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Running head: TAKING A CLOSER LOOK i

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT HIGH SCHOOL ATTENDANCE:

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ATTENDANCE AND INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE IT

Shawn Pfeil

A Capstone Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the Master of Science Degree in

Counselor Education at

Winona State University

Fall, 2010

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK ii

Winona State University

College of Education

Counselor Education Department

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

__________________________

CAPSTONE PROJECT

___________________

Taking a Closer Look at High School Attendance: The Significance of Attendance and

Interventions to Improve It

This is to certify that the Capstone Project of

Shawn Pfeil

Has been approved by Dr. Johnson and the CE 695 – Capstone Project

Course Instructor in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Master of Science Degree in

Counselor Education

Capstone Project Supervisor: Veronica Johnson, EdD, Name

Approval Date: December 6, 2010

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK iii

Abstract

The emphasis on student achievement in the school system is extremely important in the current

climate. Attendance in the high school has been linked to certain student characteristics and

school factors. Improved attendance has been shown to increase achievement in schools around

the country. The Talent Development Model (McPartland, et al., 1998) and the Universal

Preventive Intervention (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006) have been shown to be successful in

helping to improve attendance. This article also explores a proposed model introduced by this

writer that uses some aspects from both of the models mentioned previously. The ultimate goals

of this model are to get parents, counselors, teachers and students all heading toward the same

goal which is high attendance rates which will lead to high success rates in the high school.

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK iv

Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………….1

Review of Literature ……………………………………………………………………………...1

Importance of attendance………………………………………………………………….1

Issues in attendance………………………………………………………………………..4

Student characteristics…………………………………………………………….4

School characteristics……………………………………………………………...6

Intervention………………………………………………..………………………….…...8

Talent Development Model……………………………………………………….9

Universal Preventive Interventions………………………………………………13

Discussion………………..………………………………………………………………………17

References ……………………………………………………………………………………….23

Appendix....…………...………………………………………………………………………….25

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK 1

Taking a Closer Look at High School Attendance: The Significance of Attendance and

Interventions to Improve It

Research indicates that academic success in high school students is related to a multitude

of different factors, but perhaps one of the most important factors is attendance (Roby, 2004).

There are a variety of reasons that students choose to attend school or not to attend school. The

attitude of the students toward school is important but another important factor is how this

attitude is demonstrated in their attendance records. For example, a child might think that it is

important to attend class but this student may still skip school frequently. For this reason it is

important to know not only the student’s attitude towards attending school but also their

willingness to attend school by looking at actual attendance records. Due to the increased levels

of success for students who attend school it is important for administrators, teachers, school

counselors and other school staff to try any means necessary to increase student attendance.

Importance of Attendance

Many school districts are primarily concerned with graduation rates and student

achievement. Many of these same schools fail to see the relationship between student

achievement and school attendance. Research done by Sparks (2010) indicates that chronic

absenteeism, which is defined as missing more than 10% of school or more, is a strong indicator

of student disengagement. Student disengagement often leads to students failing courses and

eventually may lead to school dropout. Absenteeism should be used as both a predictor of

failure and should serve as an early warning sign because absenteeism often precedes academic

difficulties. Once these warning signs are detected, interventions can be implemented in order to


get students back on the right track before the students become chronically disengaged from the

school and thus suffer academically.

In order to understand absenteeism more fully it is important to look at some of the

causes of absenteeism. Sparks (2010) contends that chronic absenteeism is caused by four main

factors which include: illness, missed buses, broken cars and just playing hooky. Interestingly,

kindergarten and 1st grade have the second highest rates of absenteeism after all four years of

high school (Sparks, 2010). Most often parents keep their children out of classes when they are

young because they do not know about the high level of academic expectations that are present

early on in a child’s academic career. This can cause a child to learn this type of behavior from

their parents, which can increase the likelihood that the student will be chronically absent in high

school (Sparks, 2010). Research done by Sparks (2010) indicates that in high school students are

not known as well and are not looked after as closely as they were in middle school. This means

that if students get caught skipping that they may have to serve detention but they don’t feel

connected to the school and they don’t feel like the teachers will miss them if they are absent.

Another issue with absenteeism is how it is counted and how these figures are being used

in the schools. Most attendance counts that schools report to the state are school averages that do

a good job of hiding chronic absenteeism. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public

Instruction (DPI, 2009, p. 1), attendance is defined as “face-to-face contact between a student

and a teacher during which PK-12 educational services are provided.” The actual days of

attendance are divided by the total possible number of days that a student could have attended

school. Both the actual days of attendance and the total possible days are measured in half days.

