Literature Review

ABSENTEEISNM: ITS EFFECT ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE

SELECTED SHS STUDENT

Submitted by:

Ebide, John Vincent

Lignig, James Kenneth

Singuillo, Jayland

Veo, Earl Von

 ABSENTEEISNM: ITS EFFECT ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE

SELECTED SHS STUDENT

An Investigation of Influence of Student Absenteeism on Academic

Performance of Secondary School Students in Nyandarua, Kenya

The influence of student absenteeism on academic performance has often been a

subject of concern for schools for a long time. This has largely been because the

teacher and the school authorities have always been under extreme pressure to

complete a given syllabus and also to perform well in national examinations. They

have therefore felt that, those students who absent themselves from regular

instruction for whatever reasons, miss important knowledge and competencies, a

fact that is bound to influence somehow their academic performance and

achievements at the end of the course (Bantu, 2003). Most researchers in

educational institutions have concentrated on the relationship between other school

characteristics like class size, teacher-student ratio, expenditure per student and

differences between public and private schools and not academic performance

(Staffolani, S. and Massimilano, B. (2002). Nevertheless it shouldnt be overlooked

that a student will occasionally miss class due to sickness, lack of school fees,

student delinquency and truancy, suspension, time out on games and sports or

because of many other causes. Civil strife

and natural disasters like tribal clashes, drought and famine will also often make a

child miss school (Kipkemboi and Silsil, 2006). Kenya has adopted universal primary

education (U.P.E), and is striving to achieve education for all (EFA). Educations both
in primary and secondary school levels have been decreed by the government to be

free and compulsory. The childrens act Cap. 114 of the laws of Kenya also provides

for every childs unhindered

access to quality education. This can largely be effective if the students attendance

of instruction is always guaranteed. If children will occasionally and in some cases

chronically be absent from this instruction for whatever reasons, then the goals so

sought by the students themselves and other stakeholders including the state, will

not be met. It is therefore important that influence of absenteeism on students

academic performance be investigated and determined because students still miss

school regularly in Nyandarua County.

Student Absenteeism and Academic Performance

Glasure (2002), sought to find out whether class attendance influenced non-

traditional students academic performance of university students in the U.S.A. The

study revealed a statistically significant and quantitatively larger relationship

between days absent and academic performance. Days absent alone accounted for

44% of the variation in performance. The researcher finally concluded that class

attendance mattered for improved academic

CHRONIC STUDENT ABSENTEEISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL LEADERS

Chapter One: Framework for the Study Each year, school leaders in K-12 public

education are faced with the complex challenge of addressing student absenteeism

concerns. In addressing such concerns, their actions are often confined by a

districts unwritten, historical practices and formal attendance policies. An extensive

review of the literature points to a vast number of attendance practices and policies

which perpetuate non-attendance problems by blaming and punishing students,

thus resulting in increased absences (Epstein & Sheldon, 2002; Garca-Gracia, 2008;

Hartnett, 2007). However, there is limited research to suggest school leaders are

seeking input from their students as they look to improve student attendance. This

practice is inconsistent with the pool of research that suggests students must be

given the opportunity to be heard, listened to, and recognized for their contributions

to their education (Cook-Sather, 2006; Gunter & Thomson, Sands et al., 2007;

Smyth, 2006b; Yonezawa & Jones, 2009). Drawing on literature centered on chronic

student absenteeism and literature related to student voice, I developed an

argument for the need to hear from and understand student perspectives related to

their absenteeism, along with the perspectives of their parents and/or guardians. I

sought to explore the role of school leaders in understanding and responding to

such perspectives when addressing student absenteeism concerns. Through this

research, it has been my intent to help school leaders to be better equipped to

assist students in building and maintaining a foundation for ongoing learning and

academic success through consistent participation in the K-12 public education

system. 2 Theoretical Basis of the Research As the researcher, I explored chronic

student absenteeism through a critical lens, shaped in part by critical pedagogy and

a critical approach to leadership, both of which I further explored in chapter two.

