Absenteeism
Absenteeism
Absenteeism
A Proposal
Presented To
By
JOEL C. OBRADOR
DECEMBER 2014
Chapter I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Absenteeism in school is the habit of staying away from school without providing
a genuine or any reason for not attending classes. It is a truant behaviour that negatively
affects the performance among students. Absenteeism, according to Merriam-Webster
dictionary means chronic absence. In the context of the school it is the habitual or
intentional failure from going to school. It cannot be denied that every now and then,
students may miss some school activities and lessons. But it becomes a problem if the
student will be away from school for many days.
Going to school regularly is crucially important for a students education and
social skills. Chronic absentee students are placed at a disadvantage both socially and
academically. They miss out on critical stages of social interaction and development with
their peers and at the same time impacts negatively on their academic progress. This can
result to low self-esteem, social isolation and dissatisfaction that could well have
precipitated non-attendance in the first place.
School absenteeism is an alarming problem for administrators, teachers, parents
and the society in general, as well as for the pupils in particular. Unaccepted absence has
a negative effect on peer relationship which could cause absence. According to some
researchers, teachers identified effects of absenteeism on children as: academic underachievement, difficulty in making friends which could lead to boredom, loss of
confidence. Also, prolonged absence can have deleterious effects for the child in later
life. Students who are absent from school are at the greatest risk of dropping out of
school early.
Absenteeism in students affects their school performances especially when they
are in a group or teamwork for their assignments and projects. Since grouping will help
develops the students cooperative and ability to share and gain knowledge from their
group mates, likewise, the group mates will also miss the opportunity of gaining
knowledge from the absent student (Koppenhaver, 2003).
Absenteeism also affects the teachers ability present class work in a sequential
and organized way. This can have an effect on the progress of all the students attending
the class. Teachers sometimes have to adjust from the lesson in order for the student to
catch up.
According to Schmidt in 1983, absenteeism affects the students ability to get high
scores in examinations which can cause the decreasing of grades or the student may fail
and will cause him/her to repeat the same year level. Students who have spent time
attending lectures or classes have a significant, positive effect on students performance.
Students that participated exhibited higher grades and scores in examinations that the
student.
The families of habitual absentees can also suffer. For a poverty-stricken family, it
may mean a continuation of the poverty and unemployment cycle that may run in the
family. This also contributes to family conflicts.
The society also suffers as the children of school age hang around in the streets.
They can be found just gallivanting around. Since they have nothing to do, they resort to
petty crimes like stealing other peoples belongings and properties. Others may resort to
drug addiction and other behavior that is detrimental to society. Thus, if the student keeps
on being away from school for too long, he may grow up to be a liability of his
community and of his country as a whole.
It is the aim of every school to lessen, if not eradicate absenteeism among its
students. One way of addressing this problem is to identify the causes why students
become truant from school. Once they are singled out, understood and analyzed, specific
actions and measures can be undertaken. This will eventually redound to the better
performance of the students, teachers and the school in general.
On the other hand, contamination of sickness and disease can be avoidable because of the
absences of a person.
A students attendance may be the grounds of the results of his or her learning
performance. School administration and faculty may also affect the absenteeism rate of
their student, and so as the population of those who practice absenteeism affect the
administration and the school itself. There are so many fruits that the root of absenteeism
can produce depending to the situation of the respondent. Hence, this research will be
conducted. The issue of absenteeism is complex and covers a range of behaviours,
including chronic absenteeism, school refusal and truancy. It is important for schools to
investigate the patterns and underlying causes of non-attendance so that appropriate
strategies can be implemented to address the specific type of absenteeism. There is no
quick and simple solution, nor a one-size-fits-all approach, to address absenteeism.
Schools are encouraged to work with parents and the local community to develop a
strategy that best fits the needs of students and the context of the community.
The chronic spread of absenteeism may have roots that affect the attendance of an
individual. A constant doing may lead to a constant result, just like Domino (Asia Child
Data Trend, 2008). Coping up is never easy, especially when there is a lot of work to be
done. Some teachers are also considerate that slows down the run of class discussion.
Absenteeism alone when a large part of the school population is involved may
not only cause a problem to the school but also to the local administration (Williams, L.,
2001). The performances being recorded at the diagnostic tests or midterm exams for
example will determine the schools performance. And when absences are done, it can
pull down even the highest scores.
That is why the results of absenteeism are to be identified as so the solutions can
be formulated to materialize the aims of the school and the individuals.
Socio-Demographic profile of the
respondent:
Gender
Age
Civil status
Common cause of absence
Teacher-student
relationship
Family problem
-Researches
-Survey
-Gathering of Data
-Compilation of
Data
-Analyzing of
Data
-Interpretation of
Data
The effect of
absenteeism to
students
learning and
class/school
performance.
a.
