An Analysis on the Effect of Attendance on Pupils’ Academic Performance of

Grade VI pupils in Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School,

Daliaon District for School Year 2009-2010

ELVIN N. PALAO

Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School/Daliaon District

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the effect of attendance on academic performance of Grade VI pupils

of Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School for school year 2009-2010. This study identified the

average number of days attended by pupils and their general average. It also shows the correlation

between attendance and academic performance. The reports on promotion for the school year 2009-

2010 are the source of data for this study. The 286 Grade VI male pupils and 288 female pupils are the

population for this research. Four research questions were raised and answered using mean and linear

regression. The study revealed that the mean score of male pupils in attendance was 95.42% and

96.60% for female pupils and academic performance of 79.80% male and 82.99% for female pupils. The

mean score in attendance of all pupils is 96.01% and 81.40% for academic performance. It also revealed

a significant relationship between attendance and academic performance. It showed that the increase of

14% of the academic performance of pupils was influenced by attendance in Don Juan dela Cruz Central

Elementary School, Daliaon District.

I. The Problem

A school is set up for the main purpose of bringing pupils from different families together under

one roof-the classroom. As educators, we want our students to attend class. We are happy teaching and

interacting with pupils and work hard to make our classes worthy of the pupils’ time and energy. We know

who our best pupils are because they attend class regularly. Effective teaching and learning cannot take

place without the coming together of teachers and learners. Attendance is widely used to check pupils’

commitment in receiving instruction from the teacher. Some teachers also take pupils’ attendance before

teaching a subject. Administratively, the attendance placed on a register for easy supervision by school

administrators. Parents monitor their children through their attendance in the school. Hence, attendance

is an important administrative record used to monitor, control and supervise pupils’ activities in school.

On the importance of attendance register, Nwadiam (1994) stated that school head and teachers

should have accurate information of all the activities in the school for effective and easy decision-making

aids educational grant procurement and also to satisfy legal requirement and continuous assessment.

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 classes, that they will learn more if they will attend class,

and that students who attends class regularly generally earn higher grades for the course and vice versa.

UNESCO’s Education for All (EFA) is worldwide program enjoined by different countries to level

up and provide education to all school children. Worldwide, there is a clear and growing link between the

level of education and economic growth. Not growth for growth’s sake but it must also be sustainable;

meaning education for all must be sustainable too. Already we see public and private partnerships for a

sustainable environment and social development anchored on the education for development platform.

The approach to education now calls for the emphasis on quality – which students learn is key. In our

developing country, this will be the engine for personal fulfillment and eventual social harmony. An

immediate effect is gender equality; in the longer term, social stability, peace and the resolution of

conflict. To quote the consensus document, “broad-based education serves to help counter extremism

and terrorism by giving hope and life chances.”

Our country, Philippines is one of the advocates of this Education for All (EFA) 2015. Our

membership and work in the international organization UNESCO continues to keep us abreast of global

developments in education and access to cutting edge ideas on managing reforms. There is now a

convergence of the idea of education as a human right and educating for development. The linkages

required are the increased, balanced and prioritized investment made in whole education system the

present administration is addressing; the regular sound assessment of programs; building bridges to

access information and communication technologies and ICT to facilitate distance education, teacher

training and more flexible and innovative education models. Specifically for the Philippines, there is

recognition of the contribution of our workforce to economies everywhere. The focus is not on brain drain

but on the circulation of skills to ultimately benefit our country. Even as we become citizens of the world,

we keep on listening to the voices of our communities so that our rich cultural heritage may be respected.

To experience the said quality of education for all, school children must be present in school.

Several studies have linked class absences with lower grades. For example, Brocato (1989) found a

strong negative correlation between absences and grades among undergraduate student s 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

Money and Banking course. Roomer (1993) reported that regression estimates of the relation between

attendance and performance in one large Intermediate Macroeconomics course suggested that

attendance might substantially affect learning. Chan, Shum and Wright (1997) studied the effect of class

attendance on student performance in a Principles of Finance course. They found significant positive

relationship between attendance and student performance.

