ATTENDING TO THE PROBLEM OF STUDENT ATTENDANCE

The author is Teacher III at Pansinao Elementary School in the Municipality of Candaba, Pampanga.

Today more than ever, regular school attendance in public schools is a significant factor in academic success. Research has shown a direct relationship between good regular attendance and student success. Poor attendance has been related to poor academic success. With the rise in educational and academic accountability for public schools surrounding the standards of learning test and the K-12 legislation, educators are confronted with a colossal challenge to reduce the rate of absenteeism to increase students’ academic success in public schools. Students who are absent from school receive fewer hours of instruction; they often leave education early and are more likely to become long term unemployed, homeless, caught in the poverty trap, dependent on welfare and involved in the justice system. Researchers have sought to investigate factors that contribute to student non-attendance. Researches investigate the impact of student attendance, socio-economic status and mobility on student achievement. Finn was right when he wrote that education is, “something that a decently functioning society obliges people to get a certain amount of, even if they don’t really want to”. Educators, parents, and politicians have been perennially and continuously searching for that magic solution that will reform our public education system and establish a flawless system of education for our students, by providing them with a quality education. The success of the school in carrying out its primary charge of educating and socializing students is contingent on students attending school regularly. It is inarguable fact that students must be regularly and consistently present in school in order to benefit from the academic program in its entirety. Schools and policy-makers are getting tough by enforcing laws that mandate school attendance and by holding parents responsible for their student’s attendance. Studies show that student non-attendance is a problem that extends beyond the school. It affects the student, their families, and the community. Student absenteeism is listed as the number one problem in the daily administration of the schools in the early 1970s, according to a random sample of 500 members of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (Defours, 1983; Rothman, 2001). Wright (1978) found a significant difference in attendance to be associated with school location. Also, he reported that courses offered, youthfulness of the teaching staff and programs were factors associated with student attendance. Attention to predictors within the family, society, individual circumstances, as well as academic surroundings and materials are important factors to consider when addressing school attendance. Excessive absenteeism affects student achievement and performance, teacher instruction and effectiveness, principal discipline, administration, and funding (U.S. Department of Justice, 2001). As students progress from the primary grades, excessive absenteeism drains community resources impacting human services. It is critical to identify strategies early in a child’s school career that will intervene effectively with youth who are chronically truant and interrupt their progress to delinquency and other negative behaviors by addressing the underlying reasons behind their absence from school. Excessive absenteeism in the primary age child is usually a result of childhood illnesses or parental educational neglect. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, refers to observational learning, which takes place through modeling the behaviors of others, which could account for some students’ non-attendance. In addition, parental apathy or recollection of his or her negative past school experience could hinder promoting the importance of education and school attendance. In order to effectively attend to this critical concern on student attendance, parents must learn to accept and recognize the fact that this concern is not solely the responsibility of the school but is actually deeply rooted in parental responsibility.

The author is Teacher II at Jalung Elementary School, Porac West District,Pampanga