Critical pedagogy looks to a deeper understanding of the world (Burbules & Beck,

1999; Giroux & Simon, 1988; Kincheloe, 2005; Monchinski, 2008). A critical

approach to leadership provides students with the opportunity to be heard and for

their perspectives to be taken into consideration. Further, a critical approach to

leadership opens the door for those who have been oppressed or marginalized to

tell their story. I used a critical lens as I sought to understand the research

participants. Most importantly, the middle school students identified with chronic

student absenteeism. I sought to understand the lived experiences and

perspectives of such students, along with the experiences and perspectives of their

parents and/or guardians through a reflective interview process. Through the use of

reflective questions, I provided the research participants with the opportunity to

construct their own meaning as they engaged in the world. I provided the students

and their parents and/or guardians with an avenue to which they were allowed and

encouraged to share their stories, as I sought to understand and respond to their

experiences (Sands, Guzman, Stephens, & Boggs, 2007, p. 341). It was my intent to

ensure the voices of the students identified with chronic student absenteeism, along

with the voices of their parents and/or guardians were heard. I sought to have the

students and parents feel as if they were collaborators and problem solvers

alongside their school leaders in addressing student absenteeism concerns

Absenteeism and academic performance in an introduction to business

course.

In a traditional university setting, class meetings are the primary means of

delivering educational services. However, as almost anyone who has ever taught a

large section of an introductory course can confirm, student attendance at these

meetings is far from perfect. As educators, we want our students to attend class.

We enjoy teaching and interacting with students and work hard to make our classes

worthy of the students' time and energy. We know who our best students are

because they attend class regularly, but we often have a hard time putting a face to
the names of the students that fail. Based on this anecdotal evidence, we assume

that students who attend class regularly benefit from the lectures, films, and

learning activities designed to facilitate their acquisition of knowledge. Conversely,

we assume that excessive absences from class results in poor academic

performance. These assumptions, however, are not based on empirical evidence.

To encourage class attendance, we have always spent part of the first class meeting

telling our students that it is important for them to attend class, that they will learn

more if they attend class, and that students who attend class regularly generally

earn higher grades for the course and vice versa. Unfortunately, when we searched

the literature for empirical evidence to back up our claims, we failed to find any

studies specifically examining the relationship between students' absenteeism

during an Introduction to Business course and their subsequent performance on

exams. Moreover, studies over the past fifteen years that have examined the

relationship between absenteeism and academic achievement in related fields such

as economics, finance, and operations management have produced different,

sometimes contradictory, results.

Several studies have linked class absences with lower grades. For example, Brocato

(1989) found a strong negative correlation between absences and grades among

undergraduate students enrolled in Principles of Macroeconomics and Intermediate

Macroeconomics courses he taught over a four-year period. Park and Kerr (1990)

also found that attendance was a determinant of student performance in a Money

and Banking course, but not as important as a student's GPA and percentile rank on

the American College Test (ACT).

Browne et al. (1991), however, found that students who studied on their own did

just well as students that attended a typically structured Principles of

Microeconomics class on the Test of Understanding College Economics (TUCE). Their

conclusion: "Apparently, instructors' classroom activities have negligible impacts on

student performance, measured by multiple choice items tapping memory,

application and simple analysis competencies" (Browne et al. 1991, p. 29).

Based on attendance counts taken in all undergraduate economics courses taught

at three "relatively elite" universities, Romer (1993) concluded that absenteeism

was rampant, with typically about one-third of the students absent from class. (This

finding may explain why so many studies of absenteeism and academic

performance have students who are enrolled in economics course as their subjects.)

Romer also reported that regression estimates of the relation between attendance

and performance in one large Intermediate Macroeconomics course suggested that

attendance might substantially affect learning. Considering only students who did

all of the problem sets (in order to control for the impact of student motivation to do

well in the course) and controlling for prior grade point average, he found the

difference in performance between a student who attends class regularly and one

who attends class sporadically to be approximately one full letter grade.

Durden and Ellis (1995) also found that attendance does matter for academic

achievement in a Principles of Economics course. However, their findings suggest

that the effect is nonlinear, becoming important only after a student misses four

classes during the semester. They concluded that what really seems to matter is
excessive absenteeism.

Chan, Shum and Wright (1997) studied the effect of class attendance on student

performance in a Principles of Finance course using Tobin's (1958) TOBIT model and

a two-stage equation developed by (Heckmen 1976, 1979). They found a significant

positive relationship between attendance and student performance in the TOBIT

model, but only a weak relationship between attendance and student performance

in Heckman's two-stage model. Furthermore, they found that a mandatory

attendance policy did not improve performance

Absenteeism: A Review of the Literature and School Psychologys Role

One major barrier to learning faced by students and teachers in American schools

today is a lack of consistent attendance in classrooms. In fact, the United States

Department of Education (1994) has cited absenteeism as the most important factor

linked to performance differences among students, and absenteeism has recently been

identified as being at crisis proportion (Kearney, 2003). Although many schools realize the

importance of this issue, educational researchers have not consistently given

this topic the attention it deserves (Corville-Smith, 1995). Additionally, while

some attempts to increase attendance rates have been successful, the methodologies

used have had notable disadvantages including cost, drainage of faculty resources,

diffi culty of implementation, or time consumption (DeKalb,1999; Lamdin, 1996).