In an investigation conducted by Mar burger (2001) found out that there is a relationship between

student’s absenteeism during a Principles of Microeconomics course and their subsequent performance

on exams. In contrast, Peter, Kathy and Bullington (2002) found that class attendance did not affect

students’ exam performance in an introductory operations management course.

Statement of the Problem

After reviewing the literature, we began to question our assumptions about attendance and

academic performance. Although we told our pupils on the first day of class that attendance was

important, we kept our comments relatively brief and only repeated them after reporting the results of

tests. Attendance was sometimes poor, suggesting that many pupils did not believe our claims about its

importance. Thus, this study set out to answer the following questions:

1. What is the average number of days attended in school year 2009-2010 by

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

2. What is the average academic performance in school year 2009-2010 by

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

3. Is there a significant relationship on the number of days attended and the academic

performance in school year 2009-2010 of

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

4. Does school attendance significantly predict the performance of

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

Research Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship on the number of days attended and academic

performance of Grade VI pupils for school year 2009-2010.

Conceptual Framework

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Significance of the study

This study is significant for several reasons. First, it provides an understanding of the relationships

that exist between attendance and academic performance of Grade VI pupils. Secondly, this study point

in giving emphasis of quality teaching-learning process when a pupil is attending classes. In other words,

greater number of days attended in class, the higher academic performance will be. Lastly, the use of the

whole population and individual scores of the Grade VI pupils eliminates bias in this study.

ATTENDANCEACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE

II.Methodology

The design of this study was ex-post-facto in nature and followed the descriptive research

format. Independent variable is attendance and the dependent variable is pupils’ academic performance.

Population and Sample

The Grade VI 288 female pupils and 286 male pupils of Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary

School constitute the population of the study.

The instrument for data collection was the Promotional Report of Grade VI for School Year 2009-

2010. In collecting the data, each pupil’s attendance and general average grade was covered.

The number of days attended refers to the percentage of attendance of the pupils and academic

performance refers to the general average of the pupils.

In getting the percentage of attendance of the pupil, this formula is used:

total no. of days attended

total no. of days in a school year x100.

The total number of days attended of each pupil was encoded by gender. And get the percentage

of attendance and percentage of general average of each pupil. All results were computer generated

through SPSS 19 trial version.

III. Results

Table I. Descriptive Statistics

MALE FEMALE OVER ALL

VARIABLE N SUM MEAN Std.

Deviati

on

N SUM MEAN Std.

Deviati

on

N SUM MEAN Std.

Deviati

on

Attendance 286 27290.

44

95.4211 4.73303 288 96.5993 3.85453 574

55111.03

96.0122 4.35

Academic

Performance

286 22823 79.8007 3.74805 288 82.9896 3.41087 574

46724 81.4007 3.91

Table 2. Correlations

Table 3. Regression

3.1 MALE

Model Summaryb

Mo

del R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of

the Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Chan

ge

1 .241a .058 .055 3.64443 .058 17.437 1 284 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), attendance

b. Dependent Variable: GA

ANOVAb

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 231.589 1 231.589 17.437 .000a

Residual 3772.050 284 13.282

Total 4003.640 285

a. Predictors: (Constant), attendance

b. Dependent Variable: GA

MALE FEMALE OVER ALL

Attendance Academic

Performance

Attendance Academic

Performanc

e

Attendance Academic Performance

Pearson Correlation 1 .241 1 .500 1 .373

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000

Coefficientsa

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) 61.627 4.358 14.143 .000

attendance .190 .046 .241 4.176 .000

a. Dependent Variable: GA

3.2 FEMALE

Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjuste

d R

Square

Std. Error

of the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

1 .500a .250 .248 2.95818 .250 95.561 1 286 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), attendance

ANOVAb

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 836.238 1 836.238 95.561 .000a

