the natural, inevitable order of
things” (Braveman et al., 2022, p.3).
Iterations are derived from 338 interactions with stakeholders, users, and beneficiaries from
December 2022-May 2024 via written survey using Likert scales and open-ended questionnaires,
focus groups, single interviews, observations, telephone interviews, and Zoom interviews began
with a needs-assessment lens exploring the problem and then shifting to solution landscape.
Interviews focused on centering the voice of those affected (DJN, 2024) and include middle school
youth, pediatricians, caregivers, community members and extended family members of students,
teachers, administrative and staff members, district leaders, health network professionals,
paramedics, firefighters, police, life skills clinicians, business organizations, and potential funders.
A sample of identity and professional coding can be seen in Appendix K. The monumental voice gap
of the middle school student in the literature was filled via authentic communication with MS scholars
that was earned via on-the-ground trust-building and rapport as earned, historic mistrust runs deep, as
does an adult-to-youth power differential. Also, youth reported their opinions could be deemed
disrespectful, so the MS students in the research domain do not speak unfiltered for fear of reprimand.
Rapport building occurred via psychoeducation-based discussions with youth about the transition into
early adolescence, the difficulties of forming racial identity, and psychosocial identity versus identity
confusion (Orenstein & Lewis, 2023; Silva Parker & Willsea, 2017) and countless hours of clinical
joining. The qualitative verbiage was gathered orally and in writing via open-ended questions for
students about what helps get them to school and what crumbles the process along the way. What do
they dread about the school, like, or feel neutral about? Responses were coded, and themes and
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recommendations emerged, which are included in Appendix L. These DJ-focused approaches allow
those affected to co-create design so the community can self-sustain and use each person's expertise
guiding their life, parallelling social work core values.
Market Analysis
When detailing a market analysis, prior-stated literature, interviews, and current news
publications agree that there is not a current, effective solution to alleviating CA in Indianapolis or
in the United States. However, a shift is now trending, and those districts and persons intervening in
the home domains are mostly showing promise, as previously discussed (Peetz, 2024; Will, 2024),
yet none are intersecting specifically and holistically at the human developmental and
environmental intersections for equitable home intervention partnership, specifically at the MS level
(in trauma-informed design and holistic interventions). While calls for middle school re-structuring
are not new, calls for change to fit newly-understood developmental neuroscience findings exist
(Bonnie & Backes, 2019; McEwin, 1996; OCHA, 2018). The findings do not meet the practice of
meeting with the families at home. As Sen. Donato states, “There are younger students that have
truancy issues, and there are older students. Trying to wrap your arms around that 900-pound gorilla
I found to be absolutely impossible,” (Appleton, 2024, p.1) As Rhode Island Governor Daniel
McKee stated at the Every Day Counts Summit, “Schools cannot do this work alone and they
shouldn’t have to” (Arundel, 2024c, p.2).
The identified need for this framework and intervention came directly from the people and by
the people of this Indianapolis community. While mental health needs and absenteeism from school are
a nationwide and global concern, the gaps in the existing home-centric solution landscape became
wildly apparent at the MS levels locally. The youth and caregiver narratives told firsthand and real-time
accounts of daily dilemmas and needs, as did several iterations with facets of Together, We Got This!
described in appendices. Interviews with local, national, and international public health, local and
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national equity, pediatric and local and national mental health experts, and local IMPD and IFD staff
stakeholders intersected with the students and families “on the ground;” market need exists.
“What Is” Design Stage and Tool Use
To qualitatively and quantitatively explore the problem space of CA, What is tools (Liedtka
& Ogilvie, 2019) of ethnographic conversations with Socratic questioning were employed,
brainstorming, empathy mapping, direct observation, and secondary research of extensive literature
were searched and read to understand the problem’s definition, what population experiences it most,
and understand causes, effects, and scope. The tool of ethnographic conversation (Liedtka &
Ogilvie, 2019) is empathetic, curious, and open-ended and is used through iterations to fill
knowledge gaps in culturally sensitive areas of missing information and voices.
Selection criteria for literature inclusion in the “What is” stage focused on publications that
were five years or less from 2023, which is especially important due to rapidly changing outcomes
from COVID-19. A multidisciplinary approach to examine the problem and current solution
landscape included anthropology, social work, medicine, law enforcement, education, psychology,
architecture and design, nutrition science, aromatherapy science, statistics, economics, sociology,
neuroscience, nursing, and international education studies (Africa, UK, Pakistan). The intersection
of the social determinants of health for Black populations, traumatic exposures, racism, and
absences from school evolved in the literature landscape. See Appendix M for keywords.
Approach to Initial “What Is” Tools and Interviews
In-person and virtual interview sessions took place from April to August 2023. All recruits
were invited via in-person communication or email. Incentives were offered, Starbucks gift cards
were extended as appreciation for the time spent, and three interviewees accepted them. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 58 individuals with race and gender self-identification
reported. Due to confidentiality, as concerns that gender and race combination alone might identify
30
a party, a detailed log is not in the appendices of this final deliverable. Interviews were scheduled at
the interviewee’s preferred time and communication medium (in person or Zoom platform). All
interviewees were informed that the content was for research purposes, names were redacted and
were to be shared with the university only. All interview questions were pre-screened by academic
staff at The University of Southern California (USC), and responses were written down by the
interviewer with the interviewee’s permission; some sessions were recorded with permission. Time
ranged in time from 30-75 minutes. All interviews ended with the interviewer asking, “As a
takeaway, can I ask what the most important thing is that you want me to know?” Interviewees
responded positively to the session and reported feeling heard. See Appendix N for the Information
Gathering Plan, and Appendix O visualizes brainstorming the problem of practice.
Design Thinking: What if Stage Gaps
Dr. Terrance Fitzgerald, a race and gender scholar expert and former University of Southern
California Professor of Social Work, informed and reminded this researcher of the importance of
home-based interventions in partnering with families in the community (T. Fitzgerald, personal
communication, May 2023). His words rang true as family stories through the CBPAR-oriented
design thematically unified; families simply cannot get to school. There’s no secondary way. Once
the bus rolls by, a family can’t pay rent and moved suddenly while another fled DV in the middle of
the night, the new IPS bus pick-up is not re-routed for three to four days. Another scholar fears
mockery for not having name-brand clothing or lacking hygiene products as body odor sets in.
Another youth is suspended from the bus for five weekdays, or a middle school girl starts her period
overnight and has no pads or clean clothing to wear in the morning. Some adults retort, “Suck it up,
it’s fine,” yet to an MS youth, it is their world. A boy tries to shower, and there’s no hot water to
wash the urine off of him from the intoxicated houseguest who mistakes the boy’s bed for the
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bathroom in the middle of the night, or the bus comes at 5:50 AM in frigid and dark wintertime and
there are shootings outside. Someone else is simply hungry and simply tired…tired of it all.
The proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back is now broken. There is no school today.
This is what happens—this can be why there is no school today. The gaps are resource-based;
absenteeism is an indicator of other issues. The What if Stage illuminates where possibility lies.
While this intervention cannot eradicate poverty, it can buffer the effects and perhaps buffer against
that final straw that breaks the camel’s back. Resources at the nexus of TIC, CBPAR, and MS are
missing.
Design Thinking What Wows and a Low-Fidelity Prototype
Appendix A includes outcomes from the coded themes from literature, evolved interviews,
and feedback from iterating ideas, concepts, and feedback through June 2024. Appendix P visual
includes teacher survey responses with the IPS MS. The following outcomes from design thinking
lay the deliverable's foundation. Appendix Q contains soundbites and responses to why students are
missing school. See Appendix R for the storyboard of a low-fidelity prototype. Appendix S holds a
Texting Template for asking teacher-reported uncomfortable questions about family needs; any
teacher or admin can use the template regardless of rapport with the family, as already iterated.
The stakeholder mapping and document of the brainstorming and What Wows journeys
(Appendices T and U) that evolved thinking processes evolution into a high-fidelity prototype. Missing
voices, who also are invisible stakeholders (hidden actors), that do not appear regularly are still being
explored; the noncustodial, incarcerated care providers and mainly fathers of IPS MS students, which is
congruent with national data of 64% of Black children residing with a single parent (mainly mom)
compared to 24% of whites (Casey, 2022). So, What Wows is an intervention allowing families to have
their unique needs accounted for in a non-proscribed lane. “Substantial gap is the need for more
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research on environmental effects for children and youth; it is believed they are particularly impacted by
their physical conditions, and design can profoundly help (Owen & Crane, 2022 P).”
Design Thinking: What Works
The high-fidelity prototype is described in the project description below. Iterations before
print continue for this compact-sized flip card and district presentation folders contain only iterated
documents. Portions of the website are published, and the secured domain and site can be viewed at
www.thegoodinpeople.org. For more unpublished material unpublished portions can be viewed on
the link. The previously stated Texting Template is part of the deliverable and the newly formed 501
(c)3 (Appendix V) that will apply for and receive grants and donations to continue providing goods
and transport for local families. From there, data outcomes will be provided to state and federal
policy change for discretionary funding to mitigate CA. A QR code is created for quick and more
private access to information. Appendix W, courtesy LSC Ahmed Kersey's literacy study reminds
all professionals to be mindful of literacy levels and multi-stressed family time and attention spans.
English and Spanish versions will be available. Lastly, in order for this intervention to work, the gap
of consistent attendance-taking daily is critical. Due to iterating, IPS practice change will revise the
attendance-taking policy to remove the default present. See Appendix M for visual sample default
present percentages. If students are not counted when they might otherwise like intervention
partnership, their voice is needed for what is missing.
Project Description
“The key to reducing chronic absence is taking time to ask and understand why students missed
school in the first place…These types of investments and supports create the “humanware” that is
needed to respond to and help to reduce the adverse impact of trauma on students,” David says
(Attendance Works, 2018, p.2). However, then of utmost importance is when asked about reasons for
absenteeism, are there human and economic resources to intervene and assist with these before-school
33
challenges. At the IPS MS, the answer overall is a resounding “no,” and caring staff feel overwhelmed,
which leads to chronic stress and burnout for them as well. Due to the identified gaps in home-centric
interventions in Indianapolis, IN, and nationally, this ToC framework intervention goal is to produce low
economic and human power costs for a high yield of increasing attendance and reducing family stress at
home. This novel framework provides a way of thinking about a specific population and low-cost
implementation action steps. At the same time, next-step piloting will test efficiencies and ease of use
for all users. The goal is to mitigate absences one day at a time.
It is founded in the newly formed nonprofit “The Good in People.org,” which provides
psychoeducation to beneficiaries and provides a pathway for government and private grants and
donations to implement resource and educational-based interventions to families. Herein, the activities
described are those occurring under this 501(c)3 created from this operational nexus of TIC, CBPAR,
and SWO outcomes.
Builds Upon Relevant Models and Initiatives
Together, We Got This! builds on existing CA interventions yet is home-centric and provides
users with ease of use and privacy while attending to literacy levels, language (English and Spanish),
and time constraints of multi-stressed family caregivers. These current landscape gaps are addressed.
The intervention is scalable and holds hope for policy change as iterations and outcomes are
reported to IPS and state education funders to create policy change to increase discretionary funding
for what families report needed to reduce CA and for teacher training niche to MS years.
Prototype Description
Together, We Got This! consists of hard copy and web-based materials, a QR code, and
audio clip tips. Deliverables are: 1. Texting Template for school use, 2. Family Flip Card 3.
recommendation report for IPS MS, 4. Newly formed NPO, 5. Website, www.thegoodinpeople.org.
6. District presentation folders for principals. Also, two state-level reports are underway with a
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short-term submission report planned for the US Department of Education CA initiative. Hardcopy
brochures visually explain the novel nexus framework for stakeholders, users, and beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries also have access to in-home resources (via outsourced delivery service) and one inhome consultation and implementation for Healthy House. The buckets that evolved from iterating
are substantiated by literature, too, while unique nuances exist that substantiate a CBPAR approach:
Transport and Texting, Food and Fashion, Made to Move!!, Grooming and Games, and Healthy House
bolster the family system with free reading, realistic health tips, and audio clip providing MS-specific
caregivers tips and free online tutoring partnerships to supplement middle-schoolers for lost learning. To
note, the Testing and Transport page is non-published on the website as it is school-specific for the pilot
program in hopes of providing data outcomes for novel district allocation funding of proven transport
costs. Webpages describing the importance of school and substance use education with researchercreated MS tip sheets are also embedded. The bucket descriptions, supporting literature, and student
reports shared in Appendix A. Of note, per CPBAR, texting modality is the main communication use as
beneficiaries report privacy. Users’ and beneficiary literacy and language spoken are addressed
throughout, and materials include findings from iterating relating to needs for cold weather and sporting
activities for during break time, changes and exacerbations of mood and mental health with seasonal
environmental, social, and cultural shifts through winter months.
Grand Challenges Addressed
From the onset, exploring the disparate rates of CA and their relationship to toxic stress from
traumatic exposures for Black as compared to white youth is grounded in the NASW Grand
Challenge to Eliminate Racism. It should be noted that outcomes of increasing school attendance
and feelings of wellness in the home domains greatly affect the social determinants of health and
other NASW grand challenges such as Ensuring Health Development for Youth, Closing the Health
Gap, and Achieving Equal Opportunity and Justice by providing avenues of mitigating traumatic
35
stressors, decreasing overall stress loads at home, and helping students attend school daily so the
direct adverse CA outcomes are reduced.
Pre and post-pandemic mental health recognition and treatment needs of youth are not equal,
and the pandemic widened existing gaps. As Crane (2022) writes in the title, “Indiana Misses the
Mark in Providing Accessible and Quality Treatment Amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic.” This
unique intervention uses a trauma-informed lens with the family inside the home that allows for
both practical solutions and holistic education and product accessibility to improve daily living and
increase student attendance at school. Absenteeism is not the problem; it is the indicator of other
problems (Arundel, 2024a), and is disproportionately experienced by non-white youth. In Indiana
(2021), students experiencing CA are 86% non-white, and 65.4% of students are economically
disadvantaged (IN DOE, 2021). Absenteeism is directly related to non-completion of high school,
ensuing poverty, adverse involvement with criminal systems, and poor health outcomes (Cardona,
2024; The White House, 2023; US Department of Education, 2019a). Studies correlate youth
experiences of racism with increased post-traumatic stress and depression (Wilson et al., 2023) that
affect school attendance.
