Making a case for good attendance

I am continually flabbergasted by some of my students excuses for missing class.  I shouldn't be, by this point, but I wonder if I need to make a better case to them about why their regular attendance is so important.  A new, but very responsible (so far), student just called me to tell me she would be missing class so she could do her 2 daughters' hair.  I was a little surprised by her honesty about it, and I think she thought that if she called, she was doing her due diligence.  I imagine she is prepping them for a final day of school, and there may be a graduation or other celebration happening.  Regardless, I asked her if she would skip work for that reason?  She said no, but didn't seem to think it was a bad reason to miss school.

I know we're dealing with adults, but we are often dealing with adults who have made many choices in their lives that keep them stuck in the same place -- a place where they say they don't want to remain.  I've had others miss school to work on planning for their family reunion, a birthday party or family reunion; or because a parent needed them to run errands.  I've had those who are just tired.  I can't totally blame them for not wanting to come if they are working full time.  I could remain totally neutral when they share their reasons with me, but then I'm not helping them see another side to their decision.  Yet, I'm still not sure I am making an effective case, anyway.

They do need to come to this realization on their own, eventually, but I think we can provide guidance along the way, and I think it's part of our job.  We do have an attendance policy at my organization, and I work hard to stick by it.  Regardless, how do any of you have that conversation to make the case for good attendance?  Are there tools you use, or other ways to more vividly illustrate the sacrifice they make every time they miss a class?

Thanks!

Sue P.

Comments

Hi Sue, 

I had the same issues with adult learners. The two strategies that I used (in addition to the attendance policy) were the inclusions of calendars and customized learning plans. 

When the student enters the program, I would give them a calendar. I often got calendars from local insurance agencies and banks. Then, we would work out the schedule. If the students had children in the local schools - we marked early days out and school days off. We marked appointments and we blocked out all classroom time. It was a visual way for students to see how they have their time allocated. 

Then, we used placement surveys in the curriculum to identify how long the student needs to be in class. (I'm using i-Pathways as an example.) Suppose a student  is identified as needing to complete 16 lessons. If they are coming to class 4 times a week and they complete a lesson each time - they will be ready for their high school equivalency test in one month. 

When a student calls in or misses class, I and them look at their calendar to determine how to better adjust their time. They also saw the impact of missing class because they had to adjust their goal dates. 

I found my attendance / retention started to increase when I used these strategies. 

 

A few years ago, PA had a Persistence Institute facilitated by Andy Nash. One of the tools she presented was a graph, where students charted their own attendance and were able to see exactly how many hours of attendance they had each day, week, month, etc. I think sometimes our students don't realize how much they are missing until it is before them in black and white. There are all kinds of extensions you can use with this activity - math, writing, etc. While I have not personally used this technique, I think something like this could easily be used to complement Kathy's idea of a calendar.

At my program, we use a chart where students track their own attendance.  I am retired now but I know it is still used in many classes.  I had my students calculated their % at the end of the week.

We have an attendance policy (80% or risk losing your place).  However, it is not enough to have a policy.  Students must understand it and sign it.  AND attendance lessons are necessary.  

I used this attendance lesson often over the years and it worked well.

Discussions can be started from different angles.

Sample questions:

Why do you come to class?

Why do you think coming to class is important?

What is your responsibility here?

Or you can start from the attendance policy form: Why do we ask for 80% attendance?  Who pays for these classes?

Students can be divided into groups working with large papers to answer the following questions over the course of a few days:  What happens to you when you miss class?  How do you feel when you return?  What happens to your classmates when YOU miss class?  How do they feel?  How do you feel then?  What happens to YOU when your classmates miss class?  How do you feel then?  What happens to your teacher when YOU miss class?   How does he/she feel?  What happens to your school when you miss class?

Answers will vary.  I get behind.  I don't understand.  I feel lost.  Maybe I could have helped someone.  I let them down.  I feel excluded, sad.  My teacher can be upset because she planned something for me or he/she counted on me to help out with a lesson or is worried about me.  The state can cut money because the numbers are down.  Post the large papers and discuss the answers with the whole group.

After sharing and discussing, a new paper can be generated: Coming to class is good for me because...   Coming to class is good for my classmates because...  Coming to class is good for my teacher because...  Coming to class is good for my school/program and all students and teachers because...

The lesson can be modified to suit your group.  With lower groups, you can do a group brainstorm and do the recording yourself.  You could do thing in a circle with a talking piece too. 

Activities foster the development of community in the classroom.  A sense of community is very important for attendance and persistence. 

 

 

I like all the ideas presented so far - they are good, solid approaches.  One thing I also did was tried to change my way of thinking about attendance and learners.

When I was working in K-12 Special Education with students who had behavior problems, we had a saying we tried to keep in mind: 'I'd rather be bad than stupid."  This was to remind us that students often acted out to distract us from the fact that they were struggling cognitively - in essence, getting in trouble for being bad (something they could control) was better than being singled out for being "dumb" (something they did not control).