Residual 2502.731 286 8.751

Total 3338.969 287

a. Predictors: (Constant), attendance

b. Dependent Variable: GA

Coefficientsa

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) 40.211 4.380 9.182 .000

attendance .443 .045 .500 9.776 .000

Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjuste

d R

Square

Std. Error

of the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

1 .500a .250 .248 2.95818 .250 95.561 1 286 .000

a. Dependent Variable: GA

3.3 OVER ALL

Model Summaryb

M

od

el R

R

Squa

re

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

1 .373a .139 .138 3.63985 .139 92.366 1 572 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), attendance

b. Dependent Variable: GA

ANOVAb

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 1223.709 1 1223.709 92.366 .000a

Residual 7578.131 572 13.248

Total 8801.840 573

a. Predictors: (Constant), attendance

b. Dependent Variable: GA

Coefficientsa

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) 49.153 3.359 14.634 .000

attendance .336 .035 .373 9.611 .000

a. Dependent Variable: GA

The results of the data analysis are presented according to research questions and hypothesis.

1. What is the average number of days attended in school year 2009-2010 by

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

2. What is the average academic performance in school year 2009-2010 by

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

From results in table 1, Grade VI male pupils in Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School

for school year 2009-2010 with 95.42% in average percentage score in their attendance and Grade VI

female pupils in Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School for school year 2009-2010 with 96.60%

in average percentage score in their attendance. It showed a slight difference among the two genders.

Grade VI female pupils of Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School for school year 2009-2010 are

more regular in school than the Grade VI male pupils. On academic performance, Grade VI male pupils

in Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School for school year 2009-2010 with 79.80 % in general

average in their academic performance and Grade VI female pupils in Don Juan dela Cruz Central

Elementary School for school year 2009-2010 with 82.99 %in average score. The over-all average

percentage attendance is 96.01 %and the over-all academic performance is 81.40. % From this result,

attendance influences academic performance to some extent.

3. Is there a significant relationship on the number of days attended and the academic

performance in school year 2009-2010 of

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

From the results in table 2, Grade VI male pupils in Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary

School for school year 2009-2010 with .00 significant level and Grade VI female pupils in Don Juan dela

Cruz Central Elementary School for school year 2009-2010 with .00.The over all significant level is .00.

This explains that when a pupil with high attendance in class, the academic performance will increase.

4. Does school attendance significantly predict the performance of

a. Male Grade VI pupils

b. Female Grade VI pupils

c. All Grade VI pupils

From the results in Table 3.1. the male Grade VI pupils’ .05% of their academic performance can

be predicted by their attendance and for one day attendance of male pupils, a .190 will be added in their

academic performance.

Table 3.2 exhibits the female Grade VI pupils’ .25% of their academic performance can be

predicted by their attendance and for one day attendance of female pupils, a .443 will be added in their

academic performance.

Table 3.3 shows the over-all Grade VI pupils’ .14% of their academic performance can be

predicted by their attendance and for one day attendance of all pupils, a .346 will be added in their

academic performance.

IV. Findings and Recommendations

The study revealed high positive relationship between attendance and academic performance of

pupils in Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School.

. Since the percentage mean scores is not significantly larger than of academic performance, an

increase i.e. positive improvement in attendance could increase student’s academic performance. These

findings are consistent with those of of Oghuvbu (2006) Nwadiani (1994).

The relationship between attendance and academic performance of students in elementary

school is positively correlated that is attendance influences academic performances. This is possible

because, attendance records will help parent, ministry of education officials and researchers identify

other factors affecting students’ academic performance and discipline in schools.

Having found significant relationship between attendance and academic performance, as

educator I feel challenged to identify measures that will encourage class attendance. The following

measures are established:

1. To establish the proper antecedents, at the first class meeting pupils should be informed of

the empirical relationship between class attendance and academic performance.

2. Teachers should consider awarding bonus points for class attendance to positively reinforce

the desired behavior. One might base a small portion of the overall academic performance in

order to eliminate the element of compulsion.

3. Teachers must consider giving short quizzes at the end of every class session to reinforce the

day’s lesson as well as class attendance.

4. Finally, teachers must maintain records on class attendance and provide feedback to pupils

on their behavior. When reporting test results, also report correlation between attendance and

test performance to reinforce the message that pupils who attend class regularly generally

perform better on tests than those who do not.

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