Gender
b.
Age
c.
Civil status
2. What are the common causes of absences done by the students in terms of:
a.
Self-Inquiry
b.
Family Problem
b.
School Performance
In many ways, whether in a tiny scale or in a wide range scale the findings of this
research will benefit the following individuals in their own respective fields:
The Student. Knowing the impact of committing such absenteeism, students will
know negative effects in their studies specifically in their academic performance. It will
let this individual know the scope of his abilities and the right way of directing things
especially when he would realize the effect of his habitual absences to the school body.
To those students who do not have the knowledge on this aspect, they will be given
chance to think, and may join the population which influences the declining of absences
ratio.
The Teachers. The teachers would be able to identify different motivational
techniques/strategies on how they can influence students to lessen or eliminate act of
absenteeism.
The School Administrator. Knowing the effects of absenteeism to a student, the
school administration is the one primarily affected. They will know different concerns
that drive students to commit absences. By that, they can formulate programs together
with the help of their teaching staff to motivate students to go school and have passion for
learning.
The DepEd Authorities. The Department of Education main goal is to be able to
produce productive citizens of the community. Absenteeism is one of the factors that
disturb the stableness of this goal. When the results are evident, the DepEd authorities
together with the different school administration may arrive to a step by step planning to
kill the rodents of absenteeism.
The Parent. The parents are the direct and the baseline in communication in
relation to their childs regular truancy. Knowing the impact of absenteeism to their
childs learning performance, a parent will be at the concerns of convincing their child to
attend school and protect them from the primary causes of their absences.
Definition of Terms:
Absenteeism. The regular truancy of a child; The habit of having absences.
Family problem. The problems of the family that greatly affects a students
attendance to school. This includes financial support (the family cant afford education or
education is not a primary necessity), differing community attitudes towards education
(The people that surrounds home and within it education is not given importance),
transportation (The family might lived in a very rural community where in transportation
cannot easily reach
Individual learning performance. The variation on the learning of a student being
monitored in different ways e.g. class interaction, test results)
Science High School Students. The students belonging to a special curriculum on
higher education. Taught advance learning in science and mathematics
Self Inquiry. The problems of an individual or a student that affects his attendance
to school. Specifically social phobia (dont have friends), health (always sick), school
culture shock (have a hard time coping up, might be that the school is too advance or too
slow.), influences from outside the school gates (sees people who cuts classes, Internet
and Computer games.)
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Foreign Literature
Attending school regularly is a vital factor in school success for both
students and teachers. Excessive school absenteeism is often linked to poor school
surprisingly, attendance rate trumped grade point averages in predicting whether a student
would fail a class or not. In other words, a student could perform very highly
academically, but would likely still fail if he missed too much class. Additionally, the
more a student missed school over the course of several subsequent years of school, the
more his GPA declined and the further behind he became in all subjects.
Local Literature
The study showed that being absent for three days in a month strongly
correlates with poor performance. As educators, it is important to know the threshold.
Drawing policies on school intervention regarding absenteeism requires guiding
information on where to draw the line. Policies cannot be simply drawn out of thin air.
Three days in a month, that number, a result of research, is a useful guide for teachers and
school administrators. The study as described by the article is only an initial analysis of
the data. Ongoing research will continue to unravel further the underlying factors that
result into absenteeism. This is an important task since this information likewise is
necessary to design the interventions that are relevant (de Dios, 2010).
Foreign Studies
Decreasing the rate of student truancy and absenteeism has been and continues to be the
goal of school districts across the nation for over a century. Amazingly, little research
focuses on what schools can do to increase and maintain students daily attendance and
even fewer studies explore how families-school-community can build a partnership to
work together towards this goal. Corville and Smith, (1995) state that Despite the long
history of concern over student attendance, the issue has received relatively little
attention from educational researchers.
researchers have mainly focused on students who drop out of high school before
receiving their high school diploma. Even though a great deal of research exits on
students dropping out of school more so than on truancy, research on students who
dropout points to early detection of truancy in their lives before they drop out of school.
Dropping out of school, although defined by a single event reflects a long process
of disengagement and withdrawal from schooling and educational institutions, (Finn,
1989, Newman, Wehlage, & Lamborn, 1992).
problem of students dropping out of school researchers should first investigate the early
warning signs in students behavior before it escalates to students actually leaving school.
Studies of students who dropout of school shows long-term patterns of students who may
be having difficulties at home and or in school at a very early age. Research has shown
that students who eventually drop out of school are absent more often than other students
beginning as early as the first grade. As the student gets older their patterns of being
absent from school increases. So efforts to decrease students from dropping out of high
school might be better spent on identifying early warning signs of truancy at the
elementary and middle school level.