The gaps appeared through quantitative data points and themes and the coding of qualitative
interviews and survey feedback. Data collected for potential school-based changes to increase
attendance will be reported separately in additional reports and findings. Some editing has been
reported and is only in the preliminary editing stages. Feedback from the iteration processes while
creating this final framework was grounded in response rates by beneficiaries of students and
families. High response rates using texting modalities, grocery delivery, holistic health and fashions
provided, and Uber transport use substantiate the buckets of the framework.
Design Criteria
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Overall, this innovation builds on existing literature, the new White House calls for chronic
absenteeism crisis remediation, and CBPAR unanimous agreement that small-scale basic needs
deficits interrupt the capabilities to get students to school. Additionally, caregivers and school
administrators do not know how to fill those gaps through currently offered services. Secondly,
emotional and social domains need trust building and rapport due to the sensitive nature of homedomain vulnerabilities and the earned, historical mistrust of white professionals. Targeting these
design criteria must-haves (Appendix X) is foundational to this intervention’s effectiveness; a true
partnership without power imbalances is reportedly felt. Strategically, iterations have proven trust
can be built. Secondly, having discretionary funds to respond to the needs of delivering wellness,
transportation, and MS niche basic needs is a low-cost, high-yield outcome. Yield outcomes are
days in school and measured increases in perceived wellness.
Since CBPAR was used throughout the design process, the user’s perception and the target
population's perception of this intervention's need is also unanimous. While all families might not
use the full scope of interventions, it was co-created with families and encompasses buckets of
needs most highly categorized in the home domains through iterations of surveys and interviews
and low-fidelity prototype testing. Multi-media opportunities mitigate physical attributes and
environment-specific constraints through the use of hard copy, telephone, texting, and online access
to resources. Lastly, functional attributes personalized to low literacy rates, multi-stressed families,
time and attention constraints, language, and visually and hearing-impaired user considerations.
Theory of Change (ToC) and Solution Goals
Together, We Got This! framework is the theory of change created from a CBPAR approach
and ethnographic study that demonstrated the gap in trauma-informed middle school home-centric
interventions. It has three direct and measurable outcomes of reducing absenteeism, increasing
perceptions of wellness in the home domain, and decreasing family rating of stress. It also holds the
37
potential of demonstrating a myriad of other outcomes through rollout processes, all of which affect the
social determinants of health. Together, We Got This! was created specifically with the post-pandemic,
national mental health crisis awareness for youth at this time, and with some of the mental health
characteristics of diagnosed and undiagnosed symptomology and behavioral responses of trauma,
intersecting with MS-specific needs, which underscore the population served by this intervention.
How It Works
Together, We Got This! works by proving holistic, whole-person intervention elements
otherwise not equitably accessible to IPS families via low cost, high yield, user friendly, and deliverybased resources by engaging beneficiaries with visuals, audio clips for non-reading engagement, hard
materials, website with EBP’s, cultural adaptations, English and Spanish use, and goods and services for
rollout-engaged families; this population is an excellent fit (CEBC, 2023). It works by allowing users
equitable access to best practices and information content about holistic health. Users have access points
via websites, brochures, and QR codes, and all content is free and disseminated in school and SB
clinical MH domains. The flexibility of this framework allows for intervention-specific adaptations that
culturally target a population. The IPS youth are 87.1% nonwhite (U.S. News, 2022) and majority Black
and Hispanic in race and ethnicity, therefore, having multiple distinct identifiers and innumerable
subcultural preferences. How it works is now described by the population it was co-created with, and
whose national literature supports its need. Appendix Y provides a flow chart of Phase I processes for
understanding and obtaining first contact with family; micro changes in dates will still occur.
Revised Logic Model
The original and revised logic models can be viewed in Appendix Z, which includes
increased iterations and a deep examination of the scope of interventions. Some changes occurred to
the logic model’s conceptualization, initial inputs, and subsequent activities and outputs. Foremost,
the framework's name has been changed to better represent the intrinsic strengths-based and
38
teamwork approach intended for this innovation. The permanent name of the model is Together, We
Got This!, and informal surveys to stakeholders and beneficiaries are unanimously supportive.
Second, additional input is added, and a software consult is scheduled to find the most userfriendly manner to create the ability for community members to communicate with each other
without the labor force of NPO staff involvement. Several caregivers expressed interest in Black
single-mom connectivity with others raising Black boys. This will be a page name or subsection of
a Black Strengths page addition to the website, and connecting moms via their voice and choice
without NPO confidentiality violations is the goal; a Facebook Meta page will be used.
The last input change is to remove the vitamin partnership. While a vendor for vitamins was
sourced and the need arose in iterating and survey responses from caregivers, the intervention will
streamline products delivered for financial and liability concerns as the NPO is not pediatriciandriven; although, there is a pediatrician on its board. There are too many variables of allergies,
intolerances, and unknown medical-based potential contra-indications that hold the potential to
harm beneficiaries instead of help. So, education will be provided with the process outlined for free
prescriptions for Medicaid recipients via pediatrician.
The proposed solution is a ToC intervention framework, and the logic model revision is
solely in response to community feedback, exclusively for middle schoolers, grounded in the voice
and choice of TIC. This intersection is the innovative framework (ToC), which is the mechanism for
change, culminated from the complexities of using three ToC’s at exploration onset to instead
operating at the nexus of all three. The framework provides equitable access to knowledge and
processes helping youth and families increase attendance at school. Activities, outcomes, and short-,
mid-and long-term outcomes can be read in the logic models. The input, name change, website
restructuring, and offerings with the framework (Phase I and II) derived from CBPAR and resulted
39
in a new Together, We Got This! name and amended offerings for the IPS MS population iterated.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical considerations arose during iterating processes that will be addressed before The
Texting Template rollout. Significant literature exists on the legal liability for schools and
specifically the benefits of incentivizing teachers and admin for daily attendance taking in the first
ten minutes of the day; content is located in Appendix A. Positively, policy changes will be enacted
due to this research, and with cooperation from Dr. Bottley, Director of IPS Middle Schools, in July
2024 before the new academic year begins.
The design process did not reveal any HIPAA or other patient-centered legal confidentiality
requirements, as recruits for the pilot will be volunteer referrals and remain separate from CN MH
caseload disclosure. However, all beneficiaries and users will be texted an e-signed confidentiality
statement from the NPO Director for peace of mind. All recipients of any goods or services that
flow through the NPO will be required to prove text consent to a hold harmless statement, four lines
in length, with a 6th-grade literacy level. A draft is currently underway from prior template-oriented
agreements and volunteer legal services (Spanish and English) for the implementing nonprofit
organization (NPO). The NPO will provide and sign a statement of confidentiality from the
nonprofit, assuring confidentiality at all points of interactions. All research interns and volunteers
will sign a confidentiality statement, too. Lastly, please see Appendix AA for ethical and equity
considerations in tool creation that were considered during this design process.
Likelihood of Success
Due to the CBPAR approach, this framework is created by the community for the
community (and others with similar populations), so confidence in the success rate exists. It appears
that some facets of the intervention, already evidence-based in other locales across the nation, like
texting and providing a secondary transportation option, will produce a low-impact yet high-yield
40
reduction in absenteeism. Other facets of quick read holistic and MS-based materials, as requested
by caregivers in current iterations, and more widespread availability via audio clips and visuals,
help mitigate family stressors on communication and home domain wellness when practiced (as
already iterated in clinical and coaching domains in Indiana, Rhode Island, and South Carolina).
Just as the intervention culminated from the lack of equitable opportunities for basic and
holistic wellness needs, success depends on the equitable and comprehensive rollout of resource
information and attendance tracking across all beneficiaries. A phased rollout will catalyze the
opportunity for this intervention’s success via multiple changes and touchpoints for access and for
continued iterating and monitoring to adapt as needed to benefit beneficiaries best.
Implementation Plan
Context and Existing Collaborators
The rollout of this intervention will occur in phases, and the subsections will occur at the
same IPS MS site in Indianapolis, IN, with some district-wide scaling in Phase I. See Appendix BB
for the Implementation Plan, Appendix CC for the Line Item Budget, and Appendix DD for the
updated Gannt chart. Due to the implementation of the IPS Rebuild Stronger 2024, the rezoning and
restructuring of zones means the current IPS MS will have a substantially different demographic for
the 2024-25 school year. The pilot is occurring in partnership with IPS MS Director Dr. Stacey
Bottley, and she is placing the pilot into a demographic similar to the one where the research took
place. Hence, the highest-needs schools and students continue to be measured and intervened. The
pilot will occur at Arlington or Howe MS, in Indianapolis, IN. The project will take place with IPS
MS youth, some engaged in clinical mental health services with Community Network, and others not
engaged in services yet with the high-risk indicator of CA. For context, iterations were for a population
of 379 students, an 11:1 teacher ratio, 71% economically disadvantaged youth, and 87% nonwhite
(approx. 40% Black youth and 45% Hispanic youth). In 2024, 3% of the youth scored at or above
41
proficiency in Math and 12% in English; the IPS average is 14% and 18%, and the state average is 37%
and 38% (US NEWS, 2024). The 2023 scores were 7.5% in Math I Learn and 18.1% in English. 476
students are expected for the 2024-25 (IPS, 2024).
Described Implementation
In preparation for the implementation stage, using the EPIS framework, this “P” of the
preparation stage focuses on meetings with Dr. Bottley on July 6 and 15, 2024, for continued
determinations on IPS implementation of new attendance practices at all IPS MS. Also reexamining and re-addressing the barrier of exhausted staff as a new school year begins (Brownson et
al., 2017). Focus is also on the critical steps to create a structure for training and coaching (Moullin et
al., 2019) for the Texting Template rollout after IPS created incentives for new attendance-taking
policies on August 1, 2024.
The soft rollout of the website is August 1, 2024, for informational, free tutoring, and
educational-provided services; portions of the site are currently live. Attendance-based education,
substance use, holistic health, home trauma-informed design pages, and donor acceptances will be
live and disseminated via email to all stakeholders. Email website information will be provided to
all IPS MS families. Email, telephone, and texting communication contact numbers are provided for
the NPO. A new Phase I exploratory with texting (see Appendix BB rollout) will occur first due to
new changes in attendance taking that will more robustly capture students' needs and school locale.
Phase I, August 19-August 30, 2024, AM attendance and absences, will be viewed by NPO
by 9:15 AM. The initial all-school communications will begin with the template, by NPO, in order
to gather data for the IPS Communication Plan and rule out acute and chronic illness reasons for
absences. All families will be directed to the NPO website for educational materials on the
importance of school and home health information. In summation, due to the extensive number of
transfers during the first two weeks of IPS MS across the district, the time period is not suggested as
42
school year matriculation is still unknown, per Dr. Bottley. The QR code will be disseminated via
email, and the Texting Template will be used in all school messages for teachers and staff. All Q and
A will be directed to the NPO director. Teacher users will be incentivized by IPS MS, out of this
researcher’s scope, by the new IPS policy created from this project’s findings.
Phase II is now Texting and Transportation only, with the rationale provided in Appendix
BB. The full rollout budget is in Appendix CC. The NPO was invited to apply for the Irsay Kicking
the Stigma grant funding and is awaiting a response as of this submission. If denied or partially
fulfilled, private donor funding is committed. However, the full rollout is beyond this paper’s scope
as the innovative ToC framework can be enacted and scaled now.
Engaging Stakeholders and Users Throughout
The barriers and facilitators themes will remain omni present throughout. The facilitator is that
involved implementation microsystems are open to equity-based and culture change. This will leaned
upon and fostered via contact and communication between stakeholders, users, and beneficiaries
throughout implementation. The barrier of exhausted staff (users) needs continuous monitoring for
overwhelm. So, the value fit and individual adopters will continue to be monitored and positively
reinforced; fidelity-congruent adaptations can be made. During implementation, the key tracking of
outcomes and the metrics to measure change need constant adherence monitoring. Incentives for staff to
adhere to the protocol of IPS's new policies and the innovation are provided (Goldston et al., 2010).
The sustainment of the program is driven by funding; funding is driven by outcomes and strong
QA measures that are in place for test-re-test via feedback loop processes. While the program printed
materials costs are minimal, and the content can eventually be embedded within the technology
infrastructure of the CN and IPS hardware with ease, discretionary funds for at-home design
improvements per client are needed. In keeping with the thematic barrier of exhausted staff from major
Rebuild Stronger and still post-pandemic, low teacher load and appreciation are shown as instruments of
43
success. For clinicians, the materials will become part of the new client intake, welcoming and sharing
resources, so embedment can occur more organically. For sustainment, a goal would be integrating the
framework’s outcome measures into dimensions of clinical flow; therefore, data would be readily
tracked, and redacted data could be provided to be NPO. Through CN Career Ladder, clinicians would
be incentivized to ask clients about their user experience, as MH and measures use are tracked and
clinicians are monitored for and by percentages of use.
Fund Development Plan
As the gap in home-centric interventions for IPS youth and families continued to grow
thematically and a lens to examine the niche of MS youth grew, funding conceptualization evolved into
planning. Foremost, $25,000 is secured via private donations for NPO startup, printing, and legal needs.
These monies can be used for Phase I of texting and transportation, and no grants are won before rollout.
See Appendix EE for a portion of the Kicking the Stigma grant submission draft; wins will be
announced in August 2024. A Department of Education, Education, and Intervention (EIR) grant is
registered; final submission is due July 25, 2024. An American Society of Interior Designers research
grant is underway for trauma-informed home intervention portion of this intervention. Also, Appendix
FF flowcharts and mentorship for free tutoring partnership for IPS youth outsourced for Together, We
Got This! Of note, the goal of Phase II is to deepen demonstration of need and provide data for IPS to
create a budget and shift transportation gaps to the state level. The goal of the NPO is to keep creating
data flow, local and national partnerships, and outsourcing for external scalability by other users.
