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Improving student attendance.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

There is much debate in the academic community about ways to improve student learning. Based on limited research that suggests class attendance will enhance student learning, the authors began examining ways to increase student attendance. Using basic management principles of rewarding desired performance and presenting consequences for undesired behaviors, class attendance policies were modified to test whether different approaches would yield improved attendance. The results indicate that giving rewards for excellent attendance and negative consequences for poor attendance significantly improved attendance. The use of rewards alone was less effective than the use of rewards and punishment but more effective than punishment alone. The implications for attendance management by faculty and administrators are discussed.

Introduction

There is a continuing discussion in the academic community around improving student learning. There is also considerable discussion, at least in our experience, about the importance of class attendance, seemingly because it is related to improved learning. This concern for attendance and how to ensure students are maximizing their learning is the foundation for the study reported here.

The first question we asked ourselves was why should we be concerned about attendance? Do we not get an accurate assessment of student learning from tests, projects, and other assessment tools routinely used in classes? While it is tempting to answer the second question with a resounding yes, there seems to be little evidence to support such an answer. The emphasis by accreditation bodies on assessment suggests the academic community is continually grappling with this issue of assessing student learning. If the usual assessment devices (tests, etc.) are viewed as inadequate to measure learning, it seems logical that there is probably learning occurring that is not being assessed. It also seems logical that learning is, at least partially, taking place in the classroom. That leads to the initial question of this study. Should we be concerned about attendance?

Durden and Ellis (1995) report on a study of economics students. They conclude that absences did not negatively affect student performance on nationally standardized tests until they exceeded four classes. They further found that the negative effects on performance increased as absences increased. Thus, they conclude attendance does matter for academic performance and the effects of absences are nonlinear. Romer (1993) also found that attendance made a significant contribution to student performance, even when controlled for motivation. Both of these studies were conducted in economics courses. However, Park and...

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