Due to the fact that the school calculates average attendance for the entire student body it is a

very crude measurement tool. These averages are calculated in such a way that if several students


miss weeks of class this doesn’t set off accountability measures which look to fix these issues

(Sparks, 2010). This means that even a school with the best of intentions may be looking at the

absentee calculations and the school may not realize that a problem exists. This of course

implies that if absenteeism cannot be identified as a problem then no interventions will be

implemented to try to solve the problem and the students will fall further and further behind.

Instead of lumping all of the students together, where individual students don’t make that

large of an impact, it is important to look at the attendance of students on a case-by-case basis.

As an alternative, Sparks (2010) suggests that schools monitor the percentage of time that the

student spends in school rather than looking at the number of days that the student missed. This

is a better indication of the actual amount of time that the student is missing class and can

therefore be utilized to suggest which students are at a greater risk for becoming consistently

absent toward the end of the school year. Sparks (2010) prefers this method because if a child

were to miss 15% of his or her classes the first month this would elicit an alarm to the school

faculty that would probably be missed if they were only looking at the number of total days that

the student was not in school.

A study by Roby (2004) looked at the importance of attendance and how it directly

relates to student achievement. In this study Roby (2004) looked at the attendance of students in

Ohio schools and compared them to their attendance records. The study looked at students in

grade levels 4, 6, 9, and 12. The study showed that attendance and achievement were positively

correlated and interestingly they were the most strongly correlated for students that were in the

9th grade (Roby, 2004). This study also looked at the top 10% of each of the grade levels and the

bottom 10% of the grade levels in terms of achievement and compared them to attendance rates.

Roby (2004) found that there was a statistically significant difference between the extremely


high and extremely low achievers in the average number of days that these students attended

school. For example, the students that scored in the top 10% on the achievement test attended

school an average of 94.8% while the students that scored in the bottom 10% attended school

82.48% of the time (Roby, 2004). Clearly, attendance cannot account for all of the differences

between the high achievers and the low achievers but it was a significant predictor in

determining success. In looking at this and other research it is easy to see that attendance is

related to achievement. Issues in attendance will now be addressed which include: student

characteristics as well as school characteristics that help determine if a student will attend or will

not attend.

Issues in Attendance

A vast amount of research has been done on the variables and characteristics that affect

students attending high school (Balfanz, Herzog and Mac Iver, 2007; King, 1998; Rosenfeld,

Richman & Bowen, 2000; Singh, Chang & Dika, 2007; Wilkins, 2008; Zierold, Garman &

Anderson, 2005). These variables can be divided into two different categories: characteristics of

the students and characteristics of the school. Research has indicated that the way in which a

school is designed can determine if the school will have high attendance rates (Wilkins, 2008).

Also, the mentality of the students is important when looking at whether or not the child will

attend classes (King, 1998).

Student Characteristics. There are many characteristics that students already possess

that schools cannot change to increase attendance. A student's personality can have a profound

effect on whether or not that child will attend school. For example, a study by King (1998)

indicated that class attendance was negatively correlated to personality traits such as antisocial


behavior in that as antisocial scores increased, school attendance decreased. In this study King

(1998) used the Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II) to measure pathology that

roughly correlates to DSM diagnoses. Participants who take the MCMI-II receive a numerical

score in which the more elevated the score the more likely the disorder is prevalent in the

individual completing the instrument. According to the study by King (1998) certain personality

traits were related to a student's attendance records. Compulsive personality traits were

correlated with students being more likely to attend classes and also have higher levels of

academic success (King, 1998). On the contrary, lower scores as indicated by the MCMI-II on

the compulsive scale indicated lower attendance records and likewise lower achievement.

Interestingly, scores within the compulsive total score were further broken up and scores on

perfectionism, goal-directedness and conscientiousness seemed to outweigh the detrimental

effects of scores on things like indecisiveness, inflexibility and other negative characteristics

associated with the compulsive scores (King, 1998).