Marketing and Brand Plan
Soft rollout begins marketing the framework, education, and current and future services offered.
Marketing will occur initially in-house via Community Network and IPS users while soliciting materials
feedback to be received by email to the NPO. A Meta and X page will also be created for the NPO for
ongoing stakeholder confidence and engagement and weekly informational updates. The social media
44
arm will not be a prominent feature; rather, it is a supporting authentication necessity in the digital
world. Later scaling might include blogs and podcasts. This period will occur before hard-copy printing,
and from there brochures will go to press for delivery to businesses and government agencies, with
current NPO relationships already founded, who will receive the flyers to disseminate for Indianapolis
youth and families. Included are Indianapolis Fire and Police Department chiefs of homelessness task
forces, local museums, and athletic businesses partnered and offering reduced pricing for families
associated with this program. With the ultimate goal of piloting aspects of this program and working
towards shifting them into quantifiable data for district use and policy change, creating discretionary
budget allocations for family funding, significant external marketing for commercial audience share is
not needed at this time. For youth engagement and brand marketing, backpack keychain figures with
logos will be provided. Donors will receive ceramic “to go” drink cups for donors. Some marketing
material ideas can be viewed in Appendix GG.
Evaluation Plan
Measuring Social Change/Impact
The outcomes sought are increased school attendance, increased perceived feelings of
wellness for families in the home domain, and decreased family-reported family stress. In the first
iteration, a larger sampling size will be used to measure ease of use for texting medium (for
caregivers) and using it to have difficult conversations. Caregivers report preferring it, and the new
iteration will include Y N's response to ease-of-use questions (see Appendix BB Implementation
plan). Appendix HH shows recommendation starting points, and through that assistance and
instrument exploration, the instruments in Appendix II were selected. The validated instruments are
widely used in clinical settings for family and child individual and collective wellness. For this
innovative framework, the measures can be self-report or school social worker provided if that is
the point of contact for service engagement. Ease of use and reliability are excellent with these
45
measures and will accompany recommendations for measuring outcomes as this framework is
scaled. These evidence-based measuring tools are used throughout the project.
The objectives for this innovation are threefold. The first is to reduce the number of days a
student misses school by implementing the four-bucket, home-centric interventions. To measure
attendance rates for pilot students, this can be done by comparing their attendance a year prior, if
available due to rezoning and redistricting, plus by providing a basic transportation service that
immediately provides the youth the opportunity to attend school that day. The second is to increase
perceived wellness using the Perceived Wellness Survey (Roy, 2022) affecting social determinants of
health outcomes for family members, and the third is to measure changes in family-reported stress levels
using selected domains from the Child and Adolescent Needs (CANS) (Lyons, 2009), and for students
and caregiver, the PHQ9 and GAD will be administered bimonthly to assess changes in anxiety and
depression symptomology (whether a student is engaged in mental health services or not to monitor
changes in wellness and to mitigate liability and risk for the NPO). Pre-post, post-post evaluation,
and follow-up evaluation and follow-up cycles at first engagement outreach (via text and using
texting template portion).
Data Collection Plan
All data will be collected via text or by telephone interview if (beneficiaries prefer), and
verbal communications for the delivery of instruments for the measure will occur by the NPO
director, a trained clinician, to ensure proper delivery. Purposeful, low-contact, and best-practice
tools were selected as they can be administered as self-report. Text form returns can be completed
within 24 hours per the initial engagement agreement. Interns can send follow up texts and call
about barriers. The purpose of collecting data is to inform any processing changes that need to be
made regarding ease of use and to evaluate if the interventions are returning the desired outcomes
hoped for by beneficiaries (to have their scholar at school, to feel less stress at home, and to meet
46
basic needs and niche MS needs, and for NPO’s goal of delivering clean food and holistic items). If
change is occurring, what is it, and at what rate?
Creating a feedback loop to ensure material rolling-out is effective at this next level of
iterating is important. Also, continual communication with the school admin for attendance updates and
adherence will ensure all voices have the possibility of opting in for future phases and are being
provided the resource phase of items. Primary iterations occurred throughout the What If, What Wows,
and What Works stages, yet now a broader audience will be introduced to the intervention as a whole.
Identified champions will be active, and strong communication is necessary.
Formative and Summative Evaluation
At first touch with clients, families that engage will receive a text survey from the
framework creator’s intern team within 48 hours of initial outreach to inquire about their comfort
using text compared to calling. Users (teachers, admin, clinicians) will receive the same survey.
Texting data will only be collected at the initial contact point as this formative evaluation step, at the
onset, checks for any discomforts from users and beneficiaries that might create barriers to their
continued engagement. If any adverse interaction exists, a follow-up with the beneficiary will occur
within 24 hours of the adverse survey result.
Overall, monitoring the marker of absenteeism is both formative and summative as everyday
matters, and the overarching goal is increasing attendance, yet really, absence is only an indicator of
greater barriers. So, all days that transport is used will be denoted as a formative marker of success,
and the end of pilot change from the year prior will be considered summative. A pre-post-post-post
intervention structure allows for gathering content at several points of intervention and will inform
both the formative and summative outcomes. Ultimately, if data outcomes regularly presented to
IPS and the state of Indiana can help inform policy changes at the local, state, and federal level to
focus on home-centric discretionary funding for families, an ultimate summative goal would be met.
47
Communication Plan for reporting results/impact
At the onset, there will be known and unknown potential donors, stakeholders, bad actors,
gatekeepers, and champions, so phase outcomes can be shared in a myriad of ways via monthly quickread e-impact reports, caregiver messaging at pilot school, and CN school-based updates for clinicians
to privately share their clients, and CN SB team leader updates. Plus, postings on the website will occur
monthly that might validate donors and propagate new ones. Lastly, a Meta and X account will be
created, and updates will be provided for a broader audience reach (see Marketing Plan). The unknowns
of the evolving funding pools, the NPO startup activities and timeline changes, new actors joining as the
intervention builds, and funding-need evolutions will all impact communication plans.
Challenges/Limitations
Outer context barriers include the political climate, with emphasis on the presidential election
year, and the outcome changes that might occur at city, state, and national levels for funding and
research opportunities. However, as the intersection of MH and CA is viewed as a youth national crisis,
it is plausible that financial interests in absenteeism mitigation funding can remain bipartisan issue.
However, concern lays in the intervention emphasis endorsed by lawmakers (pejorative or partnering).
The Indianapolis urban core is a blue island otherwise steeped deep by red county and state boundaries
to the north, south, east, and west. The city of Bloomington and Muncie hold democratic voting blocks,
too, along with northern IN, near Chicago. However, ultimately, Together, We Got This! might
withstand outer context barriers of political change, as poverty and CA does affect all races.
“The inner context refers to the characteristics within an organization such as leadership,
organizational structures and resources, internal policies, staffing, practices, and characteristics of
individual adopters (e.g., clinicians or practitioners)” (Moullin et al., 2019, p.3). Organizational culture
in CN and IPS settings is optimistic for change and open to innovation. Also, alliances are enhanced,
and ease of use is increased due to existing partnerships. For inner systems of beneficiaries, trust
48
building and rapport maintenance are most important, and if properly implemented, can succeed as TIC
provides the implementation standards to maintain relations that are mindful of the internalizing,
externalizing, mistrust, reenactments, fear of persons in power, inabilities to self-regulate, and traumatic
cue responses neurologically active for the client holding trauma. (Blaustein & Kinniburgh, 2019;
Herman, 1997; Ogden et al., 2006; Han et al., 2021; Cassidy & Shaver, 2016).
Also, as mentioned, policy changes enacting Summer of 2024, in response to this research, will
better capture daily absences allowing more families equitable access to utilize intervention services.
Also, transportation use per family within the pilot will be capped on a per student basis based upon
bus transfer data collected and funding limitations. Additional unmet needs will be saved for data,
future budget projections, and grant writing. There is concern families will not be fully served
during the Texting and Transport stage, yet they will be informed when nearing their transport cap.
Lastly, as discussed, the hiding in-plain-sight youth suffering from homelessness and lack of
basic needs can only be revealed if the family feels comfortable enough to seek assistance. So, the
project will be limited to beneficiaries who deem it safe enough to reach out. This limitation is at
the forefront of the developer’s mind when creating text and visuals to welcome clients. Also, since
CA is the practice problem, through ethnographic study and school embedment, the researcher is
fully aware other students attend daily, and with profound unmet basic and relational needs. So,
some youth rule out in the pilot yet once the NPO is fully funded. In closing, stigma is a factor, and
this is a partnership, it is a hand-up, equalizing opportunity; we are all capable.
Conclusion and Implications
To start, iterations of this collaboration have already increased attendance rates at the IPS
school, as documented by rides that arrived at school and reports by youth receiving transport, and
personal products and food. The iterations provide a sense of belongingness too by helping youth
identify “who has their back,” when needing clothing for the next school day, clear backpacks, and
49
breakfast and snacks. The full rollout of this framework on a larger scale creates the first
comprehensive, measurable sample size for compelling experimental study data. The iterations
allow for isolating solution facets. The overall holistic buckets of the framework, providing items of
health, wellness, upscale basic needs, and access to education (transportation) have already created
a reduction in home domain family stress in the last two years, as evidenced by caregiver accounts
and measures provided. This equity of service availability and access to holistic basic needs
influences positive social impacts as they intersect with all dimensions of SDOH, social work’s GG
to Eliminate Racism, and the United Nations Universal Basic Human Rights (Nations, 2024).
Secondly, this collaborative process has already identified practice improvements in
attendance taking and data collection for IPS 2024-25 school year. Interest in the innovative
framework is also expressed for the creator to teach and supervise at a national award-winning
intern training institute. Next, IPS will receive outcome data to advocate for state and national
funding to innovate additional action steps filling the transport gap. Also, a state leader (outside of
Indiana) is interested in discussing how the framework might help their teachers build relations with
families in their schools. Before, the framework will be presented districtwide to all IPS MS leaders
in September 2024. Lastly, IN House and Senate bills examining CA in elementary children tabled
language examining older students, in Spring 2024. This research might help fill knowledge gaps.
Two next steps are expanding the texting medium, inspired by professor Dr. Eric Rice’s
research on the power of peer support (Barman-Adhikari et al., 2016), and adding a fourth
dimension of gender identity and sexual orientation intersection to the framework to further funnel
niche populations. Dr. Rice’s work could be applied to this problem space bolstering positive peer
culture and support relating to attendance. Also previously discussed, peer connectivity is
substantiated by University of Pennsylvania researcher Michael A. Gottfried and his research into
50
noting the likelihood of absenteeism by a student if 10% of their friends were absent the day prior
(Mervosh & Paris, 2024). Equally, honing a niche space for MS and sexuality holds great potential.
Further research and practice directions are needed to support undocumented Hispanic
families and to immediately advocate and obtain discretionary funds to for mandated youth;
attendance mandates without resource backing comes with emotional cost. First, local Hispanic
families hold a critical lack of resources and also fear of the helping systems. While this research is
Black youth-driven, Hispanic and white youth experiencing CA were interviewed and iterated
portions of the framework too. The other noteworthy finding related to youth mandated by court for
daily attendance. However, medication, hygiene, food and clothing needs were unmet, and
observations and accounts revealed emotional damage for MS youth feeling forced to school when
unprepared. Equally, staff are overburdened making accommodations to compensate for what
caregivers were unable to provide from home.
For the framework’s current state, finalizing the website and the high-fidelity printed materials
are the last action steps. The explanatory and home intervention pieces are complete. Overall, the most
important design process takeaway weaving throughout landscapes and limitations, is to never stop
asking who and what is still missing. Equally, is using Socratic questioning to reduce assumptionmaking and propagate curiosity. This flexible, scalable, and co-created intervention framework is
proposed as a viable theory of change to reduce CA. The school-based recommendations,
supporting literature, and words from youth and families enlighten and provide action steps for
educators and clinicians working to provide universal human rights that otherwise prove as barriers
for school attendance. The goal is low economic and human cost to produce high yields of attendance
and home wellness for MS families. This novel framework provides a way of thinking about and
intervening for a specific population at a critical human developmental stage; Together, We Got This!
51
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Appendix A
The Buckets
Below combines the youth and family-driven rationale for the home-centric bucket of
interventions and some literature references for domains not already covered in the body or
appendices of this research. The five buckets are Healthy House, Texting and Transport, Food and
Fashion, Sports and School, and Games and Grooming.
Healthy House
Trauma-Informed Design to Increase Feelings of Safety and Wellbeing
As discussed in Appendix A, both biophilic and trauma-informed design (TID) overlay
elements of each other and are burgeoning fields with robust researched wellness outcomes
positively contributing to SDOH (Davis Harte et al., 2022). The home interventions also have
culturally adapted practices and are endorsed by the TID Society and the American Society of
Interior Designers (ASID). As previously quoted, environmental influences are bidirectional and
affect the youth in multiple domains (which is not a new concept) (Bronfenbrenner, 1974, 1986;
Hong et al., 2019). As an ASID nationally recognized design specialist and associate for twenty
years and a trauma-focused clinical social worker, I have seen this intersection firsthand while
working with clients, nonclients, and families daily. Also, the personalized approach is congruent
with a CA catalyst of lacking belongingness discussed in the CA White House education summit in
May 2024. “The most successful approach districts in the state have used has been old-school doorknocking campaigns…knocked on the doors of families of students missing school and said, “We
miss you and want you back—how can we make that happen?” Lamont said (Peetz, 2024, p. 3).
TID calms the parasympathetic nervous system, and addressing the home environment is
integral to helping create a routine and less chaos so a child departs for school daily (Davis Harte et
80
al., 2022). Downregulating the traumatized individual and not artificially retriggering hyper
neurological states is its key to success (Owen & Crane, 2022).