Researchers have attacked this problem from a number of directions. For example,

interventions have been community-based (McPartland & Nettles, 1991; Reid &

Bailey-Dempsey, 1995), family- based (Copeland, Brown, & Hall, 1974;

Volkman, 1996), and school-based (Gottfredson, Jones, & Gore, 2002; Noonan

& Thibeault, 1974). The intent of this paper is to summarize existing research on

improving attendance rates in schools and offer suggestions for school psychologists on

how they can become involved in formulating interventions to help schools deal with

problems of attendance.

Absenteeism

Truancy has been labeled one of the top 10 major problems in American

schools, and rates of absenteeism have reached as high as 30% in some cities. In

New York City, an estimated 150,000 out of 1,000,000 students are absent daily

(DeKalb, 1999). Similarly, the Los Angeles Unifi ed School District reports

that 10% of its students are absent daily, and only half return to school with

written excuses (DeKalb). Although school officials are unsure as to the proportion

of legitimate verses ille- gitimate absences, nationwide estimates have ranged from 1-22%

for illegitimate absences (Guevermont, 1986; Neilsen & Gerber, 1979). These studies may

actually underestimate non-illness related absences

due to the large margin of error likely to be found in self-report data of this nature. It

is quite possible that the proportion of illegitimate absences has changed since

these data were reported; however, no recent estimates are available. Additionally,

the proportion of illegitimate absences may vary substan- tially among school districts

in different parts of the country.

In the major metropolitan area of New York, for example, attendance rates for

the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens ranged between 86% and 96% for the 1998-

1999 school year. The mean rate of attendance in Brooklyns elementary schools was

90.63% (SD = 2.15), and for elementary schools in Queens the mean rate of
attendance was 92.36% (SD = 1.96). By way of comparison, New York

States Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island had elementary school

attendance rates ranging between 88% and 99% for the 1997-98 school year. The

mean attendance rate for elementary schools in Nassau County was 95.81 (SD =

1.30), and Suffolk Countys mean rate of attendance was 95.33 (SD = 1.32) for

elementary schools. Within the state of New York, attendance rates for different

regions appear to vary substantially (New York State Department of Education, personal

communication, May 18, 2000). It is possible that the proportion of illegitimate

absences varies, as well. DeLeonibus (1978) estimated an attendance rate of 96% as

adequate, given 7 days of absence per student per year as based on norms for adults

in the workplace. Although attendance rates from other

parts of the country may differ, it is possible that DeLeonibuss criterion is too stringent

an expectation

for school children. For example, only one of a combined 386 elementary

schools in Brooklyn and Queens surveyed by the authors met DeLeonibuss criterion.

The means for suburban districts on Long Island were quite close to the 96% criterion;

however, the majority of schools on Long Island (60.8%) also fell below this

benchmark. The magnitude of the attendance problem may be further illustrated

with an example: If we con- sider a school with an attendance rate of 90%, this

means that one of every 10 children may be absent on any given school day. Given

class sizes of 25-30 students per class, this translates to two or three

children missing per school day. The consequences of poor attendance can be

far reaching. Neill (1979) conducted a survey of 1414 members of the

American Association of School Administrators to explore their opinions con-

cerning the importance of attendance and perceived consequences of poor

attendance. Administrators were concerned that chronic lack of school attendance

could lead to permanent intellectual damage to students, as gaps in students

knowledge bases would be likely to arise. When students do not achieve

their intellectual potential they limit career choices. Additionally, children

who have high rates ofabsenteeism are more likely to drop out of school before

completing high school (DeRosier, Kupersmidt,& Patterson, 1994; Gerics & Westheimer,

1988; Hersov, 1960; Neilson & Gerber, 1979). Given thepositive correlation

between academic achievement and monetary income (Greene, 1963; Reid,

1984),chronic absentees may be less able to sustain themselves or a family as

they enter young adulthood. Absenteeism has also been found to be a predictor of

future criminality, alcoholism, and occupational difficulty (Hersov & Berg, 1980)

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