An interesting and disputed relationship may exist between a student working after

school and the student’s attendance and achievement in school. This is an important issue

because about 80% of high school students work at some time during their high school careers

and at any given time about 40% of them are currently working (Singh et al., 2007). One study

done in Wisconsin indicated that students who engaged in part-time work after school did not

spend less time on homework, and they did not have lower grades or higher rates of absenteeism

(Zierold, et al., 2005). However, another study indicated that part-time employment of high

school students had a negative effect on achievement (Singh, et al., 2007). Even when

controlling for school involvement and demographic information school achievement was still

negatively related to part-time work. Singh et al. (2007) contend that other factors that are


related to academic success include: academic engagement, effort, motivation, family

socioeconomic status and the educational aspirations of both the student and the parents. Even

when the authors of this study controlled for these variables there still existed a negative

relationship between school achievement and part-time work. It appears that the amount of

involvement in work based on the number of hours worked can have large implications on levels

of success in school. In other words the more hours a student works the more likely that student

will suffer academically (Singh et al., 2007).

Another factor that affects school attendance is the wealth of the students that are

attending the school as well as the location of the school: whether it is located in a rural or urban

area. A study by Balfanz, et al. (2007) suggests that students who become disengaged in middle

school will show a reduction in high school graduation rates, unless some sort of intervention is

performed. Middle school students who are in high-poverty are most vulnerable to school

disengagement because they are often recruited by their families to become caregivers or bread-

winners or they are recruited by their friends to engage in out of school adventures (Balfanz et

al., 2007). These activities interfere with both the student's involvement and attendance in the

school which ultimately results in a decreased level of school achievement. Attendance overall

between middle school and elementary school shows decreases in attendance in middle school

when compared to elementary school although the differences are even more significant in high

poverty areas (Balfanz, et al., 2007). Students who showed a significant increase in absenteeism

from school at the start of middle school were much more likely than low-achieving students to

never graduate.

School Characteristics. There are a variety of things that help influence whether or not a

student will attend his or her high school. Some of the most important factors that influence a


student's decision on whether or not to attend are based on how the school is organized and run.

Luckily this is an area that teachers, school counselors and administration can change in the

hopes of increasing attendance within the school system. Wilkins (2008) found four main

characteristics that influence whether or not a child will attend school: school climate, academic

environment, discipline and the relationship that the student has with the teachers. The students

that were involved in the study indicated that their old schools had been very violent and their

classrooms were too chaotic to learn in. Students were also upset by the unfair punishment from

the teachers. Also, students were disciplined in groups which led to a perceived lack of power in

the students. The students indicated that they were better able to learn and remain involved in

school when they felt they were given a sense of power, importance and status and they therefore

felt more connected to their school which increased attendance (Wilkins, 2008).

Positive social support has been shown to have a positive relationship with student

motivation, school adjustment, sense of school cohesion, dropout rates, time studying and

attendance (Rosenfeld, et al. 2000). It appears that social support may help in student adjustment

and also in the student's overall development. Students that perceive support from their parents,

friends and teachers have higher attendance, spend more hours studying, have less problem

behavior, have higher school satisfaction, self-efficacy and engagement and have better grades

(Rosenfeld, et al., 2000). Only 25% of middle school and high school kids felt that they had

support in all areas. This was the case even though it was shown in the study that it was very

important for students to perceive that they had the support in all areas. Attendance was highest

for students who were highly supported by friends and teachers with less emphasis placed on the

support of teachers (Rosenfeld, et al., 2000). Rosenfeld, Richman and Bowen (2000) found that

student achievement is very much related to the perceived support that the students feel from the


teachers so it is important that teachers know that they must be a positive social support for the

students that they teach. The three variables that were affected the most by positive support were:

school satisfaction, self-efficacy and engagement in school (Rosenfeld, et al., 2000).

One of the school characteristics that affects student attendance is the wealth of the

school. Research by Balfanz, Herzog and Mac Iver (2007) indicate that high poverty schools are

often full of bullying, teacher turnover, fighting and even teacher vacancies. The students in

these high poverty schools are faced with under resourced classrooms and schools and thus have

a chaotic school experience which causes student disengagement. Student disengagement would

indicate that the students are less likely to attend classes and to take less pride in their school

work and in their school as a whole when they do attend school (Balfanz, et al., 2007).

When looking at the previous research that has been done it is quickly evident that

attendance is based on a variety of different factors. Some of these factors can be controlled by

the people that are involved in the students’ lives while other factors cannot necessarily be

changed. It is important for school personnel, and especially school counselors to try to make

the learning environment as helpful as possible. It is important to motivate students to attend

school and to achieve up to their highest potential.