When I came to adult eduction, it took me a while to realize that this concept applied here as well. For many learners, being in an adult education classroom meant facing your challenge(s), attacking it head on, and often...feeling "dumb" and not in control.  Even if the teacher was wonderful, and your peers are at least neutral (if not supportive), you still had to face your own opinions of yourself, the feelings you may have shut away, etc.  I know *I* hate doing plumbing, or woodwork - I make lots of mistakes, often costly, and feel really stupid most of the time.  So I avoid it - it is not fun, not pleasant, and in fact I often end up with gritted teeth, tears in my eyes and in a rage while holding a saw, screwdriver or wrench. No wonder only 10-15% of folks who don't have a high school credential come to AE programs.

Realizing this helped me re-arrange my brain about AE students and attendance. I tried to remember that every adult who walked into my classroom had ALREADY overcome a major barrier just to come in the door. They had agreed to try to face their challenges today. While I know that this issue did not apply to every learner equally (there were some who LOVED class, others who seemed not to be bothered by their challenges, etc.), it helped lower my frustration levels and to welcome each person with a smile and a sincere "glad to see you today" every day they came. Instead of being irritated when they didn't come to class (or when they finally showed up), I was instead sad or chagrined - on the whole a much better place to teach from.

I was beginning to think it was us! Our attendance is terrible. We call studnets who don't show up, all adults over 21. They talk the big talk, but in the end the don't show. I know I can't force them, but when no one show from the class it's disheartening. I have changed teachers, format, added You tube lessons... I get excuses "I am basically lazy,"  "I din't feel like it", "I don't know why I didn't come."  It's hard to instill work ethic into adult who weren't taught this as children. They have been receiving government money and are supposed to eventually earn a diploma, get a job and get off public assistance. I am really thinking we make it too easy not to do anything. They are paid whether they attend or not. I sent attendance to the socail workers and sometimes they put the screws to the student. Even the threat of losing their funds doesn't get them to class.. They act as if they are doing us a favor by showing up.  I am so tired of hearing elected officials say there aren't opportunities. I always feel they don't really understand that we are here, but people just refuse to take advantage of the gift. How can we change the thinking?  Maybe we need group therapy along with education. I understand that some studnets have had terrible childhoods, but at some point to be successful don't we need to work on those feelings and become successful. Isn't that one way to get over it?

Estelle,

Our program does not rely much on students being funded for coming, but I have often observed how those who were referred to us in order to keep a housing or childcare voucher, or some other sort of funding, are usually the least motivated to be in school.  The other side of the coin is that we have great difficulty in getting the agencies who have these stipulations to take seriously -- or even pay attention to -- their clients' lack of commitment.  It ends up that both sides seem to be fulfilling paperwork, but nothing else, and it's very frustrating to observe.  I would love to see better oversight of these programs, but I know the number of social workers monitoring them are much lower than a few years back.  Too many cuts to make these programs effective in the way they should be.  It certainly doesn't help adult ed. programs where intrinsic motivation has to be the goal for them to work.

Hello everyone,

In Massachusetts, funding for our programs hinge on meeting Performance Measures. Most of the measures are based on the foundation of good attendance. Our program has an attendance policy, we explain our expectations at intake, and we make weekly calls to students who have not been attending/calling. We state directly that we are not only helping students to achieve their high school equivalency credential but are also working to further develop their skills for success in higher education and/or the workplace. Most of our serious students appreciate this direct identification of the need for consistent attendance to achieve and work within our program expectations.

I am curious, do any of you see the poorer attendance practice within a certain group? My original anticipation was that we would experience this with our students who were juggling a lot as parents, family members, employees, etc. However, we seem to see more erratic patterns with our younger students who are disengaged in general. To their credit, we usually see them come back more seriously as they enter their 20's and realize their lack of education/skills is holding them back from their life goals.

Thank you for the good ideas. The suggestion of the calendar for students to have the visual and kinesthetic reminder is great and we will be trying that soon. I also like the idea of asking if this was a reason the student would be willing to use to miss work. Our program runs in the evening and one of our challenges is the nebulous "family emergency". We respect the students' decisions but I feel it is a delicate balance to value the student's choice while trying to help them develop a different priority system than they have used thus far.