It is a fact that poor attendance predicts dropping out of school; chronic absenteeism
can have a negative impact on the student and school. Students who are not in school are
not learning and are not being adequately prepared to be successful in school and in life.
Research on truancy and absenteeism suggests that students with better attendance score
higher on achievement tests than their more frequently absent peers (Lamdin, 1998). If
schools across the nation are being met with the challenge of making adequate yearly
progress, which is a state mandate, then more programs need to be funded in schools to
address the issue of truancy.
To deal with the issue of truancy at the James P. Timilty Middle School students
have been identified with five or more absences. The identified students prior and current
standardized test scores will be reviewed.
students were identified with attendance concerns. A conference will be held to inform
students of scores and attendance concerns. A contract will be made with the forty-one
students and weekly positive rewards will be discussed with students for coming to
school everyday on time.
parents to talk about the attendance concerns. The students attendance will be monitored
on a daily basis with weekly scheduled student check- ins to talk about attendance.
Violators of the contract will be informed of consequences of being absent from school
and a yellow card will be filed which will alert the attendance officer. In the past my
buildings response to filing yellow attendance cards has been slow, causing many
students with attendance issues to go unnoticed. It is my hope that the process can be
handled expeditiously with students being monitored and frequent phone calls home to
alert and inform parents of a students absence from school.
Historically, schools have always held the student accountable for truant behavior.
Corville-Smith, (1995) and Hoyle (1998) state that Truant and chronically absent
students were considered deviants. Frequently schools did not contact families until the
problem was so severe that the student was failing their courses. Also research shows that
the learning environment of an entire school can be affected by an individual students
attendance problem. Most schools receive funds by the population they have attending
school on a regular basis. If Districts and school attendance rates are low, educational
programs and resources are in jeopardy of being cut. Also, in some locations student
attendance is used as an indicator of how well a school is functioning and requirements
are set and monitored for rating (Maryland State Department of Education, 1999)
Studies investigating family practice have suggested that not all parental
involvement activities are associated with attendance (Lee, 1994) for example; parent
involvement that requires checking homework and reading with a child is associated
with improved report card grades, achievement scores, and subject-specific skills
(Epstein 1991; Epstein, Simon, & Salinas, 1997; Muller, 1993). Other researchers have
reported that specific family involvement practice such as parental monitoring, parentchild discussions, parent participation at the school PTA membership are linked to student
attendance (Astone& McLanahan, 1991; Ducwork & Dejong, 199l Lee, 1994, McNeal,
1999). Research shows that some parent activities are more likely than others to affect
attendance. Furthermore studies show that schools who want to increase daily attendance
need to reach out and work with parents to encourage parental involvement in specific
ways to address this problem.
Innovative schools see the need to develop productive school-family community
connections to address this growing epidemic of truancy. Kesler-Sklar and Baker (2000)
reported that over 90% of the school districts they surveyed had at least one policy
supporting parental involvement. Epstein and her colleagues have been working with
schools, school districts, and the state department of education to develop programs of
school, family and community partnerships (Epstein, Coates, Salinas, Sanders, & Simon,
1997; Sanders & Epstein, 2000).
In conclusion, research reveals a lot of important information about student
attendance. Identifying students early on who show signs of absenteeism is a predictor of
warning signs of students dropping out. Even though truancy is a major issue in middle
school and high school, perhaps students should be identified and monitored early on in
elementary school. Educators need to continue to find innovative ways to bridge the gap
between home and school to communicate with parents the need for a strong partnership
so students can find success. Students need to know that coming to school on time,
everyday is important.
problems may need to venture out beyond the wall of the school, into the community to
involve families and work together.
Local Studies
Students in various gender groups, school levels, and locations are at-risk of
dropping out for various reasons. Some of these factors are common to all dropouts,
while others are more keenly associated with specific groups. The adverse effect of
poverty on childrens participation in school is clearly manifested in all dropouts, and in
many different ways depending on whether they are male or female, are in elementary or
secondary, in lower or higher school level, and in urban or rural areas. Those who come
from rural areas are most vulnerable in two ways. First, because their parents have little
and irregular income, they often lack money for school-related expenses such as school
allowance, transportation, uniforms and class requirements. Families with limited
financial resources prioritize their expenses, allotting whatever little money they have to
more urgent family needs like food, a finding which supports earlier studies (Capili,
1992). Only when parents have sufficient income are they able to provide for school
supplies and expenditures. Second, children from rural areas are forced to engage in
household tasks and income-generating work by virtue of their economic conditions.