Interventions

Research has indicated that achievement is related to attendance (King, 1998; Sparks,

2010; Roby, 2004). The goal for each school should be to improve attendance so that students

are able to achieve to the best of their ability. Research shows that these interventions are

effective and it is surprising that more schools don’t implement these interventions in their

schools. Two of these interventions are known as the Talent Development Model (McPartland,


Balfanz, Jordan, Legters, 1998) and the Universal Preventive Interventions (Graeff-Martins,

Oswald, Comassetto, Kieling, Goncalves & Rohde, 2006). Both of these interventions focus on

both student characteristics as well as school characteristics. In order for students to be as

successful as possible it is important for schools to strengthen the positive characteristics of

students and to eliminate the negative characteristics of students. The school also has to improve

on the four main areas that affect school attendance which include: school climate, academic

environment, discipline and the relationship that the student has with the teachers (Wilkins,

2008). Both the Talent Development Model and the Universal Preventive Intervention

incorporate ways to change student characteristics and school characteristics.

Talent Development Model. The Talent Development Model is used to deal with

student apathy, student anonymity as well as issues in diversity. A study by McPartland, et al.

(1998), looked at the effectiveness of the Talent Development Model when used in a school in

Baltimore that had a low success rates academically. The study looked at the rates of freshman

becoming sophomores and the rates more than doubling while using the model because

attendance, test scores and climate all showed vast improvement (McPartland, et al., 1998).

In looking at ways to change school climates and to promote attendance and achievement

it is first important to look at why some ways of doing things are so unsuccessful. Before the

intervention the students at the school in Baltimore were faced with a climate that was

disorganized and precarious (McPartland, et al., 1998). It was clear that the school was not

successfully reprimanding the students. The students would walk the halls during classes and the

periodic lock-downs to catch the students that were skipping class were very unsuccessful.

During the lunch hours students would often get into fights and it became nearly impossible to

make the school look nice because anything that was put up in the school would get defaced or


torn down as soon as it was put up. The teachers were frustrated with trying to discipline the

students and it was extremely difficult to conduct a class because on a typical day only about half

the students would attend (McPartland, et al., 1998). Even with the students in class it was

difficult to learn because the noise out in the hallways from other students skipping was

extremely distracting and teachers were forced to isolate themselves in the classrooms by

shutting the doors and covering the windows to avoid the distractions. All of these issues led to

a very unwelcoming and unfriendly school environment.

In developing the Talent Development Model it was important to look at why the current

school climate was not successful and what changes could be done that could lead to positive

change. In looking at the issues the first challenge that they identified was that the school was

too large and the students did not have a close bond with their teachers (McPartland, et al.,

1998). It seemed that the students were just numbers walking around the hallways and in the

classrooms and it was easier for the students to break the rules if they felt like they were

anonymous.

The solution to this issue was to cut the school down into smaller groups so that teachers

could get to know the students in their groups better which would create a warmer climate in

which the students would know that the teachers did truly care about their well-being. They also

implemented longer class periods which cut down the amount of transitions that the students had

throughout the day and this reduced disciplinary troubles because the students had less

opportunities for skipping class and they were not able to get in trouble between classes as

frequently (McPartland, et al., 1998).


The second major challenge that the team that developed the Talent Development Model

wanted to address was that students were extremely apathetic about their school work and they

saw little to no connection between the courses that they were taking and the fulfillment of future

goals. The team felt that students would feel more responsibility for their studies if they would

provide a career focus to the curriculum (McPartland, et al., 1998). Students would be allowed

to pick from several Career Academies based on their future occupation goals as well as their

personal strengths. This gave the students the power to choose what areas they would like to

study and the class information became more meaningful because the subject matter was

something that they were already interested in (McPartland, et al., 1998).

The third challenge that the Talent Development Model sought to address was the issue

of the vast diversity of the student body. Due to the large area that the school served and the vast

numbers of middle schools that these students attended it was often difficult to get these students

through the core classes that were required at the school for graduation. The decision was made

that the school should try to continue to have high expectations for the students but the school

would provide more support to improve the chance for success. The students would be allowed

to have flexibility in the amount of resources and time that students needed in the core classes to

give them the highest possibility for success.

Another major change in the school setting was the introduction of a ninth-grade success

academy. This placed all the incoming students into small groups of 150 to 180 students who

attended classes together and all shared the same handful of teachers (McPartland, et al., 1998).

