The purpose of this investigation was to determine the extant relationship between formal statements of attendance policy, as implemented by each school administrator. and the associated student absentee rates. Four high schools in Newport News, Virginia, each which used somewhat differing attendance policies were examined. The school which used an alternative attendance policy was compared to each of the other three schools. each of which used a variation of a traditional attendance policy. In addition, failure and dropout rates were examined to determine the relationship among the school attendance policies and these variables. A comprehensive review of the related literature revealed numerous variables which affected student attendance rates. In order to determine the comparability of the schools, it was necessary to descriptively examine and statistically test by school, selected relationships among the following variables: family income level, parental educational attainment level, the age, sex, teaching experience and educational qualifications of each school's faculty, and the sex composition and the SRA scores in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and use of sources of each school's student body. In general terms, it can be concluded that the school which used the alternative attendance policy differed in significant respects from the other three schools among many, though not all, of the dimensions measured. Due to these differences, it was not possible to single out the attendance policy specifically as the most important variable associated with actual attendance rates. It may be concluded, however, that given the demographic and educational characteristics generally associated with favorable (low) absentee rates as those present in the other schools and given the data presented in this study, the alternative attendance policy may well have been causing favorable effects, that is as a descriptive observation, the school which used the alternative attendance policy had, for reasons inexplicable save for the policy, lower than expected student absentee rates. It also may be concluded from the findings that perhaps, the use of the alternative attendance policy decreased the failure rates because more students attended more classes each day. Finally, the used alternative attendance policy did not influence the dropout rate among schools. / Ed. D.

Several studies posit a positive relationship between class attendance and student performance. Grades for students enrolled in Introduction to Management during the fall 2015 semester at a community college in Jamaica revealed that evening students on average scored a grade higher than students enrolled in the day sections. Lecturers noted day students missed more classes than evening students but the relationship between attendance and performance was not known. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the relationship between attendance and performance, measured by grades. Guided by Knowles's theory that adults are self-directed, this study was designed to explore the relationship between attendance and performance for first year day (n=99) and evening students (n=40). Pearson's Correlation was used to assess the correlation between students attendance and performance regardless of their attendance status. Additionally, independent t tests were used to compare the means of day and evening students' attendance and performance variables. Findings revealed that attendance and performance were significantly positively associated. Further, findings indicated that there were significant differences in the mean performance and mean attendance variables between day and evening students. Students with partial matriculation attended fewer classes and performed poorer than students with full matriculation. To address the results, a policy recommendation was developed to provide guidance on attendance in the local setting. The study contributes to social change by offering an approach to class attendance as a means to improve students' grades.

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