Boys from rural areas, regardless of age, help parents earn money; they take on whatever
means of livelihood is available, from simple tasks like weeding, to physically
demanding work such as farming and fishing. This finding is consistent with an earlier
report that documented a rather large percentage of young boys engaged in child labor
(National Statistics Office & International Labor Organization, 2001). Young girls, on the
hand, are often asked to be caretakers for younger siblings and, when necessary, for sick
parents; older ones find employment either as farm help or housemaids. While parents
consider education as a valuable option for alleviating their poverty, they are compelled
to withdraw their children from school whenever it becomes more economically
beneficial for the family. Aside from financial difficulties, school-related causes such as
loss of interest and lack of motivation are also associated with dropping out. Teacher
factor is particularly most prominent among young boys. As for older boys, family and
peers wield a strong influence on their school attendance; family problems and peer
pressure affect attendance and performance in school.
The complexity of the dropout phenomenon requires manifold and concerted
solutions. Where poverty adversely deters schooling, parents, schools and communities
can work together to mitigate its effects on young learners. For example, lack of money
for school-related expenses can be resolved through donations and assistance from
charitable
organizations,
private
companies
and
local
community
members.
Transportation services, breakfast programs, book loans, financial aids, and other kinds of
services have already been shown to be effective in preventing dropout (Bureau of
Elementary Education, 1992; Petilo, 2006). Schools should coordinate with and seek
support from the local government and the community to institute similar programs for
students who are at-risk. School-related causes such as fear of teacher and ineffective
classroom management can be worked out through teacher re-tooling and curriculum
planning. Family-related causes such as childcare and other domestic duties can be
addressed through community-based interventions such as daycare services designated
for children of working mothers. Student-related causes such as poor health, peer
influence, and low motivation can be managed using local government health programs
and school guidance services.
Students in various gender groups, school levels, and locations are at-risk of
dropping out for various reasons. Some of these factors are common to all dropouts,
while others are more keenly associated with specific groups. The adverse effect of
poverty on childrens participation in school is clearly manifested in all dropouts, and in
many different ways depending on whether they are male or female, are in elementary or
secondary, in lower or higher school level, and in urban or rural areas. Those who come
from rural areas are most vulnerable in two ways. First, because their parents have little
and irregular income, they often lack money for school-related expenses such as school
allowance, transportation, uniforms and class requirements. Families with limited
financial resources prioritize their expenses, allotting whatever little money they have to
more urgent family needs like food, a finding which supports earlier studies (Capili,
1992).
Chapter III
THE METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Instruments to be Used
To carry this study, the researcher will employ the descriptive research
design.
Population
Male
Female
Total
26
35
28
30
119
33
26
31
32
122
59
61
59
62
241
Population
Male
Female
Total
5
4
3
4
16
4
5
6
5
20
9
9
9
9
36
For the Socio demographic profile, the researcher will make use of corresponding
numerical value to present the data as follows:
A. Gender
Numerical Value
1
2
Gender
Male
Female
AGE
13-16 YRS. OLD
17-20 YRS. OLD
21-24 YRS. OLD
AGE
20-29 YRS. OLD
30-39 YRS. OLD
40-49 YRS. OLD
50-59 YRS. OLD
60-69 YRS. OLD
Civil Status
Single
Married
Separated
Widow
The Likert scale with 5 point rating will be used to describe the performance of
the students as based in their regular truancy within the given 15 fields and points of
learning. The said scale will also be used to determine the effect of absenteeism on the
school as how its performance is being described by the respondents.
Descriptive Rating
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
Weight
5
4
3
2
1
Scale Interval
4.50-5.00
3.50-4.49
2.50-3.46
1.50-2.49
1.00-1.49
2.
Survey Questionnaire for Students and Teachers. This instrument will be used to
determine the performances of the student who has frequent absences to his
classes and his contribution to school performance.
1. Mean - The mean is used to determine the general description of the effect of
absenteeism to the performances of a students learning and school. The mean will
ascertain the fields greatly affected by absenteeism as perceived by the student and the
teachers.
2. Frequency - The frequency is used to determine the more frequent occurring rate in the
different indicators. This will then identify the performing levels of the different
indicators on the effect of absenteeism on student learning and school performance.
3. Standard Deviation - The standard deviation is the statistical measure that sheds light
on historical volatility of the study which can give a comprehensive verbal description to
the indicators or factors of the research study.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Books
2003, Koppenhaver A., The Faculty and Students
1983, Schmidt F., Office: Absenteeism
1982, Ried K. , (not mentioned)
1993, Pittkoff, Causes and effects of Truancy
1998, Williams, News Week
1996, Haris, (not mentioned)
B. Internet Sources
1999, Lotz and Lee
http://www.enterpreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82042.html