The intervention nexus in Indianapolis is at crisis levels in unhoused families seeking permanent
residence and in school absenteeism, so looking at home design through this lens is a critical
intervention step not currently offered in the metro area. At 30 months, one of two consistent variables
predicting continued housing instability is the existence of unresolved trauma (SAMSHA, 2016;
SAMHSA, 2022). The SHIFT study found that 81% of unhoused mothers endorsed multiple traumatic
events (SMASHA, 2022). Meta-analysis reveals that 90% of all unhoused experienced one or more
ACEs before becoming unhoused (Liu et al., 2021). “The implications are clear, if we are to address
long-term residential instability for homeless families, we must address trauma. Otherwise, they
likely won’t stabilize,” said DeCandia (SAMHSA, 2016, p.2). Research on EBP’s of cultural and
biophilic design outcomes supports the TIC framework and the nexus of this innovative solution; Black
families are excellent framework fits (CEBC, 2023).
Some of the design tenets used for this intervention, along with article links for website use, are
explained below. The Home Health intervention will include education and application of color and the
use of light, with effects on mood, are well documented yet not equitably disseminated (ASID, 2023;
Blume et al., 2019; Jonauskaite et al., 2019; Pelet & Papadopoulou, 2012; Sharrah Stevens, 2023;
Staff, 2016; Westerlund, 2023; Xie et al., 2022). Furniture placement and overall exploration of
thought, task use, and moods in space will be explained and implemented (Israel, 2010; Sternberg,
2010), storage containers and systems provided for the creation of morning routine before school (filled
with essentials), live plants provided with a lens towards environmental justice, and plant therapy
(ASID, 2024; Brant, 2024), designing for PTSD (Westerlund, 2023) and decluttering spaces as our
eyes unconsciously scan our environments, processing our surroundings; clutter exhausts our processing
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capacities (Neuroscience News, 2023). Aromatherapy will also be provided (Bedosky, 2022, 2024;
Mehrabian et al., 2022) and cultural design links are below.
https://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/modern-african-inspired-interior-design-pictures
https://dosouth.com/afrocentrism/#:~:text=In%20design%20terms%2C%20Afrocentrism%20means,a%20contempora
ry%20’twist’).
Multisensory Interventions: Evidenced-Based Yet Lacking in Equitable Availability:
Equitable dissemination of education on the website and home or Zoom consult will provide
resources for multisensory interventions of mindfulness, yoga, breathing, gratitude journaling, listening
to music, aromatherapy (explained above), and proprioceptive experiences that enhance psyche-soma
integration and emotion regulation (Alaggia, 2014), therefore increasing student engagement capacity
and using stress reduction at home is efficacious. However, resources are lacking in Title 1 schools and
at home for implementation. Ashtanga yoga benefits PNS activation from C-PTSD and trauma types
such as systemic trauma, intergenerational trauma, developmental trauma (attachment), and shock
trauma (gun violence and police profiling (Allen, 2022); hydrotherapy for vagus nerve activation will be
discussed (Habib, 2016) as it is a non-equitably-shared trauma mitigation practice.
House products and needs thematically arose from 12-22 to 05-2024 via direct questioning or
needs otherwise mostly organically derived in conversations. Three not mentioned yet thematically reoccurred are having plants to care for (N=24) “Plants as Pets,” alarm clocks not connected to cell
phones, and water bottles as they are deemed a luxury item for many families. “My alarm clock is
connected to my phone, and it died overnight,” or “My brother took my phone and was playing on it and
turned off the alarm clock.” These easy fixes directly relate to missing the AM bus. Other requests
holistic menus, plants as pets. Steamers/humidifiers, nightlights, destress teas and aromatherapy
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Texting and Transport (Not published on site, for pilot and data use until scaled)
Both texting supportive efficacy literature (Attendance Works, 2022; House, 2024b) Most
importantly, the beneficiary caregivers at IPS report texting increases privacy, the ability to have
vulnerable conversations and ease of communication, so more messages are answered than if a
phone call must be returned. In a texting iteration of absent students from LMH in November 2024,
N=98, and the response rate was 45, almost a 46% response rate. The content for the Texting
Template is in Appendix **, and responses for absences outside of illness focused on transportation
problems, stress at home, bullying at school, youth being asked to stay home by admin, and youth
feeling not “equipped” for school (personal hygiene needs). NPO interns will dispatch Ubers, not
Lyft, as the former can transport minors.
Texting Outreach to Caregivers
A texting medium is also unanimously helping to reduce the number of days missed at
participating schools nationwide. 80% of students (mainly Black) tiered as at risk for absenteeism
and outreached before the year started were there for the first day. They were outreached via text
with education materials in a summer outreach pilot designed by the school’s leaders and African
American Achievement team (Abulon, 2023). In Kurki and Brown's (2020) study of texting
intervention types, with either attendance benefits or absenteeism consequences, both reduced
absence rates equally. More intensified messages that arrived directly from staff instead of
automated proved more effective in reducing absenteeism rates. Students with expected CA rates of
20.5% reduced absenteeism by upward of 3.6% in the first pilot of the program (AIR, 2020).
Texting interventions are also used in Attendance Works by Dr. Schneider and are contained
in frameworks describing strategies employed to reduce absenteeism (Rogers et al., 2019). The
Connect-Text program was piloted in Pittsburgh Public Schools, and 90% of care providers opted in
for the pilot. Not only did the medium provide a conduit inquiry and concern systems for schools to
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outreach care providers, but it also provided unintended consequences of opening dialogue for care
providers to tell staff what they needed (to get students to school, i.e., bus cards) and only 13.3% on
students were CA instead of the 24.4% rate expected based off prior school year (2015-16) (Rogers
et al., 2019). As previously stated, care providers prefer text mediums (due to work schedules and
privacy).
Lack of Transportation and Basic Needs; Policy and Practices
In Indianapolis Public Schools, 40.7% of enrolled Black students are unhoused, as
previously mentioned, and current students depend on the transportation aspect of the services to
attend school. However, one student missed ten consecutive calendar days of school in April-May
2023, creating a chronic absence state while awaiting car services funded by McKinney-Vento Act.
The McKinney-Vento Act protects confidentiality and provides continuity of education funds for
unhoused students; the youth are disproportionately Black (Cermak, 2018; NCHE, 2020). The
subgrants deliver benefits to Title I schools (US Department of Education, 2018), yet competitive
grant application processes lure wealthier schools to hire grant writers. Only New Jersey received
subgrant funding for all its LEAs in 2018 (NCHE, 2020)This policy-to-practice solution unveiled
gaps in practice that leave students and families unattended. Schools need more funds because
McKinney Vento grants are insufficient or not won.
However, a newer Greenlights Grant Initiative announced by Actor Matthew McConaughey
in July 2023 describes and attempts to alleviate the confusing grant-writing and competitive
winning process to increase both child safety and child wellness at schools in America (Blad,
2023b; Greenlights Grants Initiative, 2023). These grants can bolster transportation gaps to get
students to school on time and safely. The initiative just rolled out, so data on its success rate still
needs to be available. However, all current solutions explored in the literature and interviews
include intervening for transportation needs.
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Food and Fashion
Below is information about inequitable access to clean food, a professional area of the
researcher’s expertise that intersects with the CBPAR outcomes related to why youth miss school.
Equally important is fashion, which is understood from this nexus framework of social awareness
and physical growth. MS peers are acutely aware of each other’s judgments and acceptances.
Equally, MS youth reporting donations are usually “too small,” “already really used,” or “really
basic,” and they feel “forgotten about.” Youth report little kids get the new stuff. Iterations and
expansions on scholar reports of “needing clothes” were neither exaggerated in quantity nor cost
and related more to color, texture, and tactile feeling of hoodies (for girls) in the winter and “cute”
shirts, regardless of the brand, in the summer. Boys appeared to appreciate plain and solid t-shirts,
which they reported getting dirty or stained quickly, and the Nike brand Champion 9secondary)
hoodies. Lastly, socks are a universal need, and reports say, “We don’t have enough money for more
or new socks; they’re not that important.” The volume needed was not great, yet the yield of feeling
supported, excitement for an item, and reduced bullying concerns were high. Some IPS MS teachers
recognized this gap and, during the 2023-34 school year, began a “Tickets for Treasures” drive
accepting items and cash donations from staff and the community to purchase trendy items. The
students could earn behavior and academic-based tickets for purchasing items.
Regarding food, the literature is compelling and agreed upon that access to a diet comprised
of whole, nutrient-dense foods without food additives of preservatives, flavor enhancers, and
artificial coloring will lead to many positive health outcomes compared to multi-processed foods
culminating in a product far from the original whole-state source. Also known as the availability of
clean food at affordable prices and with easy walking or public transport distance, close to home, is
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inequitably available. The issue of food quality and availability also intersects with the MS age
group because teens enjoy processed chips and snacks. Popular are Takis and Sprite.
However, snacks without preservatives, artificial colors, or dyes were still processed and
considered “great” and were successfully supplied to youth for two calendar years, approximately
N=94. All food items were all natural, most non-GMO at worst, and most organic at best, as
supplied by the researcher. Students would load their bookbags with snacks for the weekend, as
most reported insufficient food. Others ate from the nearby gas stations while increasingly asking
about health, wellness, and what was “good” for them or “not good.” Breakfast needs also arose
thematically as most reported not having quick and fresh breakfast accessible items; clementines
rolled out of the office daily in the morning hours.
This intervention will outsource low-budget, quick breakfast and snack deliveries for pilot
beneficiaries, therefore removing inequity of access and cost. The Phase II budget describes the
weekly allocation, and selections will be limited yet grade-level and allergen-specific, focusing on
fresh fruits and clean breakfast bars. Below are excerpts and quotes regarding food injustice;
research abounds on inequitable access. Foremost, researchers find that nonwhite shoppers are more
likely to check ingredients and seek out better food selections than white shoppers; however, they
usually cannot afford to live close to the best shopping options.
“Findings suggest that minority populations consider saving money, driving less, having a
better selection of foods, and have the ability to buy organic foods as an important factor
when choosing where to buy foods. Further, minority populations across the nation need to
drive a significantly greater (p < 0.05) amount of time to reach their destinations than white
populations (Sansom & Hannibal, 2021).”
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In Indianapolis, Indiana University Health has received a $2.9 million grant to bring fresh
food and cooking to urban Indianapolis residents (IU School of Medicine, 2023).
“Survey responses also showed Black Americans check food labeling, including GMO ingredients
and place of origin, more often than other groups (Garnder, 2022).” Indiana’s United Way South
Central Indiana CEO states, “Food is available if you can afford it,” he said. “We can talk about
food insecurity, but if you can’t find it, you can’t afford it, you don’t have a car to get to it, you
have to pay your rent, and you’re making a decision — Do I eat or do I pay my rent or do I pay my
light bill? — that’s an economic problem (Avery, 2024, p.3).” Rogers said 23% of residents in
south-central Indiana are living in poverty, and live one accident or catastrophe away from
it. (Avery, 2024). Indianapolis 2022 data shows 21% of children living in poverty (Benson, 2023)
and with some census tracts, via the use of spatial scale, revealing upwards of 40-100% poverty and
persistent poverty (Dobis et al., 2019) which encompasses many portions of the IPS public school
system.
Lastly, holding this problem in place is that according to the Partnership for Healthier
America, low-cost foods are disproportionately advertised to low-income and minority
communities, predisposing many to diet-related diseases. Recently, the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) stated, “39.4 million Americans continue to live in communities where it is far
easier for most residents to buy grape soda instead of a handful of grapes (Buchanan, 2021,
p.2).” Partnership for a Healthier America CEO Nancy Roman also notes marketing disparities of
processed and low-cost food items being media-driven to nonwhite shoppers (Roman, 2021). The
inequitable access to clean food and marketing drivers focusing on unhealthy options is a profound
form of systemic oppression and SDOH adversities for nonwhite youth; that is not ok.
Grooming and Games: A Nexus Framework Understanding
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The grooming portion of this bucket is also addressed based on real-time feedback from
youth over two years who find hygiene supplies donated at school are not necessarily made for their
skin types, scent trends, and the wintertime supplies of moisturizers run very low. Also, MS-specific
body sprays and scents are missing for both male and female youth, along with deodorants for their
ever-changing bodies. These low-cost, high-yield items will easily be distributed via outsourced
deliveries to homes. Also, home deliveries reduce embarrassment as youth try to hide grooming and
personal items in clear, safety-required backpacks.
Secondly, and reported in the body of this research, are firsthand accounts of grooming
barriers increasing absenteeism rates directly and as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s
back. The literature supports the relationship between lack of basic needs, loss of learning and
disengagement, and decreased school attendance, as cited in the body of this research. Operating at
the nexus of understanding MS human and social developmental changes and fears of peer
judgment might assist some adult teachers and caregivers in understanding this is not a domain easy
to “suck up” for MS youth. Youth report embarrassment of “being smelly and getting bullied at
school,” having “chalky” skin in the winter, feeling afraid to show their arms, having frizzy hair or
oily hair, and being unable to fix it.
In the Together, We Got This! effort to provide equitable access to holistic and whole
persons and families, this subsection decreases screen time and increases multisensory engagement
(already cited), which helps nonwhite youth entertainment in the home domain. Games are a catchy
word for middle schoolers and do not immediately evoke the type described below. However, the
ones described herein cost money and were organically iterated via observational trends in the
clinical room or in Q&A surveys to youth. Interest in conventional games arose from non-initiated
conversations of youth reporting, “I am so bored at home.” “Summer will suck; there’s nothing to
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do.” “No, holiday break won’t be fun; it’s cold and boring.” “Yeah, I love Connect Four, but we
don’t have it at home.” “Uno is my favorite, but I don’t have any cards.” “Legos are the best!!! But
they are so expensive.”
