The literature presents mixed findings on mandatory attendance policies; some studies report improved academic performance with graded attendance, whereas other analyses find that mandatory policies lack significant impact or that autonomy-supportive approaches are more effective.
Background: The attendance mandate for the medical course in Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal, India was increased from 75% to 90% based on the assumption that the mandatory increase will improve the students’ performance. Aims: To find out whether there is any correlation between class attendance and academic performance. Subjects and Methods: This was an institution based retrospective analytical study. Students who have completed Phase I (first two and a half years) of the MBBS course were included in the study. Student marks and attendance, from the database were obtained from three random batches, each, from two clusters A and B respectively. Those who had a mandatory attendance requirement of 75% belonged to A (n = 243), and those who had a mandatory attendance percentage of 90% belonged to B (n = 360). Statistical analyses performed included, Pearson 2 tailed correlation to correlate class attendance with student performance; Cluster analysis to classify group average in a similarity matrix; t-test to determine significance of difference in percentage of students who attained 100% when the college changed mandatory attendance from 75% to 90%; Mann–Whitney test to find out if there was a better performance in university exam when attendance policy changed. Results: There was a significant correlation between attendance and the students who passed in the University exam. The number of students in the pass category was maximum (>90%) compared to students in distinction and failed categories. Percentage of students with 100% attendance rose from 4% (n = 10) to 11% (n = 40) when the mandatory attendance was increased from 75% to 90%. Conclusions: Attendance policy correlated with better academic performance. Reducing absenteeism, probably contributed to the improved academic performance of the students. But the link between attendance and best and worst performances could not be predicted because of small numbers in every batch.
Despite strong evidence that autonomy enhances motivation and achievement, few interventions for promoting student autonomy in higher education have been developed and empirically tested. Here, we demonstrate how two autonomy-supportive policies effectively increase classroom attendance and subject mastery. First, in a randomized controlled field study, we explored the effect of allowing students to choose whether to make their attendance mandatory (i.e., a component of their course grades). We found that nearly all students used the opportunity as a pre-commitment device and were subsequently more likely to attend class than were students whose attendance had been mandated. Second, in a multi-year cohort study, we explored the effect of allowing students to opt out of a challenging, high-effort assessment stream, finding that students given greater autonomy invested more effort into their assignments and attained greater proficiency with the material. We discuss other opportunities for applying choice architecture to improve learning, motivation, and well-being in higher education.
Background: Studies evaluating the association between absenteeism and academic performance have had mixed results; some demonstrate a positive correlation between course attendance and academic performance. Objective: To compare student pharmacists’ performance in a cohort with graded attendance and those without a graded attendance in a pharmacotherapy course and to evaluate student performance within the required attendance cohort on course learning objectives. Methods: All students enrolled during Fall 2021 and Fall 2022 were included in this study. Attendance data for the graded attendance cohort and the Assessment performance data for both cohorts were exported. With the student’s t-test, the average examination performance on college-level learning outcomes (CLLOs) between groups was compared. Results: The comparison between the graded and ungraded attendance cohorts demonstrated a significant difference in academic performance for all three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, and one CLLO on Examination One and in all categories on Examination Two. Within the graded attendance cohort, comparing students who met unit attendance competency with those who did not resulted in a significant difference. Conclusion: The results of this study support graded attendance in a pharmacotherapy course. Student pharmacists demonstrated better academic performance when attendance was graded than a cohort without a graded attendance requirement.
This paper investigates the impact of a mandatory attendance policy on student grades. Data collected from 301 students in microeconomics principles classes taught by the same instructor are used to estimate performance. The empirical analysis controls for the endogeneity of attendance rates and class size. Results indicate that GPA prior to taking the course and SAT scores are consistent predictors of student performance, even after accounting for student withdrawals. In addition, attendance rates are not found to be significant indicators of exam grades after accounting for simultaneity. Since class size and the attendance policy do not appear to influence grades, it is suggested that instructors encourage, but not mandate attendance in both small and large lecture settings.
Attendance is often assumed or reported in higher education literature as a predictor for academic performance. As universities seek a return to campus following the COVID-19 pandemic, the significance of attendance for academic performance is an important issue. This article presents the results of a three-year study involving 875 students enrolled in a compulsory law unit. It considers the importance of attendance for academic performance based on verifiable evidence using correlational analysis, and a critical assessment of the relevant literature. This research adds to the literature by qualifying the significance of attendance for differences in marks between students. It finds that attendance matters more for students enrolled in-person than it does for students enrolled online. It also finds that forcing attendance might have deleterious effects on female students including discrimination. These findings have important implications for policy and practice in law schools notwithstanding the limitations of this research. Mandating attendance for law courses is difficult to justify in the absence of other career objectives if the goal is to improve academic performance. This conclusion arises because mandatory attendance is contrary to universal design, and the benefits for academic performance are marginal relative to other factors such as engagement.
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