Appreciatively,

Leslie

I find it is mainly our youngest students who struggle with regular attendance.  That is, when we have relatively young students.  They rarely last in our program because they haven't yet realized the importance of returning to school and really applying themselves.  The majority of our students fall in the 30-50 age range.  I'm less in touch with our daytime students, these days, but the self-discipline issues generally seem to be greater among our daytime population.  Most of my energy goes into the evening program.  The majority of those students are holding down jobs and have kids or grandkids.  Childcare issues have been common.  I've also had one student miss due to mandatory overtime.  More often, some of my students will be asked to pick up extra shifts, and will decide to sacrifice school for the extra hours.  I have a conversation with them, in terms of how to make their education a priority when everything else seems more immediate.  The long view and long-term planning are things they are not used to.  Health issues are common, as well.  I've lost some students to chronic or serious conditions.  Then there are the other events where I have to explain the necessity to make difficult choices: planning the family reunion, taking Mom to run errands, staying home to do daughters' hair for a big school event, letting her daughter take the car that would've been transportation to school.  We have a lot of conversations, individually and in groups, about how returning to school as an adult is difficult and requires a huge amount of dedication and discipline.  I stress that there is little I can do to make it any easier for them, or remove some of these roadblocks.  I tell them that they will have to make regular choices between school and other things, and that not choosing school (when they can help it) will only put them behind.  I do tell them that I will do all I can do support them if I see them really working to make their goal.  We also stress that they should treat school as if it's a job they want to hold onto.

In New York, we are funded by the state on an hourly basis of seat time. So, when studenst don't attend it really hurts us. I have to pay the teachers from this money. I speak to social workers all the time. They complain that their clients don't show up for appointments, etc and several have lost their money from different government programs becasue they are non-compliant. Our funding is  supposed to help studnets prepare for jobs, post -secondary education and if they come receiving government help, they are supposed to achieve the diploma, get a job, further their education and get off the govenernent assistance. BUT< it's hard to teach a love, need, for education when they are already in their 20s or thirtirs. As one studnet who was a prositiute  said to us, so I get my diploma and you get me a minumum wage job. I make more in one night then I can earn in one week! The fact that she had been arrested twice, lost custody of her daughter (to her mother, but saw her on weekends) used drugs to be able to turn tricks, but herself at physical and emotional harm, was not a good enough argument for the life change. She was arrested again and we haven't seen her in almost a year again.  How do we teach people who don't have to work for food, housing, medical, etc, that you work hard and you achieve good things. They tell me I am the fool for working. When did the work ethic become such a scorned item in American society?  We have a few who work hard and go to postsecondary education. We are the cheerleaders for our studnets, and they talk a good story, but when they lack motivation I get frustrated. My ESOL studnets are more motivated in ost cases.

We do not have anyone under 21 in our program. Some left school after 8th grade ( and were 16 y/o). Their reading and math skills test on the TABE at 4th and 5th grade level. Some had terrible, abuse childhoods, some are generationally "welfare" families. I know what the feds want us to do, but beyond the regualr phone calls by the counselor and social workr who call everythme they are not in class; meeting with them; giving them an opportunity to talk; recmmending therapy ...we are exhausted and they laugh at our efforts. We have a few great stories, but I am concerned that we can't reach others. I don't want them to fall through our cracks the way they did as kids.

The other group is those that come as couples and the wife scores higher and is ready to take the HSE exam, and suddenly the couple is gone. I think the husband didn't want the wife to succeed when they may not. I think its cultural as they are not born and raised in the US.  We call and they have a milion reasons for not returning. I feel bad that they brought their poor treamnet of women to this country. If you speak to the wife she says she will speak to the husband.  They don't come back and I feel sad being a baby-boomer woman who grew up hearing "I am woman hear me roar!"

How do we make social changes in the name of education when we have so little control, funding and time????

In Australia, our recent arrivals program (Adult Migrant English Program) AMEP, has also recently been switched to an attendance model where the education provider is paid by the session. It does not recognise that facilities and admin are provided and cost the same for classes as for 75% of attending students; that teachers prepare for whole classes, contribute to online lessons for the whole class and that students like to catch up on missed work despite their centre not being paid during their absence.

So it is vitally important to us to encourage our students to attend. However, our students are also dealing with families, health and settlement issues and government agencies who don't understand the effect of appointments made in class time on the cost to the education provider, nor the importance of their client's language classes.  We try hard to follow up on absences, reward students who attend regularly whilst being mindful of those with unavoidable absences (see previous reasons). For the most part, our students are determined to get to class despite such barriers as cleaning jobs at 3am and catching buses in miserable weather.

Thank you for some of the great ideas offered in this discussion.

Thanks to Heather over in the Corrections Community of Practice for bringing this to my attention:

Heritage University, in Washington state, created a set of videos focused on increasing graduation rates of 1st generation students - who share many traits similar to our adult literacy learners.  While based in University-level perspective, the video below contains several great approaches attendance-related challenges as well as issues in supporting and motivating adult learners to be independent life-long learners.

Attendance and Classroom Community http://youtu.be/t4ad36ppR-0

To access more videos, check out Heather's thread here:
https://community.lincs.ed.gov/discussion/videos-give-guidance-teaching-first-generation-students-post-secondary-institutions#comment-6938