Made to Move
Extensive literature exists on the connection between physical movement and mental health
wellness along with improved sleep cycles that can assist youth sleep hygiene regulation to decrease
missed busses and increase mood at school. This webpage is still under construction (as are some
others) and will include links to articles about movement along with indoor activities critical to
urban youth success. Many IPS MS youth report outside is too dangerous and other times of year
too cold for outside activities. Yoga iterations and anonymous survey feedback were provided with
the rationale that yoga can occur in a small space and is significantly effective at reducing MH
symptomology of anxiety, depression, and PTSD (see below). While yoga is efficacious at school,
initial survey reports revealed open-mindedness to the practice at home, “Where it is private and
everybody won’t be looking at me,” like in a classroom setting. So, perhaps teaching at school and
having The Good in People resources can help youth practice at home. The research below
demonstrates that regular practice at school does increase feelings of belongingness, and perhaps
regularity of instruction can decrease embarrassment for scholars. This other awareness is MSniched and again demonstrates why targeted interventions to reduce CA must include human
developmental awareness of stages and ages. Below is the yoga-based literature for review and a
researcher-created PowerPoint about Yoga.
Teaching educators opportunities for consistent messages in non-threatening and predictable
manners increases student feelings of safety and belongingness at school (Teicher & Samson, 2016)
(SAMHSA, 2012), (Minihan, 2019). Yoga is incorporated into school-based programming with the
efficacy of providing student engagement and combatting internalizing disorders such as depression
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(Bridges & Sharma, 2017), substance use (Kuppili et al., 2018), and poor behaviors leading to
suspension, expulsion, and therefore absenteeism from school. Yoga for detention (Jones, 2019) is also
burgeoning, and the Holistic Life Foundation assisted 40 schools with mindfulness intervention and
yoga, with student outcome reports that yoga saved their lives (Holistic Life Foundation, 2023).
However, the unintended consequences of inducing mistrust, especially for childhood sexual abuse and
trauma, decrease student engagement (Lilly & Hedlund, 2010). Hinton (2020) and the Hamilton Project
strategies directly correlate lower absenteeism rates to students feeling care and support cultures at
school. For the school, only 30% of students felt belongingness at the end-of-year survey provided via
Dr. Bottley 2023. The Hamilton Reports catalyzed by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) outlays CA
as the fifth indicator. It also reminds us that goal setting must be attainable to avoid intentionally
suspending low-performing students during standardized testing days (Schanzenbach et al., 2016).
As a trauma-informed practice and solution strategy, yoga in schools is proven to reduce
anxiety and tension, heightened cortisol concentrations indicative of toxic stress, and increase
feelings of belongingness in 49 urban youth by practicing ten weeks of yoga for 30 minutes (Butzer
& Flynn, 2018). Also, 142 sixth graders used mindful yoga for only four minutes per day in ELA
class, and students self-reported increased emotional regulation. Yoga is incorporated into schoolbased programming to provide student engagement and combat internalizing disorders such as
depression (Bridges & Sharma, 2017) and substance use (Kuppili et al., 2018). Academic
performance is also positively affected by yoga practice and, therefore, increasing GPA, which
reduces dropout risks (Butzer & Flynn, 2018). This is a low-cost strategy and can be received via
video, and all poses are non-threatening and designed for beginning child levels. Multisensory
interventions also provide opportunities for consistent messages in non-threatening and predictable
manners that increase students’ feelings of safety and belongingness at school (Teicher & Samson,
2016) (SAMHSA, 2012), (Minihan, 2019).
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Overall, the intervention buckets, outlined in this paper and visible on the website and
information materials disseminated to beneficiaries and users, bring equitable opportunity to learn
the cross connectivity of environment; both internal and external, and its effects on all forms of
human wellness and the social determinants of health currently demarcated in one measurable data
category of lifespan for Indianapolis urban residents. The 2015 life expectancy was 69.4, yet in
neighboring Carmel, with only 3.53% of Black residents (WPR, 2024) is 83.7 years and age 68 in the
46218 zip code with 68.1% Black residents, currently (CISF, 2023). “A baby born in south central
Indianapolis is expected to live a shorter life than a baby born in Iraq (Weathers et al., 2015, p.1).”
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Appendix B
Brief Analysis of Existing In-School Climate Solutions to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism: IPS
MS Experiences Shared
Please note the use of texting medium for communication and transportation gaps are in Appendix A
Disparate Punishment and Feelings of Belongingness: Removing Onus from the Youth
From January to May 2023, 36 seventh and eighth-grade middle schoolers individually,
unprompted, and thematically disclosed that teachers do not like them and yell “consistently” or
“too much” and the numbers rose dramatically the following school year. These professional
experiences aligned with the May 2023 and January and May 2024 semi-structured interviews about
absenteeism reasons. Youth report feeling staff are unwarrantedly directive and authoritatrian.
Crutchfield, Phillippo, and Frey examine implicit bias practices in schools and focus on how
school-based social workers (SSWs) can place greater focus on systemic racism (Crutchfield et al.,
2020). It is important to remember that implicit bias can run across and through race, as white
racism is overtly and covertly detrimental. As well research at IPS MS also revealed Black staff
knowingly raised their voices at Black youth, and some thematic reports, “You bet I am hard on
them; I know what’s out there and what they’re up against. I need to get them ready” (Confidential
Interview, April 2024). This theme emerges twice in this research paper for innovative solutions as
it is perhaps an area for exploration. Equally, youth report fear of some teachers, yet they report
being firm because they care about the scholars. Ultimately though, the cycle returns to racism and
is yet another byproduct of White oppression. They propose using the SSW model, emphasizing the
ecological framework of problems, not the individual, and co-creating school policy via exploration
with affected families.
Social workers also use a TIC lens to address the complexities of CA and is delivered with an
understanding of structural racism (SAMHSA, 2021). However, noteworthy was the lack of school
social workers and the lack of funds to address needs that relayed by students and families. One of the
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six guiding principles, Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues, directly names racism, and the other five
principles work to address toxic stress exposures (TICIRC, 2020). The Crisis Prevention Institute,
Educator Training, as mentioned in the IPS recommendation holds great promise in reducing infractions
and teacher burnout through the awareness of speech cadence, Socratic questioning, body language, and
other de-escalating and partnering interactions (CPI, 2024)
Perera posts that school-wide programs can have mixed results and that School-Wide
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) can lead to an overall reduction in
suspensions yet not in race-based disparity on who is disciplined (Perera, 2022). Firestone et al.,
report data from SWPBIS is oft not disaggregated and that overall, the intervention might benefit
White compared to nonwhite students (Cruz et al., 2021). My Teacher Partner Secondary (MTP-S)
examines how to mitigate teacher bias. MTP began as a primary education tool and now assists
secondary levels of MS and HS. The hallmark is the use of video clips in teacher’s sessions of
classroom interactions. Vulnerability is a significant hallmark, and the strength of coaches promotes
buy-in and subsequent work to increase the positive engagement portions of interactions, what
keeps, and how students engage. “What is that teacher doing in that moment that’s working? And
that’s where the whole strengths-based approach comes in (Foster, 2021, p.6).”
A randomized control trial explored reducing the race-based discipline gap by focusing on
teachers via the use of coaches as teacher partners (Gregory et al.., 2016), and the findings are
promising to reduce racial inequalities (Perera, 2022). The onus is on the educators, not the youth,
as the responsible change agents. MTP-S reports a study from an urban MS and HS revealed
increased student engagement and a “reduction in racial discrepancies in exclusionary disciplinary
practices (Foster, 2021, p. 1) with lasting effects post-intervention.
As Mitchell bluntly states “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist” to understand that kids won’t
do their best if their basic needs – mental or physical health-wise – aren’t being met (Mitchell, 2022).”
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The Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) model is recently under scrutiny for its lack of cultural
adaptability. The creation-to-practice is illuminating its incorrect usage as school-based without actively
involving the home environment (Mitchell, 2022). Also, Ford argues that the lack of culture and identity
formation celebration in some SEL programs is causing Black students emotional harm, not help (D.
Ford, 2020). Furthermore, Black educators are only 7% of the teaching field yet encompass 13% of the
nation’s population (Terada, 2021) and are currently leaving the field as they are asked to tackle equity
issues, and be disciplinarians of problem classrooms without additional recognition of competency
(Terada, 2021). Yet, research shows that having one Black teacher in grades K-3 leads to a 13% greater
likelihood of H.S. graduation (Gregory et al.., 2016) and a 19% greater likelihood of college enrollment
(Gershenson et al., 2021).
While workshops, training, and telehealth modalities use the power of technology to create and
disseminate information, it is only as equitable as its creator’s design. Historical mistrust runs deep, and
without the user’s voice, interventions waste resources, time, and morale (LaVeist et al., 2000), (Mor
Barak, 2016). Zhang et al. explored artificial intelligence (AI) predictive outcomes, finding that
algorithmic bias can worsen inequity. If creation bias is not respected, interventions incorrectly identify
the problem (Costanza-Chock, 2018; Zhang et al., 2021). Conversely, The Response to Intervention
(RTI) and Multitiered System of Support (MTSS) are data-driven school frameworks currently critiqued
for lack of equity-based outcomes in closing racial achievement gaps; they are data-created and humanimplemented (Dundas, 2020). Again, the need for climates of inclusion (Brimhall & Mor Barak, 2018)
and bidirectional communication between intended users, beneficiaries, and the creators that shape
technology benefits and bias.
For the IPS MS, teacher support is an important part of the solution landscape, as the
majority of the surveyed respondents state they are burned out and do need psychoeducation,
knowledge of what mental health behaviors look like in the classroom, and a strengths-based
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approach that aligns with Wells and Foster’s findings (2022). Restructuring leads to re-culturing
which requires deconstructing existing beliefs and values and adopting other ways of thinking and
behaving” (Friend & Caruthers, 2012, p. 367-368).
Trauma-Informed Multidimensional Interventions Congruent with IPS Family Interviews
In Seaford, DE, Dr. Laura Schneider, who provided a 60-minute personal interview, reduced
Black student absenteeism to 7% from 30% in 2021; Black youth comprise 40% of her school, a
similar representation of Black youth as the IPS MS (Dr. Laura Schneider Interview, personal
communication, June 14, 2023; Superville, 2023). Dr. Schneider uses several Attendance Works as
a reference and framework with a multi-tiered system, works effortlessly on buy-in and continuous
attendance team championing, and will drive to pick up students absent during the first ten minutes.
Attendance Works approach and its creator, Heidi Chang (Attendance Works, 2022), referred to
throughout this paper, was a groundbreaker in holistic CA intervention strategies and provided
resources to schools nationwide.
Harvard University’s Proving Ground is a pilot-based, iterative, and evidence-based
program working with 60 partners and 500,000 students nationally to mitigate CA. The multifaceted approach is trauma-informed care-centered with voice and choice with a goal of exploring
root causes without making assumptions to produce the highest yield outcomes. It utilizes proven
strategies via its network partners to rapidly and effectively apply evidence to each challenge (Proving
Ground, 2024). The university iterates and pilots multiple practices, and one of its initiatives, a
postcard mailing pilot, reduced CA for participating schools by 7.9% in one year. The program has
yet to test efficacy for middle schools, as it was piloted in K-5. However, the education provided in
the postcard content, the personal outreach, and the encouragement of bi-directional communication
all appear to hold efficacious elements for Indianapolis families based on their interview feedback
(CEPR, 2023).
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The home visit lens of awareness is growing as continued barriers to in-person meetings and
philosophical understandings of the benefits of meeting a family in their environment grow. The
concept is not new yet is permeating, post pandemic, due to the CA crisis. Some districts did not find
summer home visits efficacious to increase attendance like Syracuse City School District once using
Harvard University’s Proving Ground partnership pre-pandemic (Harvard University, 2020). Parent
Teacher Home Visits (PTHV) training program is another program that has expanded from eight
Sacramento school sites to 393 sites with 32,915 home visits in 2022-23 alone (PTHV, 2024).
McKnight et al., as independent researchers in 2022, interviewed PTHV users, 107 educators, and 68
caregivers to explore changes in empathy, implicit biased mindsets, and institutionalized racism at the
school level (McKnight et al., 2022). Outcomes of visits lifted assumptions that caregivers were
indifferent about a student’s education yet unable to transport them to school for conventional parent
meetings or cookouts, misled some educators into believing families were not engaged (McKnight et
al., 2022). This research is congruent with this framework iterations of home-based deliveries and
meetings, enabling families to communicate their needs and demonstrate their strengths.
A school district in Bridgeport, CT district, launched the Learner Engagement and
Attendance Program, too, with several intervention points that relate to IPS MS reported needs.
Their program included hiring private transportation companies for students who are unhoused and
living outside of the district and also providing bus and metro cards. As well, they incentivized with
free breakfast for all students to ease morning stressors (Ferrarin, 2022). The program holds six
dimensions to its intervention, and in year one, from 2021-2022, the 15 schools district-wide
initiative increased attendance by 1.65% over the previous year.
Low-cost mailings to increase communication and belongingness in Philadelphia and
California for 10,000 students and families reduced CA rates from 8-15% depending on the type of
message received (from general reminders to personalized outreach encouragement), whereas there
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was no change in absenteeism rates for control groups (Bauer et al., 2018). Specific message
content could be piloted at IPS MS, yet the medium is potentially unhelpful as care providers move
frequently.
Attendance Works, a groundbreaker and leader in CA mitigation, provides a three-tiered
Response to the Intervention (RTI) Model with Tier I low-cost, school-wide strategies, Tier 2 more
costly relating to staff time or economics that include mentors for higher risk students, and Tier I for
difficult situations. Tier I interventions are for students missing 20% or more of days and involve
multidisciplinary and wraparound services for a child and family (Attendance Works, 2018; Bauer
et al., 2018). The website is comprehensive and full of downloadable tools and strategies for
mitigating and ways to think about CA. Chang, as quoted throughout this research, is a leading
voice and guidepost for the nation’s current CA crisis.
Lastly, the Hamilton Report, like social-emotional learning solutions, emphasizes the
relationship between school climate satisfaction and school attendance for middle school youth and
cautions against a singular solution. Their framework includes consistent data monitoring of school
disciplinary practices and suspension types to understand how and why a student receives
infractions.
