The Relationship Between Student Attendance And Achievement In Urban Elementary And Middle Schools

Evaluating the Relationship between Attendance and Academic Performance

In order to encourage the growth and learning of the students, the universities and schools apply attendance policies where the students are required to attend the minimum percentage of classes so that their understanding on the course and subjects can become more strong and sustainable (Rissanen, 2018). This research will aim at finding out the relationship between the attendance and student grades. The project will emphasize more on the secondary data with the help of literature review. Various studies have been conducted to measure this relationship and these will be evaluated to meet the objectives of this research.

The main objective of the project is to emphasize on the relationship between the attendance and student grades. There are numerous factors which affect the grades of the students among which attendance is the one and one of the most important factor because of which the schools and universities have made it compulsory for the students to attend minimum percentage of classes and lectures.

The scope of the project is wide. It is because the project will be conducted step wise by following the basic methods of research. The data will be collected through secondary sources and literature review will be done which will be evaluated so that the objectives of the research could be met. The project title is such which is the concern for the universities and schools. The attendance is one such concern which needs to be solved and for that the effect of attendance on the student grades and learning need to be evaluated.

This section will help in analysing the relationship between student grades and attendance which will be done by collecting data through various sources. As per Allain (2011), the recent article in the Chronicle of higher education published that the educators are focussing on the attendance in order to make students succeed. There are different universities which are running worldwide and wants to increase the retention rates of the students for which attendance systems are made mandatory. North Arizona University uses technology in order to track attendance. The student response systems are installed with the help of which it is easier for the university to track attendance of the students. The writer further continues that the biggest advantage of attending lectures is that the professors drops hints about what may be the most important topic which might be the part of examination. It helps students to know the weightage of the topics or chapters and they are able to focus on them more than other chapters (Louis, Bastian, McKimmie and Lee, 2016).

Impact of Attendance on Learning and Grades

The other factors are also affecting the student grades like the background of the student’s family, the learning or catching speed, determination to study, extra classes or coaching’s and any more. According to Narula and Nagar (2013), most of the universities have mandatory classes and without fulfilling the minimum criteria, the students are not allowed to appear in the examinations. The researchers are continuously making efforts for researching the ways to improve the student performance. The research is about the study conducted to find out the correlation between student attendance and their academic performance to know what effect the attendance have on the performance of students. An analysis of economics class was conducted where it was found that as compared to the student who does not attend lectures, the student who attended lectures scored 18% better in the examinations. Many researchers suggested that the students have positive learning attitude which allows them to grab what is taught in the classrooms. Whenever the students attend classes, their chances of scoring high increases. The class attendance also affects the commitment level of the student towards a subject. It was observed that if the student has attended classes, he will be more determined for devoting time to the particular subject at home too (Tangney, Boone and Baumeister, 2018).

A detailed study was conducted in UK for determining the effects of class absence on the performance of student. The test or research leads to the conclusion that the missing classes leads to the poor performance of students. It was also recognised that there is a need to explore the impact of attending the critical classes of the term rather than attending the total classes. The crucial chapters need to be covered in classes so that more understanding can be developed. It was found in the study that the students should be encouraged to attend the classes so that their chances of success can be optimised (Entwistle and Ramsden, 2015).

The universities of UK suggested their students to attend the lectures for giving their important contribution to the success rate of the universities. There is a strong correlation between the lecture attendance and examination performance which is observed from the studies conducted. It was observed that each 10% increase in the attendance increased the student performances by 3%. This was the result from the study conducted at   University College Dublin and similar results were found from the study conducted at engineering students in Hashemite University, Jordan (Pruett, 2015).

Factors Affecting Student Grades

In the view of Gottfried, M.A. (2010), the researchers, policymakers and parents have assumed that there is a positive relationship between the school attendance and academic success. Kassarnig, Bjerre-Nielsen, Mones, Lehmann and Lassen (2017) further added that there is a positive co relation between the final grade scores and attendance in schools or colleges. A study was conducted to prove the same. The performance of 152 students of the college of environmental design from 10 different courses were analysed for finding out the possible correlation.  It is believed highly that the attendance level strongly affects the student performance. It was found that parents and college departments places too much of pressure on students for attendance which can be reduced a bit for relaxing some of the attendance policies. The attendance is important but not the only factor which improves the performance of the student.

According to Lukkarinen, Koivukangas and Seppälä (2016), student attendance and engagement plays a very crucial role in getting higher grades but there are different opinion too. It was found that the influence of regular attendance on the exam performance have more importance for female students than male ones. It was found that the female students earned above average grades have attended more classes than the ones who received below average grades but there was no such substantial difference for male students. The authors further added that there are many other factors like the culture of university, workload, methods of teaching and the teachers themselves can highly influence the grades of the student. Few economic students were studied in 2001 where it was found that the average lecture attendance rate was 81.5% but the average attendance rates in the Finnish Universities are as low as 45-50%. The author discusses about the study which was conducted on the Finnish University where an advanced methodological course is been exercised and it is an optional course for master level students. The learning material is developed which is intended to use with the class teaching and is not meant for self-study options. It was found that some of the students drop off even after attending the classes while some of them passed through even after their absence in classes. It can be said that the teachers need to motivate the students to have proactive approach for attending the lasses with full determination and planning. It can help students to achieve better grades after attending the classes. Barely attending the classes without eve focussing cannot help them to achieve what they aim for (Honicke and Broadbent, 2016).