This allowed the students to get to know other students better and also allowed the teachers to

get to know the names of each of the students in their teams. Due to the fact that the same five

teachers had the same students the teachers could get together and figure out the best ways to


teach individual students. Each of the ninth grade groups had a separate part of the building that

they spent all of their days in and they even had their own entrance into the building. Each unit

had a separate management team that was lead by the Academy Principal as well as the

Academy Instructor Leader although a lot of the responsibility and power rested with the

teachers. The curriculum was changed so that the first portion of their ninth grade year was

spent with self-awareness activities and goal interest activities that gave the students the

necessary information to make a decision on what Career Academy they would focus on for the

last three years of high school (McPartland, et al., 1998).

Along with the changes that occurred in the structuring of the freshman class there were

also structural changes with grades 10 to 12 as well. The Career Academies were set up so that

groups of about 250 to 350 students were grouped together and taught by the same teachers in

the same area of the school (McPartland, et al., 1998). A management team headed all the

separate groups and each cluster had its own school counselor. An emphasis was placed on

creating a warm school environment and the assistant principal would greet the students every

morning to help create a positive environment. The curriculum was also tweaked so that each of

the groups fulfilled the requirements for graduation while still getting more specific information

about the particular career path that they were interested in.

Another program was implemented for the students who had very serious attendance or

discipline problems. This program was known as Twilight School and it was offered in small

classes, which covered basic subjects, and the students and teachers would meet after regular

school hours (McPartland, et al., 1998). The goal of the program was to provide a more one-to-

one learning environment in order to give the students the skills they needed to move their way

back into regular school hours.


These programs and changes were slowly implemented over the course of a couple of

years and the results were astounding. The problems that were rampant before the

implementation of these programs were changed and like one teacher said, “The improvement is

like night and day” (McPartland, et al., 1998, p. 347). In the years immediately following the

implementation of this program the attendance rate rose by 10 points throughout the entire

school and the attendance rate for the freshman student rose by 15 points (McPartland, et al.,

1998). In the years before the intervention this school had the largest percentage of students

missing 20 days of school or more and after the implementation of the program they had the

second lowest rate (McPartland, et al., 1998). The changes did not only improve attendance but

achievement also improved. In the years immediately following the implementation of the

intervention the school’s average scores on the State Functional Tests improved by 28 points in

the number of students that passed the mathematics part of the exam and produced an upward

trend in the number of students who passed the writing part of the exam (McPartland, et al.,

1998). Clearly this intervention produced very positive results in the school that it was first

introduced in. The question is if these results can be reproduced in other schools that struggle

with attendance and achievement.

Universal Preventive Interventions. Another study looked at a variety of different

interventions than what was used in the Talent Development Model and these were successful as

well. This study called their method of improving attendance the Universal Preventative

Interventions (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). This study looked at the attendance differences

between two different schools which were schools with very high rates of absenteeism that were

chosen at random from 10 different schools. The school that would receive the intervention was


then chosen at random from the two remaining schools. The school that did not receive the

intervention would be considered the control in this experiment.

The school that received the interventions received six different unique interventions to

improve attendance. The first intervention was two different workshops including all the

teachers from the school. The first workshop addressed a child’s normal growth and

development and looked at what teachers can expect from students of certain ages. The second

workshop served as an introduction on how to manage and recognize behavioral and emotional

disorders in the students (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006).

The second intervention that was implemented was in regards to sending 5 different

letters to the families of the students. The first letter included information about school dropout

and a short explanation of the study that would be conducted (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). The

second letter was in regards to the reasons for school dropout and the results of dropping out of

school. The third letter included information about how to know if a student is attending school

and where to go to get more help in keeping the student in school. The fourth letter discussed

how to develop a positive relationship and open honest communication between the family and

the school. Finally, the fifth letter that was sent home to the families of the students was designed

to keep the parents motivated and also included information about the initial findings of the

study through the first semester of school (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006).

The third intervention that was included in this study was three school meetings. The

meetings were conducted with the parents of the students in the school and the meetings were

conducted on three separate days when the parents were already expected to be at the school for

their children’s evaluations (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). In the first meeting the student’s


grades were given out to the parents and the reasons why students should finish school was

explored. The topic for the second meeting was developed by the parents themselves: how to set

limits for children (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). The topic of interest was discussed in an open

format by a child psychiatrist. The third and final meeting covered another topic that the parents

selected: sexuality. This topic was discussed with the parents by an adolescent gynecologist and

the child psychiatrist. It is interesting that the last two topics had little to do with attendance and

yet these meetings appeared to be successful. Getting the parents interested and thinking about

topics involving their children most likely got them in the right mindset to interact with their

children on a more intimate basis. The added attention that the students received from their

parents probably increased the likelihood that the students would attend school.