Incentive-Based Attendance Rewards and IPS MS
Lastly, incentive-based interventions are discussed as they directly affected student-reported
moods when utilized at the iterating site. The efficacy is mixed in the literature, congruent with
scholar reports, and is highly niched at grade-level intervention points (Attendance Works, 2023;
Balu & Ehrlich, 2018). For example, in-school ice cream parties create adverse feelings when youth
cannot control their caregiver’s auto repair or gas needs. Compounded is the lack of a CBPAR
approach, consistent with Balu and Ehrlich’s findings, of hurting youth engagement and esteem.
“Taking the time to define and understand a problem before introducing a solution…In considering
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the use of incentives more closely, at times, there appears to be substantial misalignment,
inefficiency, and ineffectiveness in the use of incentives aimed at improving students’ attendance
(Balu & Ehrlich, 2018, p.7)
As of March 2024, Indiana policymakers focused on CA and enacted wrap-service meetings
for elementary student families who are habitually truant. Also, the families must be reported to the
state prosecutor’s office. The bill focused on lower school schools, and SB 282’s author, Senator
Stacy Donato, created language in an effort to study older students and the root cause of truancy.
However, language for studying older students was removed; the bill passed on March 13, 2024
(INSB, 2024); MS students are left unstudied.
As seen in Indiana, reports of truancy do not seem to be the CA solution. Sharon Bradley,
Director of Family and Social Services for Plato Independent School District (TX), explored root
cause for CA and has reduced truancy referrals from 444 in 2017-18 to 24 in 2023-24 (Will, 2024).
More affluent Indiana school districts are seeing less CA, and again, wrap and individualized
attention to families appears to work at all school districts. However, demand for wrap outweighs
supply in many urban locales (Smith, 2023) including Indianapolis, IN.
Policy Meeting Practice Problems
Of critical importance, no matter what solution is presented is the outcomes versus intention.
McKinney-Vento Act, which protects confidentially and provides continuity of education and activity
funds unhoused students, which disproportionately serves Black students (Cermak, 2018; NCHE, 2020),
reminds us of the continual need to assess policy to practice outcomes. The subgrants deliver benefits to
Title I schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2018), yet competitive grant application processes lure
wealthier schools to hire grant writers. Only New Jersey received subgrant funding for all its LEAs in
2018 (NCHE, 2020). Also, a 2016 study revealed that 55% of liaisons nationally believed their school
was doing a “good job” connecting students to services, and 26% stated a “fair” job (Ingram et al.,
98
2017). However, provision knowledge was low. Liaisons are underservicing clients. The MV fund
availability and disbursement are critically important to the IPS Black community, where 82% of
Indianapolis unhoused families with young children are Black (Waiss, 2022).
Also, as mentioned in this paper and seen at the IPS MS, not all families report homelessness
due to child protective service intervention fears, while others are not aware of what wraps can be paid
for by MV, therefore leaving needs unmet. Lastly, the MV transportation services for youth only help
those registered as unhoused, yet can still have service gaps, and other countless families do not have
backup when their only method is either nonfunctional, out of gas, or missed due to accidental sleeping
in or changed bus route due to a move.
Promising policy outcomes are recently seen with newer initiatives preparing trauma-informed
schools and embedding policies that highlight direct and indirect discriminatory intent to mitigate racial
bias. The University of California’s Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools revealed
a 35% increase in student attendance with its model (Morsy & Rothstein, 2019).
Clinical Interventions for Black Youth That Address Trauma, Race Identity and Racism
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TFCBT) is a best-practice intervention for Black
adolescents. TF-CBT is a gold standard treatment for ages three to eighteen (de Arellano, 2020),
(MUSC, 2017) while providing an opportunity for culturally adapting trauma narratives (Woods-Jaeger
et al.., 2017), a newly- launched Spanish TF-CBT (MUSC, 2020) and three pillars of culturally adapted
TF-CBT for Black teens. It validates risk factors of racial stress and trauma while recognizing racial
socialization’s buffering effects (Metzger, 2020). However, of note, clients living in unsafe
environments are TF-CBT rule-outs (Cohen et al.., 2012), (Courtois, 2004), (Gaston, 2017), unhoused
are ruled out, and both rule-outs affect Black populations disproportionately.
Mendelson et al.’s trauma-informed urban eighth-grade intervention measuring absenteeism and
suspension rates (Project POWER) Promoting Options for Wellness and Emotional Regulation
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(Mendelson et al., 2020) takes a holistic approach to multidimensions directly causing and contributing
to CA in 32 Baltimore urban schools. The Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration
utilized LEAP (Learner Attention and Engagements Program) in 2021 to re-engage chronically absent
students post-COVID. Profoundly positive attendance rate increases of 30% arose in Hartford district
children. The most successful intervention facets still need to be clarified, but thematically home visits
were more efficacious than telehealth, increased attendance and feelings of belongingness (Stemler et
al., 2022).
Lastly, school-based health centers (SBHC) demonstrate absenteeism reduction and are
significantly associated with outcomes of school commitment for Black students, hence less
absenteeism and improved healthcare access; SBHCs correlate to improved mental, physical, and life
quality measures (Strolin-Goltzman et al.., 2014). Bringing care to student settings is an equitable
solution. Moreover, with SBHC and nurse availability, Black students who disproportionately
experience asthma feel more comfortable attending school (Telljohann et al., 2004). Another program,
Diplomas Now, operates AttenDANCE and rewards MS students for being present at least 95% of
the second quarter of school. The incentives such as attending dances, is wrapped in services like
tutoring, calling homes if youth is absent, and case management of healthcare and counseling; the
program is now implemented in Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Miami (Morsy &
Rothstein, 2019) and illuminates the power of the school-to-home connection. A district-wide Count
Me In! in California uses rewards to shift family thinking styles around attendance importance and
is efficacious in MS and HS (Morsy & Rothstein, 2019). “The most successful anti-absentee
programs involve close tracking of attendance, identifying reasons for absence, building strong
relationships with students and families, recognizing students for good attendance, and having
assigned staff members to follow up with students who are absent (AFT, 2016, 2023, p.4).”
Trauma-Informed Design to Increase Feelings of Safety and Wellbeing
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A burgeoning field with robust wellness outcomes and culturally adapted practices is
biophilic and trauma-informed design (TID) (Davis Harte et al., 2022). This intervention within the
trauma-informed care framework is being used, is a new framework, and is endorsed by SAMHSA,
in hospitals, shelter networks, the TID Society, and the American Society of Interior Designers
(Davis Harte et al., 2022; SAMSHA, 2022, 2023a), as is implemented in homeless shelters and for
children and families (Administrator, 2018; K. Baker, 2020). Both settings are important solutions
for landscape explorations to reduce CA for Black families due to previously discussed percentages
of Black unhoused children and families. Equally, trauma-informed school design implementations
are efficacious and engaging. Dr. Bottley also reported that painting lockers, personalizing outdoor
walls with student art, and garden projects could be initiated at IPS MS. She had prior success
experience with student engagements and reducing absenteeism via fun incentives to create art at
school and integrate more nature and natural sciences and materials at school, congruent with TID
and biophilic design (IPS, personal communication, May 25, 2023; McCoy, 2017).
School Food
Some youth reported wanting seconds and “not being allowed to,” while many report, “The
plastic wrap on everything is really, really too much.” The topic of food is a national conversation,
especially for Title I schools and the perceived quality of items that are served. At the IPS MS food
could receive greater exploration and is currently beyond this paper’s scope. However, in keeping
with the focus on integrating population-based feedback and current solution landscape strategies
that are working to reduce chronic absenteeism, a Syracuse University study directly linked free
school meals with reduced chronic absences by 5.4% in New York City public schools. The study
states that leaders should use CA data intersecting with income levels to implement free lunches at
the highest-needs schools immediately (Merod, 2023)Also, the Breakfast After the Bell program in
Nevada and Colorado in high-poverty schools dropped absenteeism rates by 8% in K-8 and 16% in
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high schools. Allowing students longer access to food items was beneficial. The drivers behind its
success (meaning reduced stigma for free lunches or simply food as the motivator) are unknown,
but the efficacy is there. Moving on to taste, more student feedback is needed to define this food.
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APPENDIX C
Disparate Punishment Rates
The definition of CA includes the category of out-of-school suspensions. Understanding the racebased disparate rates of suspension and expulsion (leading to CA) for Black youth is essential. This action
by educators and the subsequent reaction of internalizing destructive messages sent to Black youth adds
significant and varying absenteeism rates for Black youth. Disparate punishment increases the rates of
grade repeats and dropouts (Chen, 2022). School-based infractions also demonstrate racism’s effects
and standards that inequitably reprimand using a skin-colored lens and hold the problem in place.
Some research reveals that receiving even one out-of-school suspension increases the CA risk rate by
350% (J. E. Ford & Triplett, 2019). The Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office found that
Black youth are punished more harshly than their White peers for the same infractions (Chen, 2022).
Nationally, Black students comprise 15% of enrolled K-12 children yet receive 38% of the
exclusionary discipline (US Department of Education, 2021). Indiana’s youth Black population is
11.3%, and the White population is 77.3% (IYI, 2022), yet disaggregated data on suspension rates by
race is not available. At one Indianapolis middle school facility, staffing shortages held the problem
in place as in-school suspension support was not available for the number of students who were
infracted daily. So, out-of-school suspension occurred at higher rates than teachers and staff would
otherwise prefer (Interview with WF Teacher, personal communication, June 9, 2023).
The direct effect of CA also affects building social relationships, community development, and
career opportunities (AFT, 2016).
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Appendix D
History and Evolution of CA and Racism
While the state of Massachusetts was the first to create compulsory education laws in 1852, after
passing the previous law while a British Colony in 1647, the concept of mandatory education dates to
ancient Judea (Schonrock, 2016). It began with oppression embedded in America because it protected
children against child labor. However, the system framework needs to account for impoverished family
circumstances, which may be unable to be proscribed to the structured settings. Also, enforcement is not
federally mandated, so significant variation in regulations exists (Schonrock, 2016). White-defined
excused compared to unexcused absences have been explored, yet the history of the problem is not
complete without describing the multi-stressed family barriers and daily life obstacles creating this
school-based problem.
As achievement gaps widened, federal efforts attempted to mitigate them. The Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 provided grants to districts educating low-income youth to
improve education and provide scholarships for low-income college students (U.S. Department of
Education, 2019). No Child Left Behind (NCLB) of 2002 relied on standardized test outcomes to
demarcate benchmark achievements or failures of schools; sanctions for failure are criticized as students
did not accept offers to switch schools away from failing ones (Klein, 2015). So, struggling schools and
students were penalized instead of helped. Furthermore, states like Indiana filed and received waivers
removing them from NCLB standards, so they do not measure low-income school progress (Lindsay,
2019). Now former President Barak Obama’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 replaced
NCLB and integrated non-academic measures to widen the lens of success and risk factors (Jordan,
2017) “Teachers have been taking the roll since the one-room schoolhouse (Jordan, 2017, p.1).” Only
recently are educators beginning to connect toxic (chronic stress) from traumatic event exposures to
academic, graduation, and absenteeism (Morsy & Rothstein, 2019; Nelson et al., 2020).
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Recent History of CA Measurement
Collecting absenteeism data nationally for meta-analysis is a newer practice in the education and
cross-disciplinary fields. In 2013, the Civil Rights Data Collection gathered national absenteeism
information from all public school systems in America and found non-universalized standards existed
for reporting (Attendance Works, 2018). In June of 2022, research from pandemic-related absenteeism
and state practices illuminated vast differences in reporting codes, non-universalized definitions of
tardiness and absences, and five states not reporting any type of attendance (virtual or in person). While
the majority of states have mandatory in-person attendance taking, some states, like S. Dakota and
Idaho, did not require any attendance recording for the 2021-2022 school year (Attendance Works,
2022). However, as Gottfried et al. explain the new cross-disciplinary attention that CA is now receiving
can help shift the nation towards universalized best practices, definitions, and targeted contributing
factors (such as transportation, health, and discipline policies) causing the problem (Rogers et al., 2019).
Every Student Every Day works. (Attendance Works, 2018).
105
Appendix E Timeline
106
Appendix F Indiana School Finance Profile
107
Appendix F Continued
108
Appendix G
TIC Visual & Intersecting MS
109
Appendix H
Second Window of Opportunity Visual
https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/933-the-adolescent-brain-a-second-window-ofopportunity-a-compendium.html
110
Appendix I
Community-Based Participatory Action Research Approach
111
Appendix J
Innovation Framework for Preventing and Intervention: Let’s Go!
112
Appendix K
Appendix Initial Interviewees Identity Coding Sample
MS students (Black (B) male (M), Hispanic (H) female (F) and one White (W) M), care providers of
students (BM and BF), teachers (Black M and F and one WF), admin (BF), mental health clinicians and
life skills clinicians working with IPS students (BM and BF), a London software developer (Nonwhite
M), the City of London Department of Community and Children’s Services Caseworker (WF), three
London residents (Nonwhite M and socioeconomically disadvantaged identifying in middle school
years), a Delaware school principal reducing chronic absenteeism (WF), a trauma-informed designer,
(WF), and a representative from National Black Child Development Institute (BM), IPS Middle
Principal & Executive Director of IPS Rebuild Stronger (BF). Indianapolis Fire Department (WF) and
Indianapolis Police Dept (WF), WM), pediatrician (NHF), childcare provider freelance (BF).
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Appendix L
Middle School Feedback and Recommendations
The following is an excerpt of needs assessment findings, a partial recommendation report for
IPS, and generalized findings in cooperation with Dr. Stacey Bottley, Director of IPS Middle Schools.
The needs are based upon a CBAR approach to the problem space, which includes firsthand accounts,
interviews, surveys, and data from the IPS MS. Most in-school recommendations are beyond this
paper’s scope (outside of the behavioral health domains), so curriculum development and other
pedagogy-based information are not included.
