Reason for choosing the topic

The reason for choosing this theme is that the students in my group (group B foundation) do not attend the classes. They have low pass rates and do not submit the assignments on time. I would like to find the reason and find a decision how to improve it.

The aim of this project is to improve group B foundation class attendance at GBS, so as to increase submission and pass rates.

Objectives of the project are:-

1. To improve the class attendance
2. To carry out some research on how to achieve it
3. To make some recommendations on how to improve the attendance

The aim of the project will be achieved by collecting data about these factors through secondary research:

Reason for low attendance of students

Process to improve students’ attendance

Impact of education process on attendance

Effect of improvement process on students

In order to make effective research on how to improve attendance rate among group B foundation students the project will use the process of secondary research. There are several secondary data sources such as books, journals, articles, academic websites, and magazines which will be useful to gather useful information about the project topic. The research project will find out reason for low attendance and improvement strategy against the same. It will also focus on impact of present education process on students and effect of improvement strategy on them to make productive conclusion of the project.

According to Gbadamosi, (2015), there are a different reason for low attendance in high schools. Most of the high schools are facing the problem about unhealthy climate within the class. There is also a problem about proper relationship between teachers and students. Teachers are not giving importance to making good relationship with students and increase their interest in education. Lewis, (2015) also stated that high schools are not giving importance to truancy laws. Rate of absenteeism increase due to the lack of enforcement of truancy laws. Students also have less awareness about the truancy policy of the high school, which also makes the student thoughtless about attendance in high school. Balu & Ehrlich, (2018) also suggested that sometimes students fall behind due to different reasons such as less interested in the course. They also think that they will not be able to catch up the course so that they do not attend the class regular basis.  As per view of Landin & Pérez, (2015), there is a problem about coursework, students like to participate in challenging coursework than the simple one. Less challenging coursework increase boredom about the course and they drop their classes to reduce the boredom.

Aim of the work

There are also other reasons behind low attendance in high schools. Tobin, (2016), observed that sometimes high school makes violence with their students and force them to align them with the education process. Students who have excluded from high school due to high school infractions they do not like join the high school again it also increases the rate of absenteeism in high school.  Quin, (2017), observed that illness is also one of the vital reason that increases absenteeism in high schools. Sometimes students also do not attend the class due to the ill family member as they take care of those members. Pope, (2016), stated that there are many students from financially week families and they go to work and support their families so that they are not able to maintain their attendance in high school.

Infrastructure of the high school is also one of the important aspects that effect on rate of attendance of students. Lobo & Gurney, (2014), mentioned that students are like good environment at the high school and poor condition of high school building reduce the students’ interest to go to the high school and increases the possibility of absenteeism in high school. There is another reason that increases absenteeism in high schools. Quin, (2017), observed that many high school students are addicted to alcohol or other drugs and they drop their classes due to addiction. Some parents are also not so serious about school attendance of their child. It is also a reason for an increment of absenteeism in high schools.  

Based on view of Gbadamosi, (2015), high school authority has to implement some strategies to reduce the rate of absenteeism within the school. The school should develop the instructional model which will be able to focus on the quality of teaching and learning classes. McConnell & Kubina Jr, (2014), suggested that the positive school culture is also important to create good environment at the school which will influence the student to spend time within the school. The school authority also can create the safe environment for student by being thoughtful about all the school members.

Gershenson, (2016), also suggested that most of the school members do not show concern for those students who have been absent for long time due to any problems. However, teachers should be more concern about those students who have been absent and returned to the school to gain knowledge. Landin & Pérez, (2015), mentioned that high school authority can implement the process of students appraisal based on punctuality and attendance to increase interest of students about perfect attendance. According to Lewis, (2015), development of clear and strong attendance policy with a realistic target is effective to improve attendance in high schools. The authority also has to develop a clear message for students about importance of attendance to improve their academic scores. Gershenson, (2016), stated that sequential lesson is important to complete any chapter within the given time period and teachers plan every chapter through a sequence, so the teachers have to increase awareness about sequential lesson plan. Teachers also have to provide the information about how the sequential lesson enhance students’ knowledge it will increase student interest in coursework.

Objectives of the project

According to O’Flaherty & Phillips, (2015), open communication between students and parents increase students attendance by engaging them. Student engagement is the most important aspect the makes a positive effect on attendance rate of students. Tobin, (2016), also stated that high school has to employ strict rule about assignment submission. Strict rule about submission is the effective strategy to force student for timely submission. High school authorities also have to focus on students’ data to plan about learning activities. Students from different age like different process to gain knowledge, some students like to read or some prefer practical activities. Balu & Ehrlich, (2018), also mentioned that proper monitoring of students attendance is useful to reduce absenteeism rate. Monitoring process will help to track the change in students’ attendance early and motivate them to join the class. Tobin, (2016) argue that only view of school authorities about absenteeism cannot improve the attendance rate, rather the school has to focus on students’ view about non-attendance. It will help the school to identify the actual reason of increased rate of absenteeism.  