The fourth intervention that was introduced in this study involved changes to the school

environment. Graeff-Martins, et al. (2006) introduced a contest in which the students were asked

to develop songs about the advantages of staying in school and the pitfalls that can come with

dropping out of school. Along with this contest the parents were invited to come to the school

on two separate days and help make small repairs to the school to improve the learning

environment in the school (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). The belief in fixing up the school is

that students will become more proud of their school and will want to get more involved in

school activities which will boost attendance.

An additional intervention piece was a telephone hotline which directly connected the

school to the research team. This allowed parents the opportunity to have direct access to the

individuals conducting the study. A total of 16 families used this intervention in order to talk

about emotional or behavioral problems with their children and the researchers were able to refer


the parents to different resources to help the situation before it worsened (Graeff-Martins, et al.,

2006).

The sixth and final intervention was the implementation of the program. Special

attention was paid to the juniors in the school and they engaged in a program called “The

Advantages of Staying in School” (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). This program is conducted by

trained volunteers and lasts for one day during the school year. The topics of this intervention

include: personal success, statistics showing the importance of staying in school, determining the

financial gains of staying in school, looking at the student’s future and the pros and cons of

staying in school (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006).

In addition to the six interventions that were previously discussed special attention was

placed on students who had previously missed 10 consecutive days or more of school. The

students in this situation were given assessments to assess the student and family mental health

(Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). These students were also put in touch with whatever resources

were available in the community to help with the problems that were revealed through the mental

health assessments.

The results of this intervention were very encouraging and the intervention lead to lower

dropout rates as well as lower rates of absenteeism (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). The rate of

dropout for the school with the intervention was 2.85% and the rate of dropout in the control

school was 9.54% (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). This is a large difference when considering the

large difference in the actual number of students that did or did not drop out of school. For

example, in a school of 1,000 students the difference in dropouts between the two schools would

be 28 students for the school with the intervention and 95 students in the control school. This is


obviously a huge difference in that 67 more students in the intervention school have the ability to

finish high school. The study also looked at the average number of days that students were

absent at the two schools. The mean number of days of absenteeism in the third trimester for the

intervention school was 8.21 days per students while the mean number for the students in the

control school was 11.12 days per student (Graeff-Martins, et al., 2006). Again this might not

look like a huge difference but it is important to remember that this is only for one trimester of

one school year. If this were compounded over an entire school year the difference is 24.63 days

missed per student vs. 33.36 days missed per student. Further if these statistics held up for a

student’s entire four year high school career the differences would be 98.52 days absent per

student vs. 133.44 days missed per student. Since research has established that attendance and

achievement are positively correlated the results of this study are very important because of the

large difference in the school that received the intervention vs. the control school.

Discussion

It is clear that attendance and achievement are positively correlated. This is important

because many schools in the United States seem to have a problem with attendance. This of

course means that students aren’t achieving to the best of their abilities. It is important for

students to be successful in high school because it will set them on the right path to be successful

in life. It is important to get the students to come to class on a regular basis so that they can be as

successful as possible. Using a variation or combination of the Talent Development Model and

the Universal Preventive Intervention can improve attendance.

The main focus in this plan is to get students, parents, teachers, administration, and

school counselors all on the same page and with the same ultimate goals. Studies have


consistently shown that students are the most successful when they feel like they have the

support from the adults in their lives. (Rosenfeld, et al. 2000; Wilkins, 2008). The school

environment must also remain warm and encouraging in order for the students to be successful.

Also, it is important for the students, parents and school faculty to be made aware of the

importance of school attendance and its relationship with achievement. This intervention needs

to have an interactive teaching aspect to it as well so that everyone involved is actively

emphasizing the importance of attendance. This can be done in a setting that allows for new

ideas to be brought up while still conveying the core ideas and the statistical facts about

attendance.

