The purpose of this non-experimental correlational study was to determine the relationship between the type of attendance policies in the high schools of the 67 Florida school districts, the size of the school district (number of high school students), the socioeconomic status (SES) of the school district, and the average daily attendance rate of the district. Additionally, the study determined if the relationship between policy type and attendance rate was moderated by SES and size. To test the research questions, high school attendance polices were examined and coded into one of three pre-determined categories: punitive, reward, or affective. The SES level and district size were also examined. A percentage was calculated for each district with respect to the makeup of attendance policies (by type). Polices that were punitive in nature were found to be most commonly implemented (mean 81.14 percent). / No significant relationships existed among the independent variables policy type, SES level and district size when tested with the dependent variable average daily attendance rate. Furthermore, district size and SES showed no significant moderation effects on the relationship between policy type and average daily attendance rate. An additional analysis of a large urban school district showed that when examining school level average daily attendance rates, school size showed no significant relationship, while school SES level did. The conclusion of this study was that while a heavy emphasis was placed on the implementation of punitive policy, when measured at the district level, average daily attendance rates were not significantly related to the variables of policy type, SES level, or district size, nor was the relationship between policy type and average daily attendance rate moderated by SES or district size. / Recommendations for future research, school leaders, and policymakers were to assess the effectiveness of using reward and affective policies in conjunction with punitive policies, to conduct an assessment of policy effectiveness using school level data as the unit of analysis, and while attendance policies are typically created at the district level, schools should be given the autonomy to create and implement attendance programs conducive to their individual needs. / by Ryan Turner Reardon. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL : 2008 Mode of access: World Wide Web.