It is of profound and utmost importance to emphasize the observational and interview findings
demonstrate that teachers, staff, and admin consistently attempt to problem-solve and mitigate in the
manner they know or deem appropriate. In tandem, all staff are working demonstrably rigorously and at
a pace that can lead to burnout. The care, intentions, and mental and physical energy utilized daily is
exorbitant. Staff all appear in earnest to act and react with the best intentions to mitigate conflict, yet no
universalized system is present. Themes are also congruent with those reported in other states and just
further demonstrate the need for MS-specific interventions that occur in the home domain to ameliorate
a bucket of stressors before youth arrive at school.
Some reprimand method inconsistency leave some youth confused. Also, some communication
methods perhaps do not benefit students with diagnosed and undiagnosed cognitive processing delays or
mental health anxiety, PTSD, or depression symptomology as delayed reactions and shutdown might be
misperceived as disrespect and uninterest in answering questions. Also, all MS youth’s human
development stage leaves them significantly vulnerable to being “called out” in front of peers and to
caring what adults think yet shutting down quickly if they feel “not liked” by the adult. All diagnoses
above can create delayed speech response in some students when staff perhaps speak rapidly,
demanding answers. Youth’s lack of response or explosive response can be misunderstood
114
Appendix L Continued
and/or can be ameliorated greatly via training. Staff also might not report as many feelings of being
overwhelmed by such interactions with students as it’s readily apparent the staff cares deeply.
Recommendations
1. Unequivocal first in-school recommendation is Trauma-Informed Care for Educators—
Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) for every staff member interacting with youth. Dr. Bottley
was already interested in trauma-informed care, and the CPI TIC Guide for educators was
provided to Principal; next is the link. PDF-ETIC.pdf. CPI and CPI-TIC are evidence-based
and reportedly result in a 90% increase in staff retention and 88% reduced behavioral case
reports (CPI, 2024).
2. Dashboard not auto default present.
3. EBP of incentives and mandated rules of attendance-taking by 100% of teachers in the first
ten minutes of homeroom’s bell.
4. Install bathroom monitors. Bathrooms are event places for substances and fights (youth
report), and they burden physical and mental health and attendance via eventual escalations
that lead to unexcused and suspension absences. Limiting bathroom use and passes already
implemented by the principal has been semi-successful, yet youth (N=114 w/82 positively
reporting passing vapes or pre-plan fights to implement in bathrooms.
5. Culture is understood as a data-driven benchmark-it can be punitive if too many students are
absent. However, problems in the home domains must be addressed to get students to
school. One needs to know the problem to fix it and have the data demonstrating need for
funding, or else micro-schools are penalized for problems outside of the building. As stated,
if youth are not in school, they cannot learn.
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Appendix L Continued
IPS and the state of Indiana do not make truancy information available as
disaggregated data (Belsha, 2022; Spradlin & Chang, 2012). Nor does it discern the reason
for suspension or the race of a student when a name appears for absence. As 18 schools,
along with Attendance Works frameworks, the LEAP program in Connecticut, and Dr.
Schneider’s work in Delaware all emphasize good data tracking to identify, prevent, and
then intervene is critical to this wicked problem’s solution landscape. Schools across the
nation are implementing data reporting software that disaggregates absences by race and
poverty status at the school and district levels (Blad, 2023a). That being said, good data use
is proving efficacious in preventing and decreasing absenteeism rates. The state of Indiana
has a new attendance dashboard, not public, whereas Rhode Island’s attendance dashboard is
public, and perhaps the IN data will be disaggregated. At the time of this writing, that
information is unknown to the writer and unable to be obtained (Will, 2024)
116
Appendix M
Design Thinking What Is: Stage One Keywords
The intersection of the social determinants of health for Black populations, traumatic
exposures, racism, and absences from school. Foci keywords for race as a social construct and
outcomes include “White fragility,” White Anxiety, intersectionality, critical race theory, Black
Lives Matter, Weathering Theory, allostatic load, social work grand challenge to eliminate racism,
racial profiling, implicit bias, equity, Dr. David Williams, Kimberly Crenshaw, Dr. DeGeronimus.
Trauma-based keywords included toxic stress, trauma, trauma rates for Black youth, adverse
childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma-informed care, trauma-informed design, and traumainformed diet. Child education and school-based keywords included urban absenteeism, rural
absenteeism, asthma rates and absenteeism, child and family homelessness, McKinney Vento, Title
I schools, poverty rates, income disparity, wealth acquisition disparity, and ecology model.
The University of Southern California databases provided extensive literature, as did JStor,
PubMed, Science Direct, ERIC, Elsevier, PsycINFO, Google, and Google Scholar. These databases
displayed comprehensive demographic data on national, international, and local demographics
pertaining to this subject study. Podcasts such as Nice White Parents were also used.
117
Appendix N
Initial Information Gathering Plan for the Problem Space
As a White female working on the Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism and the disparate rates
of CA Black youth experience compared to Whites, I know that my voice is insufficient to
understand the current and historical problems surrounding racism and its vast web of effects. Also,
as a 15-year practitioner of mindfulness and having a Black son, I can notice when my assumptions
rise; I am ever-increasingly aware of how much I do not know. I do believe ongoing self-awareness
of being open-minded will serve this space. Lastly, I am excited about this project, eager and
curious, to hear the authentic problem space in which I am about to embark with interviewees. My
information-gathering strategies are listed below.
1. Use a human-centered design lens.
2. Inform the full process of gathering information, summarizing, and synthesizing it using a
community-based participatory action research approach, using clinical skills to build
rapport, state confidentiality and partnership, and verbally summarizing and clarifying what
I believe to be hearing from interviewees. Let all interviewees direct & hold closing space.
3. Zoom and in-person interviews of teachers, admin, caregivers, students, clinical and life
skills professionals, and community members to understand each person’s local perspective,
needs, strengths, and gifts of knowledge.
4. Read all current Education Weekly articles on absenteeism, subscribe to local bloggers in
Indianapolis, listen to podcasts, and subscribe to The Black Doctor (in addition to
conducting literature research).
5. Listen to current music, concerns, stories, and celebrations of some of my urban youth
population.
118
Appendix N Continued
6. After the first rounds of interviewing and coding, conduct another larger round of surveys
based on coded themes from prior responses. Open ended questions to honor all voices.
7. In examining my personal and professional close network, I have an expansive Blackidentifying team and friend group. I have fewer non-English speaking Hispanic friends
locally and several English-speaking ones.
8. Lean on medical professionals, engineers, architects, designers, accountants, real estate
owners, military professionals, EMT’s, musicians, chefs, nutritionists, scholars to expand
thinking on all facets of systemic oppression problems, solution landscapes, and
experiences.
119
Appendix O
Brainstorming Problem of Practice
120
Appendix P Teacher Survey Visual
121
Appendix Q
Why Youth and Families Report Missing School
122
Appendix R
Storyboard and low fidelity explanatory prototype for innovative framework
123
Appendix S
Iterated N=98 with 50% Response Rate & 46% Provided Reason
Texting Template for Caregiver Outreach
For Teacher: Speaking about uncomfortable topics, as reported by IPS MS teachers, can feel
difficult, yet discomfort can be decreased by using a texting medium that saves time for all parties
and allows for faster response time due to nonverbalized engagement when caregivers or teachers
might otherwise be in non-private settings.
124
Appendix
T
Stakeholder Mapping
125
Appendix U
Brainstorming and Initial Outreach Plans Partially Completed
List of Outstanding Interviews to Contact
1. Jayne Demsky, Founder of The School Avoidance Alliance-done
2. The Holistic Foundation
3. Mary Wood AP Lang Teacher SC Chapin HS Washington Post article
4. Greenlights Initiative-done
5. Charity Cooney IPS McKinney Vento Liaison-done
Partnerships Verbalized-Consented
1. Indianapolis Public Schools (Middle School Rebuilding Stronger Initiative)-done
2. Cathedral High School Tutoring-done
3. National Black Child Development Institute, Washington DC -done
4. St. Richards Episcopal School, Indianapolis-done
5. Dr. Ana Pandey, Pediatrician-done
Partnerships Underway-Talks, Permissions Started
1. Community Network Clinical
2. Butler University-Psychology
Realistic Donors, Some Informal Communications Already Underway
1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Indianapolis Zoo
3. Indianapolis Children’s Museum
4. NAI Advisors
Cold Calls/Outreaches
1. Dove (from Dove campaign and for hygiene products for youth)
2. Walmart – yet with some NBCDI connection
3. Nike-popular for MS urban youth now
4. Trader Joes-significant one-time event donors for events in prior work
5. Whole Foods- significant one-time event donors for events in prior work
6. Downtown Restaurants, Hotel Chains-Brainstorm
7. Legos-for clinical and for all students understanding of brain development and fine motor
skills development
8. Vitamin Vendor-Identify-Model after UK Initiative
Gimmicks/TY’s
1. Art Contest by MS for Logo?
2. PC and small car stickers.
3. Ceramic “to go” drink holders for donors, backpack keychain toy
126
Appendix V
501c3 Approval
APPROVED AND FILED
DIEGO MORALES
INDIANA SECRETARY OF STATE09/14/2023 11:28 AM
4.
5.
NOTICE OF CHANGE OF REGISTERED OFFICE OR REGISTERED AGENT
6.
NAME AND PRINCIPAL OFFICE ADDRESS
7.
8. BUSINESS ID 202309131724585
9. BUSINESS TYPE Domestic Nonprofit Corporation
10. BUSINESS NAME THE GOOD IN PEOPLE, INC.
11. PRINCIPAL OFFICE ADDRESS 3148 North Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, IN,
46205, USA
EFFECTIVE DATE
12.
13.
14. EFFECTIVE DATE 09/14/2023
15. EFFECTIVE TIME 11:28 AM
REGISTERED AGENT
16.
17. REGISTERED AGENT TYPE Individual
18. NAME Sonya Berle
19. ADDRESS 3148 North Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46205,
USA SERVICE OF PROCESS EMAIL Sonya@decreasestress.com
20. I acknowledge that the Service of Process email provided above is the email address at
which electronic Service of Process may be accepted.
21.
127
Appendix W
Literacy Study via Ahmad Kersey, LSC
128
Appendix X
Design Criteria
Design Goal • What have you learned about the target population?
Absenteeism is only a marker, a quantifiable data point,
under which the real problems lie. But it’s an excellent
intervention point as it identifies children and families whose
day-to-day and trajectory outcomes will be poor if nothing is
done. The secondary population after Black youth, are
Hispanic youth, and I have learned there are many
complexities and a lack of resources for families with
undocumented caregivers. A commonality for all MS youth
is unanimously feeling unheard and disrespected by adults in
their lives. And majority of caregivers have micro-economic
impacts (one Uber ride or $5.00 of gas) that create missed
days from school.
• What needs (functional, emotional, psychological, social)
does the design have to fulfill for the target population?
Foremost emotional and social to build rapport and reduce
earned historical mistrust as people need to know they are
not being judged. Partnering not pejorative.
• What is strategically important to address those needs? It
appears that trust can be created, and the most strategic need
is funding. Describe needs and how they can be fulfilled
monetarily. Also, are all such small amounts of money day
by day. Building convenient communication is a must
(texting preferred) and will start audio clips for rapport
building and literacy needs.
User
Perceptions
• How important is your proposed offering to the target
population’s well-being? Critically important as it intersects
with basic needs, social determinants of health, and
education gaps that affect life trajectories in intersections
with crime (when older) poverty and living unhoused.
Teachers (other users) also talk about the classroom stressors
when trying to “catch” kids up or watching students “zone
out” because they don’t know what’s going on after being
absent. Students (as beneficiaries and users) also talk about
feeling lost, initiating more internalized thoughts and
externalized behaviors, and feeling anger or shame (shame
129
for circumstances beyond their control and they do not need
to hold).
• What does ease of use mean for the targeted population? Fast
interaction time, low levels of literacy, and high stress- so
easy reading, Spanish version, no judgement, high yield-yet
low economic cost. Efficiency, outsourcing, and deliveries a
must.
Physical
Attributes
• Must the solution (e.g., service, product) be able to capture,
store, and/or transmit information about usage:
No software is needed to store personalized data. The QR
code is already set up. Regular website traffic can be
monitored via standard tracking mechanisms provided by the
web host. Donations for the NPO to continue funding,
besides grant funding, will be redeemed via the website,
Zelle, cash, or check. Attendance data is to be received daily
via the PowerSchool dashboard already installed at IPS.
• Does the solution need to be designed for use in a specific
environment or situation? No, hard copy along with online
assistance mitigates this concern.
• Are there bandwidth and connectivity issues? The hard copy
telephone number(s) for texting and calling alleviate the
need for bandwidth, and the website can be accessed via all
types of smartphones. All interviewed users, and
beneficiaries do have access to a smartphone in or across a
family member.
Functional
Attributes
• Does the design need to accommodate specific user-case
scenarios? For example, low literacy, Spanish language,
audio clips, and telephone for nonliterate users, visuals and
bright graphics for short focus time due to younger children
in the house, and MS users. The intervention does address
hearing impairment via visual delivery and some formats are
audio clipped for visually impaired users
• Does the design need to address compatibility or standard
issues? No additional compatibility with technology or
HIPAA needs to be addressed. Beneficiaries and users are
allowed confidentiality at all points of contact.
Constraints • What constraints does the sector and/or environment
impose? Macro-level lack of funding as systemic oppression
and philosophical “bootstraps” mentality is prevalent here
130
among white higher SES brackets. Title l funding is not
enough for the school, and systems are not set up for the
atypical (non-school-based needs) of families. We will need
to create a referral flow and general awareness flow.
• Are there ecosystem and regulatory concerns? Using an NPO
to filter funding, piloting, and dissemination of materials to
families for the new framework alleviates regulatory
concerns. Constraints are just within fulfilling and
maintaining NPO state and federal guidelines. Ecosystems of
school and district processes will need to be adhered to;
however, since intervention focuses on home-domain
assistance, school interactions outside of referrals and
attendance-taking can be minimal.