The first step in improving school attendance is to get the school faculty all on the same

page. For this reason it would be beneficial for the school counselors to lead a workshop that

included all teachers and faculty. This meeting should be held before the beginning of the school

year. The topics of the meeting would focus on student development and would also include

information about the importance of attendance. An emphasis would be made on developing a

warm school environment that is conducive to learning and would ultimately lead to student

success. The school counselors could lead this meeting but it would be up to the teachers and

administrators to really climb on board and create a place where students want to attend and

learn. One thing that will be emphasized is keeping the classroom doors open to create an open

and welcoming environment. Also, the staff will sign up for days in which they will greet the

students at the doors when they walk into school. Students will get the message and the hope is

that they will feel like they are part of the group and they will also be more friendly to other

students.


An emphasis will also be placed on parental involvement because while the teachers

would serve as the role models at school the parents could serve as positive role models in the

home. This would give the students two unique opportunities to see positive examples in their

lives. Similar to the meetings with the school faculty the school counselors and the

administration would meet with all of the students’ parents to discuss the issues in the school.

An emphasis would be placed on attendance and the success of the students. The school faculty

could have the parents sign a pledge that they will encourage and support their children in their

school work and they will become an active part of their child’s school life (Appendix A). If

parents are successful in monitoring their children about school work helping them when they

are struggling with school work this would lead to higher levels of success in the school. The

students would also know that not only do they have supportive faculty at school but they also

have supportive parents at home who care about how they are doing in school. Due to the fact

that it is impossible for all parents to be available at the same time this meeting will be held on

three different occasions but the parents would be asked to sign up for one of the three sessions,

allowing a greater number of parents to attend these meetings. For the parents that do not sign

up or who do not attend these meetings letters should be sent home to the parents to try and get

the information to them that way. The letters will contain the same basic information that would

be presented at the meetings (Appendices B, C). Counselors and faculty should also make a

point to remain open to visiting with these parents in small groups or individually so that all

parents would be able to get the necessary information.

Along with the three formal meetings and the letters home a telephone hotline would also

be available for parents. This would be a hotline that would ring in directly to the school

counselors or school faculty. The parents could get a hold of the school faculty whenever they


have questions. This would allow another resource for parents to use to get information on how

to help their children be successful in the schools. The counselor or faculty that answers the

hotline would be able to answer any questions that the parent had and they would also be able to

give the parents the resources necessary to help answer their questions. The counselors or

administration would answer the phone during school hours but there would also be an

answering machine that would allow the parents to leave a message. The messages left by

parents would be answered within one school day from the time that it was received. This would

ensure that issues were addressed as they came up which would optimize the probability of

success.

During the parent meetings and informational sessions the parents would have the

opportunity to sign up to help repair and clean up the school. The parents could also sign their

children up to attend this as well so that the parents and students would be working together to

make their school a better place. This would not only strengthen the relationship between parent

and child but would also get them working together on school related issues. The hope would be

that this relationship would develop so that the parent and student would work together on things

like homework and studying for tests as well. Also, the students will see the importance of

getting involved in helping out in the community which is a positive characteristic for them to

bring with them after they graduate. Another important aspect of this part of the intervention

would be that the school would be in better shape and the students could have more pride in their

school. When students feel like they have a part in the school they will be more likely to attend

the school and even the students that did not actively participate in cleaning up the school would

have a better school to come to and this may motivate them to attend on a more frequent basis.


Obviously parent and teacher involvement is important but it is not the only important

aspect of improving school attendance and success. The involvement of the student body is

extremely important. For this reason this intervention would start involving students during the

student’s freshman year of high school. The freshman students would have multiple assemblies

and smaller group activities that would highlight the importance of being successful in high

school (Appendix D). An emphasis would also be placed on career exploration. The hope is that

if freshman students are beginning to think about what career they would like to pursue after

high school this will get the students thinking about success in high school. For example, many

students will most likely want to pursue jobs that require schooling after high school. If this is

emphasized during the freshman year the students will realize right away how important it is to

be successful in high school because this will allow them to get into the colleges that they want

so they can pursue the careers that they desire. After the students have realized that it is

important to be successful in high school the students will be told about the importance of

attendance and how that relates to success. Also, an emphasis can be placed on the importance

of practicing good attendance habits now because attendance will also be important when the

students get jobs after school.