It has observed by Bloom & Unterman, (2014), that most of the high school authorities have used the process of instructional model to supervise the quality of teaching. It has affected positively on high school students they become more interested to join their classes. Quin, (2017) argues that quality of classes has not made positive impact of attendance as most of the students do not miss their classes due to teaching quality. Pope, (2016), also supports that view and stated that safe and good environment is the more important aspect that makes positive impact on student attendance. Students look for good environment first then they focus on teaching quality. McConnell & Kubina Jr, (2014), observed that good relation among students also effects on attendance of school students if students feel comfortable within the class than they join classes more willingly. Pope, (2016), mentioned that students appraisal on academic score also improves attendance of high school students.

Awareness about the impact of school classes on academic score influences students’ to attend classes and increase their academic score. Based on observation of Gershenson, (2016), a strong and clear attendance policy helps the school to gain proper attendance from students. Students become concerned about school policies as the strict school policies force them to maintain their class attendance. Schools also implement sequential lesson to reduce absenteeism, however, Mills & Wolf, (2017), stated that this process is not as effective on school students as they have less awareness about effect of a sequential lesson on their academic performance. They also have less information about sequential lesson and effectiveness of this to complete chapters within given time.

How the aim will be achieved

Gershenson, (2016), mentioned that the process of open communication between students and teachers increases attendance of school students. Students feel more engage with their school as they get positive behaviour from their teachers and do not like to miss their classes for any mere reason. O’Flaherty & Phillips, (2015), revealed that assignment submission is also the area which is related to attendance. More engaged students have the passion for their classes and other educational activities like assignment submission. Good relation between teachers and students increase interest about assignment submission on time to get an appraisal from the teacher. Quin, (2017), argues that strict rules about assignment submission reduce the quality of students’ assignment and they get low score than the expectation. The strategy of strict rules about assignment submission effect negatively on attendance as the students like to complete their assignment rather attending classes. Lewis, (2015), suggested that process of student view about school attendance is effective to increase attendance rate within the class. In this process, students feel more valuable for the school and get influenced to attend all the educational activities positively such as classes, assignment submission, project work, and the like.

Conclusion: 

From the above analysis, it has been found that the attendance record of the high school group B Foundation is significantly low with a comparison to others. The students of the classroom have a low passing rate as they often delay their assessment submission which in turn affect the brand identity of high school group B Foundation. Secondary research analysis has helped in extracting essential information regarding low attendance issues and the process by which this issues could be mitigated. The major factor that has been identified from the survey result of low attendance problem is that teachers do not give importance to making good relationship with students which lack education interest amongst students. The implementation of instructional model in high school group B foundation will be helpful for the improvement of students’ attendance. But initially, the institute is required to create a positive culture. The creation of a positive culture will attract more students towards the school which will result in the enhancement of attendance. Furthermore, teachers of the educational institutions should be more aware of students’ attendance and management of good educational culture. Awareness about attendance among the teachers of high school group B foundation will enhance the effectiveness of instructional model. Maintenance of proper communication between parents and teachers is also required for the increases in attendance.

Literature Survey

Effective implementation of the instructional model enables high school authorities to maintain teaching quality within school premises. Interactive classroom sessions are included to draw attention of a wide range of students existing in a classroom environment. Flexible interaction and healthy communication with teachers also makes students more comfortable that influences their learning session. sequential lesson is also incorporated to lower the chances of absenteeism. However, lack of training programs reduce the chances of convincing teachers regarding the importance of this learning session which is considered for enhancing the academic performance of students. Flexible communication between students in classroom envelopment also supports in managing quality of learning session.

After completing the research work on improving the class attendance of group B foundation at GBS it can be recommended that the researcher have to employ primary research process to meet the research objectives effectively.

References:

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Bloom, H. & Unterman, R., 2014. Can small high schools of choice improve educational prospects for disadvantaged students?.. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(2), pp. 290-319.

Castleman, B., Schwartz, S. & Baum, S., 2015. The Shapeless River: Does a Lack of Structure Inhibit Students’ Progress at Community Colleges?.. In Decision making for student success , 5(2), pp. 114-135.

Gbadamosi, G., 2015. Should we bother improving students’ attendance at seminars?.. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 52(2), pp. 196-206.

Gershenson, S., 2016. Linking teacher quality, student attendance, and student achievement. Education Finance and Policy, 11(2), pp. 125-149.

Landin, M. & Pérez, J., 2015. Class attendance and academic achievement of pharmacy students in a European University. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 7(1), pp. 78-83.

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Lobo, A. & Gurney, L., 2014. What did they expect? Exploring a link between students’ expectations, attendance and attrition on English language enhancement courses. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 38(5), pp. 730-754.

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O’Flaherty, J. & Phillips, C., 2015. The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review.. The internet and higher education, 25(7), pp. 85-95.

Pope, N., 2016. How the time of day affects productivity: Evidence from school schedules.. Review of Economics and Statistics, 98(1), pp. 1-11.

Quin, D., 2017. Longitudinal and contextual associations between teacher–student relationships and student engagement: A systematic review.. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), pp. 345-387.

Tobin, K., 2016. Homeless students and academic achievement: Evidence from a large urban area.. Urban Education, 51(2), pp. 197-220.

Wiswall, M., Stiefel, L., Schwartz, A. & Boccardo, J., 2014. Does attending a STEM high school improve student performance? Evidence from New York City.. Economics of Education Review, 40(2), pp. 93-105.