131
Appendix Y
Flow chart for Phase I and School Cooperation
132
Appendix
Z
Original Logic Model
133
Appendix Z Continued
Revised Logic Model
134
Appendix AA
Equity in Tool Creation
Equity is an important aspect of technology to consider in this solution landscape for Black
youth and families. The power of technology to create and disseminate information is only as
equitable as its creator’s design. Historical mistrust runs deep, and without the user’s voice,
interventions waste resources, time, and morale (LaVeist et al., 2000), (Friedman, 2020; Interview
with Life Skills and Literacy Clinician, personal communication, June 18, 2023; Mor Barak, 2016)
Zhang et al. explored artificial intelligence (AI) predictive outcomes, finding that algorithmic bias
can worsen inequity. For example, the Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multitiered System of
Support (MTSS) are data-driven school frameworks currently critiqued for lack of equity-based
outcomes in closing racial achievement gaps; they are data-created and human-implemented
(Dundas, 2020). Social Emotional Learning (SEL) helps increase belongingness, yet the model is
recently under scrutiny for its lack of cultural adaptability. The creation-to-practice is illuminating
its incorrect usage as school-based without the home environment, too (Mitchell, 2022). Also, SEL
in schools can harm Black youth if culture-blindness or cultural bias are present; it does not
complete the SEL intervention of working with whole child (D. Ford, 2020).
Again, the need for climates of inclusion (Brimhall & Mor Barak, 2018), attention to
creation bias (Costanza-Chock, 2018; Zhang et al., 2021). Co-creation with intended users,
beneficiaries, and creators is needed to shape technology and exhume bias (Daftary, 2020; Flanagan,
2020).
135
Appendix BB
Implementation Plan
Due to IPS Rebuild Stronger rezoning and restructuring, the current school will have a
substantially different demographic for the 2024-25 school year. The pilot is occurring in
partnership with IPS MS Director Dr. Stacey Bottley, and she is placing the pilot into a
demographic similar to the one where the research took place so the highest-needs schools continue
to be measured and intervened. The pilot will occur at Arlington or Howe, MS, in Indianapolis, IN.
The project will take place with Indianapolis public middle school youth, some engaged in clinical
mental health services with Community Network, and others not engaged in services yet with a highrisk indicator of absenteeism from school. The initial intervention framework will be published
brochure-style for pilot recruitment, and the website, with a QR code, actively under development, will
provide further framework resources available and communication modalities for participating members
(English and Spanish).
Soft Rollout
August 1, 2024: Start date of academic year. New IPS attendance practices begin- transfers until 8-
14-2024.
• Website for information-based resources -Free access to information-Free access to tutoring
o Attendance-based, substance use, holistic health, home trauma-informed design
pages, and donor acceptances will be live.
• Email, telephone, and texting communication contact numbers are provided for the NPO via
the PowerSchool dashboard at the pilot location.
• QR code and website disseminated via email for all school staff and caregivers-
• Option underway to text QR code to all caregivers – NPO inputs data
Phase I Texting Template and Transportation Exploratory See Flowchart Appendix ***
August 19-30, 2024: NPO PowerSchool action step- no labor for pilot locale
***Due to practice changes in attendance taking that were unveiled from the researcher’s iterating
processes and due to district-wide re-zoning expected to increase attendance rates, these new
exploratory periods with the Texting Template will occur for more reliable data for reporting and
recruiting youth for Rollout Phases.
136
Texting Template (Appendix S) used “copy and paste” to caregivers for outreach of absent students
daily
Absence reasons recorded from all families who respond
Business card with QR code
Brochure printed for Teachers, CHN SB clinicians
Phase II Texting and Transport Only; Separate Roll out to isolate these variables
September 16- October 11th, 2024: NPO via PowerSchool action step- no labor for pilot locale
To qualify for Phase ll Transport Uber UseIPS bus route not up to date-texting team will verify w/school day one of use and receive a reroute
date
Bus suspension and no other way to get there -5 days max-once during the pilot timeThe first 30 respondents per day receive service incentives families to return texts asap
data complied on all users and non-users
Missing the bus, caregiver car problems, or no gas.
Five uses per person (unknown to users until they have called four times). Told at onset it is
“limited use.”
Dichotomous User Surveys for Phase II
Stress Reduction for Caregiver Scale
Did this service help today? Yes or No
Did this service provide peace of mind today? Yes or No
Client Texting Medium Use
This texting service was easy to use – Yes or No
Please text me with any concerns
Known Outcome
Absenteeism Reduction – if otherwise, would not have gone to school that day-completed
the Uber trip.
Possible Outcome – reduced family stress at home
Ease of service use
Full Roll Out
137
October 21-Feb 25th
Selection criteria of 25 families for comprehensive care
School of pilot
Criteria: student and families rule out for chronic health conditions, accidents, and injury
138
Appendix CC
Budget
139
Appendix DD
Gannt Chart
140
Appendix EE
Excerpt from Grant Proposal
Kicking the Stigma is the first proposal and submission made for this program, and if
approved, we confidently believe achieving your backing will provide the grounding and foundation
to apply for state and federal funds for sustainability. Also, we will roll out a strong private donor
fundraising branch once the pilot is completed. Simultaneously if funded by Kicking the Stigma, the
data received will further the body of knowledge in actionable interventions to help reduce mental
health drivers contributing to child and family stress in the home domains and increase attendance
rates in the school domain. Also, the data points provide a framework for scalability to move
towards national education and social work mental health budget allocations to shift and create
funding for root-cause intervention areas, partnering at home, and removing the barriers to school
attendance. Conceptually, the program's intention is a short-term intervention, with enough clinical
and human contact to assess, intervene, refer to higher levels of care as needed, and sustain. The
framework intervention goals are to iterate, disseminate (knowledge and data), and advocate (for
discretionary funds) to mitigate the home-based stressors interfering with school attendance and
success.
141
Appendix FF
Partnership Flow Chart
142
Appendix FF Continued
Cathedral-IPS MS Partnership -Active-Updates to be made
Tutoring Partnership with Cathedral HS—HS students receive community service hours towards
their graduation, and others create their Junior to Senior year project with The Good in People as
their foundational organization for assisting urban youth.
Initial process is underway in creating structure and process for the free virtual tutoring for middle
school students. Below are the correspondence notes from initial meeting w/students and processes
descriptions.
1. I think the project idea is an excellent one, filling gaps created by ongoing disparities and
exacerbated by the Covid pandemic; middle school children are two years behind in math (on
average example), and rates increase for kiddos of color (research and get exact data for Indy-I can
provide it).
To consider FIRST is making the initial partnering w/the parent organization The Good in People
and will be at website located at www.thegoodinpeople.org. Also, Cathedral, what liability or
paperwork or anything needed, from their end, needs to be signed (if any), AND how The Good in
People can list Cathedral on their website as a partnering organization in tutors?
Consider...to get going...
1. Contact MS academic counselors for an interview to know the range of curriculum they teach and
how that would translate into your team's needs for tutoring (Step One, I think). Once you know
what is taught, select peer partners.
1B. The Good in People will interview all potential mentors. Spanish speaking mentors are needed.
1C. Once rapport is built w/academic counselor, end the call by asking how they would like to
discuss your information. My guess is an all-staff email will be sent out so teachers can tell all
students in their classroom about the free virtual tutoring option. I would ask for that...AND their
electronic newsletter for care providers. Lastly, a flyer for backpacks. The Good in People
organization will create and pay for a flyer – to be reviewed by the MS academic prior to printing.
2. Consider your tutors VERY carefully as they NEED to be flexible thinkers and reliable. Some
mentees hold trauma, low self-esteem (welcome to middle school), and multi-stressed environments
that might make them no show for sessions or late to sessions or difficult to engage-due to other
factors outside of their interest and enthusiasm to learn.
4. Create a Mentee agreement that can be verbally consented to, such as "I will do my best to show
up on time." Give them a contact number to text if they are running late or an email address to
message.
143
5. Time commitment: It will depend on the mentee load and how long you and the mentee want
each session to be. It will and might depend on the kiddo, so build in flexibility. Ask the academic
counselor at MS for their opinion.
6. What platforms can you use? Facetime, yes, but not all have smartphones. Zoom? Google Meets?
Be sure everyone is flexible with technology.
Challenges
1. The rollout is unpredictable and you might get one kiddo signing up or 100 (ha).
2. Creating and maintaining a master schedule - you should create one online that you host and your
peer tutors access for their schedule input.
3. The challenge of having the right number of staff members is small and tight-I think ANDMENTORS 16 or older.
What to Keep in Mind ***LEGAL TEAM***
1. Always remember you might need to take over, be available, and be on call for your staff's needs
at any time. Always give them your phone number in case they are having technical or other
difficulties.
2. Always keep in mind safety: first, you SEE or HEAR anything strikingly concerning, Ask the
kiddo if they are safe. All YOUR staff will receive a safety protocol TIP sheet approved by The
Good in People, MS, and your Cathedral teacher. Safety protocol will be in place, and all care
providers will sign prior to the first session via DocuSign – it will be a Hold Harmless (no liability
for anything occurring at home when tutors are teaching, etc.).
3. ALL MENTORS should always have someone 18+ in their home (not on camera just somewhere
at home during the mentee sessions).
Measuring for Success!
1. ALWAYS ask for OUTCOME MEASURES....at the session start, "On a scale of 1-10, how
confused do you feel about this subject?"
2. At the session end, "On a scale of 1-10,how confused to you feel about this subject?" Record
and STORE all data from all mentors’ sessions.
Who to Connect With...
The Good in People
Cathedral
MS
`
144
Appendix GG
Marketing Promotional Items
145
Appendix HH
Original Website Framework
Original Website and Visual Framework Tabs
School Every Day – Will include Attendance Works Slides
School Avoidance – Will include links and awareness of barriers
Aromatherapy – Will include education and access to request free orders of oils
Mental Health – Community Network links to resources and MS-specific family guidance
Plants as Pets – Recent data on the wellness of plant owners and to receive a plant. Students request
plants after seeing them in the onsite office (22 requests so far).
Light and Bright Home Décor-trauma informed design free tips –rollout to minimal home design.
Clothing—Requests were taken here, and community donations (only new items) are pictured to build
pride and worthiness for youth (as they have reported).
Texting-Tab is used to receive communications to assist with getting students to school in real-time.
Transportation – Needs and requests were taken here, and bus routes are shown (although urban routes
are not comprehensive in Indpls). Uber requests for doctor appts and school transport only
Tutoring – Partnership with Cathedral HS for math, cello, ELA, social studies, and sciences.
Food- Food deliveries are available (still figuring out) as food insecurity and transportation are low.
Vitamin Initiative could be here. Black Strength-NBCDI and MS QUOTES – ruled out-out of scope
146
Appendix II
Early Tool Exploration: Assessment Tools for Together, We Got This!
List Received via per Professor Newmeyer
“I thought I’d direct you to some tools you could consider. There are a LOT of tools out there that
have been researched. When available, established tools is more credible and definitely easier than
coming up with one of your own. Some may be more suitable than others.”
Tools for assessing stress (a small sample):
• Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ)
• Work Stress Questionnaire (WSQ)
• Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)
• Imperial Stress Assessment Tool (ISAT)
Tools for assessing quality of life (a small sample):
• Quality of Life Scale (QOLS)
• Global Quality of Life Scale
• McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQOL)
• Health Related Quality of Life Questionnaire (HRQOL)
• World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF)
A couple of links that may be useful:
Valid and Reliable Survey Instruments
to Measure Burnout, Well-Being, and
Other Work-Related Dimensions -
National Academy of Medicine
nam.edu
apa.org
147
Appendix II
Perceived Wellness Survey
148
Appendix II
CANS Family Stress Domain
149
Appendix II
PHQ
-
9
150
Appendix II
Severity Measure GAD
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
Chronic absenteeism (CA) disparately affects Black youth. While CA is not new, and affects students of all ethnicities and races, pandemic exacerbations highlight the crisis. CA is the problem of practice yet is only an indicator of other unmet needs. Current literature and practice seem to reveal middle school (MS) is mostly understudied or umbrellaed in PK-12, ignoring biopsychosocial-emotional and physiological sensitivities and resiliencies of this developmental stage. The stage is critical as CA and dropout rates spike in high school. Mental health is now a national crisis, as factors of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) poverty, racism, plus COVID-19 grief, loss and disruption converge. Surveyed MS youth report anxiety, stress, and feelings of overwhelm decrease their ability to focus on school learning. The inclusion of MS voices in exploring problem and solution spaces is not universalized; youth report feeling unheard. Or, if a need is expressed, conventional funding lanes cannot address it. Teachers are experiencing burnout due to feeling helpless. Using CBPAR approach and ethnographic study, data was collected from 338 local stakeholders, users, and beneficiaries from December 2022 to June 2024 via self-reports, structured and unstructured in-person interviews, Zoom meetings and anonymous qualitative and quantitative surveys. National and international expert interviews were also conducted. Iterating occurred at an IPS MS. The research culminates in a new framework operating at the nexus of Trauma Informed Care (TIC), the Second Window of Opportunity Theory, and CBPAR to shift onus off youth, provide a thinking and intervention template for equitable access to holistic, evidence-based, home-centric, beneficiary-requested resources to reduce CA and improve social determinants of health outcomes for youth and family.
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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Berle, Sonya Therese
(author)
Core Title
A novel intervention framework operating at the nexus of middle school, traumatic stress, and missing voices to mitigate disparate rates of chronic absenteeism: together, we got this!
School
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Degree
Doctor of Social Work
Degree Program
Social Work
Degree Conferral Date
2024-08
Publication Date
08/07/2024
Defense Date
07/23/2024
Publisher
Los Angeles, California
(original),
University of Southern California
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Tag
Black families,chronic absenteeism,community-based participatory action research,COVID-19 pandemic,Homelessness,Indianapolis Public Schools,intersectionality,Mckinney Vento,middle school,racism,second window of opportunity,social determinants of health,systemic oppression,Title I,trauma-informed care,trauma-informed design,traumatic stressors,weathering
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Tags
Black families
chronic absenteeism
community-based participatory action research
COVID-19 pandemic
Indianapolis Public Schools
intersectionality
Mckinney Vento
racism
second window of opportunity
social determinants of health
systemic oppression
Title I
trauma-informed care
trauma-informed design
traumatic stressors
weathering