An emphasis will be placed on the freshman class but there will be activities and

assemblies for all grade levels. These will be similar to the information that is given to the

freshman but for the older grades the assemblies will be student led. This will allow the students

to come up with their own activities that they would like to engage in and will allow the students

to once again think about the importance of attending classes and being successful in high

school. While the assemblies will mostly be student led the counselors and administration will

still be actively involved so that the necessary information is presented. At these assemblies


there would be a contest to see which groups can come up with the most clever and informative

skit or song about the topics that were covered in the assemblies. This will allow the students to

actively think about the importance of these subjects and it will also provide them with a fun

activity in which to express these ideas.

An intervention will also be available for the students that are not successful in traditional

school. Classes will be offered at night for students that are not successful during the normal

school times. Experienced teachers who have offered to spend their time teaching after normal

school hours will teach these classes. The class sizes will be much smaller so that the students

get more one-to-one attention. This will allow a closer teacher-student bond, which will allow

the students to be more successful. The goal of this intervention would be to get the students

caught up enough so that they could return to attending classes at the normal school hours.

Through all these interventions it is hoped that the students, parents and faculty would all

get together to provide a warm environment for the students to be successful. By improving the

school environment it is likely that attendance will increase. Also, by getting the students

involved so that the characteristics of the student body line up with the characteristics of students

who attend classes this will lead to more success in school. If the necessary information is

presented so that all parties know the importance of education it is more likely that all students

will attend all their classes and that each and every student will graduate on time.


References

Balfanz, R., Herzog, L. & Douglas, M. I. J. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and

keeping students on the graduation path in urban middle-grade schools: Early

identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist, 42(4), 223-235.

Retrieved from EBSCO database on November 10, 2009.

Graeff-Martins, A. S., Oswald, S., Comassetto, J. O., Kieling, C., Goncalves, R. R., & Rohde,

L.A. (2006). A package of interventions to reduce school dropout in public schools in a

developing country. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 15(8), 442-449.

Retrieved from EBSCO database on November 3, 2009.

King, A. R. (1998). Relations between MCMI-II personality variables and measures of academic

performance. Journal of Personality Assessment, 71(2), 253-268. Retrieved from

EBSCO database on November 3, 2009.

McPartland, J., Balfanz, R., Jordan, W. & Legters, N. (1998). Improving climate and

achievement in a troubled urban high school through the talent development model.

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 3(4), 337-361. Retrieved from EBSCO

database on October 30, 2010.

Roby, D. E. (2004). Research on school attendance and student achievement: A study of Ohio

schools. Educational Research Quarterly, 28, 3-14. Retrieved from EBSCO database on

September 24, 2009.


Rosenfeld, L. B., Richman, J.M. & Bowen, G. G. L. (2000). Social support networks and school

outcomes: The centrality of the teacher. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal,

17(3), 205-226. Retrieved from EBSCO database on September 20, 2009.

Singh, K., Chang, M. & Dika, S. (2007). Effects of part-time work on school achievement during

high school. The Journal of Educational Research, 101, 12-22. Retrieved from

EBSCO database on November 3, 2009.

Sparks, S. P. (2010). Districts begin looking harder at absenteeism. Education Week, 30(6), 1-13.

Retrieved from EBSCO database on October 28, 2010.

Wilkins, J. (2008). School characteristics that influence student attendance: Experiences of

students in a school avoidance program. The High School Journal, 91(3), 12-24.

Retrieved from EBSCO database on September 26, 2009.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). (2009). Attendance collection and reporting.

Retrieved on October 28, 2010, from http://dpi.wi.gov/lbstat/dataattend.html

Zierold, K.M., Garman, S. & Anderson, H.A. (2005). A comparison of school performance and

behaviors among working and nonworking high school students. Fam Comm Health,

28(3), 214-224. Retrieved from EBSCO database on November 3, 2009.


Appendix A

Parent Pledge

School attendance is extremely important to the success of my student. Through this seminar I

have learned about the different factors that influence attendance. I know that one of the most

important factors in student attendance and student success in high school is parental

involvement. I pledge to take extreme interest in my child’s schoolwork. I will attempt to help

them with their homework whenever possible and I will make it known to my child that their

success in school is important. I also pledge to make sure that I assist in helping my child to

attend his/her classes as often as possible. By signing this document I agree to the statements

presented in this document in order to allow my child to be as successful as possible.

Parent Signature________________________________________________

School Counselor Signature_______________________________________


Appendix B

(The Parent Institute, 2003)


Appendix C


http://www.polson.k12.mt.us/district23/greetings/LearnAbout/Learning_is_Cumulative.pdf


Appendix D


(Talent Development High School, 2005)

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