INCREASING THE NUMBER OF ATTENDANCE IN CLASSROOMS

 “Attendance problems is the result of a ‘functional problem’, such as self-motivation, peer relations, mental health, substance abuse, social skills, poverty, and discipline. Interventions are designed to treat these problems by using counselling and family mediation, involving law enforcement, and providing social services.” (Dembo & Turner, 1994).

 Imagine that you were a teacher and you noticed that fewer and fewer students were attending class. Your attendance numbers began to drop. As the teacher what can you do to overcome this situation? Well, in this article I focus on some of the practical techniques that be used to increase the attendance in the classrooms.

The first point to look at is called “learning contract”, so basically teachers Prepare learning contracts for students to sign at the beginning of the semester. The contracts can be part of the syllabus or independent documents. It should define exactly how grading is done and include an attendance policy. This way, students know right from the start that attendance is part of the calculation. “Sound and reasonable attendance policies can set clear standards and high expectations for students.” (French, Gerstle, & Neilhaus, 1991). The question is what factors contribute to effective attendance policies? Some other recommendations are compiled from primarily anecdotal information from practitioners (Dougherty, 1999; Epp & Epp, 2001; French et al., 1991; Rood, 1989).

·         Attendance policies must be publicized and understood by all students. There must be a clear understanding of the difference between excused and unexcused absences.

·         Policies should be aligned with the school’s policies and goals.

·         The purpose should be to change behaviour, not to punish. Reconsider the use of zero tolerance policies such as suspensions for truancy and instead consider less severe consequences such as community service or in-school detentions (Skiba & Knotting, 2001).

·         There must be effective reporting, recording, and monitoring. Investigate the various computerized attendance tracking systems currently available.

·         Policies must include full family involvement, with parent notification and frequent home-school contact.

By doing these at least the students are discouraged to skip the class.

 Teachers can also give unannounced quizzes, the main objective of these quizzes is to encourage students to prepare for each class so they have a basic understanding of the current terms and concepts. Make it clear that the quizzes can’t be made up later by absent students, so that they will think so much before skipping the class.

Teachers also have to really consider how to provide any hand-out to the students. It would be so much better if teachers Provide hand-outs in class, and not to post them on any website teachers have. Students can come to the office to pick up a hand-out later, the idea here is to discourage them from skipping class knowing that they can grab the material from the teacher website. These points will really help teachers in increasing the attendance in the classrooms. However, in case that these points are not really strong to discourage the students from being absent, there are some another ways can be used to help. Teachers can do thing like collecting contact information from students at the beginning of the semester, including their phone numbers and email addresses. Call or e-mail students who are frequently absent and encourage them to attend more often.

There are things that teachers should keep in mind in order to help increasing the attendance in classrooms such as learn students’ names as quickly as possible. Prepare lesson plans that grab student interest. Try to tie in course material with modern real-life examples that students can relate to. Create a classroom that has a sense of community and mutual respect where each member has something to contribute and where disagreement is tolerated. Continually adapt your lesson plans to make the subject interesting and relevant. Encourage student feedback so teachers can eliminate some of the “busy work” that has minimal learning benefits.

Actually there are many ways in increasing the attendance number in classrooms, it all goes back to the teachers how well they can see the situation and use proper strategies to overcome it. Here is the statement of an expert dealing with problems of attendance, I pick it as the conclusion. That’s all I can provide, may it all be useful.

“Systemic solutions to attendance problems will originate from a system that is made up of teachers and administrators who understand the importance and interconnectedness of supporting climate, significant relationships, engaging and challenging content and instruction, and rules, policies and procedures.” —Wagstaff, Combs, & Jarvis, 2000.

References

1.        Park, K. & Kerr, P., Determinants of Academic Performance: A Multinomial Logit Approach, The Journal of Economic Education, Spring, 1990.

2.        Railsback, J., INCREASING STUDENT ATTENDANCE: Strategies From Research and Practice, northwest

regional educational laboratory, June 2010.