Encouraging Student Attendance

In the views of Latif and Miles (2013), class attendance have a significant impact on the grades. He further adds that the assignments given to the students also have positive impact along with the attendance in classes. Every school day and each class counts. A missed day at school or college is a missed opportunity for students to learn and gain more knowledge. The education institutions are focussing on increasing the attendance rates. In student success, the teacher quality and effectiveness is a significant contributor along with attendance in schools but the absence of students from schools reduces the learning opportunities for the students. A recent study was conducted in which it was found that the absence at Kindergarten was associated with future absenteeism and also in the lack of general knowledge in people. Higher attendance in schools provides an opportunity to an individual to interact with different individuals, learn from them by interacting and to engage. Extracurricular activities also enhances the overall development of an individual which at last, helps an individual to score higher. The suspension or detention form school due to the higher absenteeism also worsen the situation. It demoralises the student and further makes him more prone to absenteeism rather than going to the classes daily (Adelman, 2006).

There are many facts discussed about the school and college attendance. It is often observed that the absenteeism in the first month of the school or college can predict the poor attendance throughout the year. It is also observed that over 7 million which can be taken as 1 in 7 students in United States miss nearly a month of school every year which puts them academically at risk. It hampers their ability to learn, read and write and also increases the drop outs from school. It also depends on the presence in schools that how well a child can read or write and how rapidly he/she catches the concepts. As per the research, 10% or more absence from school affects the overall academic performance of a child. The students who are living in the communities with high level of poverty are 4 times more likely to be absent than others for reasons which are not in the control like unstable housing, transportation issues, lack of access of basic amenities and more. When students improves their attendance they gradually improves their chances of successful academic performance and chances of being graduated. The students can begin their academic deficiency if they improve their attendance (Attendance Works, 2014). [Refer Appendix 1].

Opinions on Relationship between Attendance and Grades

As per Jacob and Lovett (2017), in 2013-14 roughly 14% of the student across the world were chronically absent. Absenteeism is not a new issue and the officials are focussed on this concern from long but it is still not in a good state. A considerable effort has been made by the schools, colleges and other educational institutions over the last few decades but little progress has been made. Chronic absenteeism can not only bring adverse academic situations but also affect the overall development of the children.

So, overall, it is proved that attendance is not the sole but the major factor which affect the grades of the students. The lower attendance affects the overall development of the children and hence, the future development is also hampered. Various studies have also proven the same and researches have been conducted for analysing the relationship between the two.

Conclusion 

It can be concluded that student attendance in schools have a significant impact on the grades of students. It has been researched and observed through many studies that attendance is the major factor out of all the other factors which affects the overall learning and development of children. The attendance effect is seen right from the kindergarten level which has been proved through many studies. It can be advised to the schools and colleges to adopt the methods which are lucrative to students so that they can feel motivated to attend classes and schools. The classes should be interactive and involving fun so that it becomes easy for the students to be active in the classes. This has proven that there is a positive relationship between class attendance and good grades.

References

Adelman, C. 2006. The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School through College. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

Allain, R. 2011. DO YOU GET BETTER GRADES WITH BETTER ATTENDANCE?. Wired. Accessed at https://www.wired.com/2011/06/do-you-get-better-grades-with-better-attendance/ [Accessed on 29 August 2018].

Attendance Works, 2014. Attendance in the Early Grades: Why it Matters for Reading. Accessed at https://www.attendanceworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Attendance-in-the-Early-Grades.pdf [Accessed on 29 August 2018].

Entwistle, N. and Ramsden, P., 2015. Understanding student learning (Routledge revivals). Routledge.

Gottfried, M.A., 2010. Evaluating the relationship between student attendance and achievement in urban elementary and middle schools: An instrumental variables approach. American Educational Research Journal, 47(2), pp.434-465.

Honicke, T. and Broadbent, J., 2016. The influence of academic self-efficacy on academic performance: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 17, pp.63-84.

Jacob, B A and Lovett, K, 2017. Chronic absenteeism: An old problem in search of new answers. Brookings. Accessed at https://www.brookings.edu/research/chronic-absenteeism-an-old-problem-in-search-of-new-answers/  [Accessed on 29 August 2018].

Kassarnig, V., Bjerre-Nielsen, A., Mones, E., Lehmann, S. and Lassen, D.D., 2017. Class attendance, peer similarity, and academic performance in a large field study. PloS one, 12(11), p.e0187078.

Latif, E. and Miles, S., 2013. Class attendance and academic performance: a panel data analysis. Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics and policy, 32(4), pp.470-476.

Louis, W.R., Bastian, B., McKimmie, B. and Lee, A.J., 2016. Teaching psychology in Australia: Does class attendance matter for performance?. Australian Journal of Psychology, 68(1), pp.47-51.

Lukkarinen, A., Koivukangas, P. and Seppälä, T., 2016. Relationship between class attendance and student performance. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 228, pp.341-347.

Narula, M. and Nagar, P. 2013. Relationship Between Students’ Performance and Class Attendance in a Programming Language Subject in a Computer Course. International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, 2(8), 206-210.

Pruett, P.S., 2015. Factors Influencing the Retention of Developmental Students in Community Colleges. Union University.

Rissanen, A., 2018. Student Engagement in Large Classroom: the Effect on Grades, Attendance and Student Experiences in an Undergraduate Biology Course. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 18(2), pp.136-153.

Tangney, J.P., BOONE, A.L. and BAUMEISTER, R.F., 2018. High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. In Self-Regulation and Self-Control (pp. 181-220). Routledge.