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Designing a Clear and Supportive Attendance Policy

Creating a clear and thoughtful attendance policy can set the tone for your course and support student success. Keep in mind that campus syllabus requirements, including accommodations for disabilities and religious holidays, may affect attendance policies. Prioritize health and safety by encouraging students to stay home if unwell and consider automatically forgiving a set number of absences without requiring documentation. Note that Wardenburg Health Center, CAPS, and SSCM no longer provide “doctor’s notes” or appointment verifications.

Below are streamlined suggestions and considerations to help you develop your policy.

Key Considerations for Your Policy

• Flexibility Matters: Forgive a set number of absences for all students—no documentation required. This reduces stress and unnecessary communication.
• Health and Safety First: Emphasize that students should not attend in-person classes when feeling unwell.
• Focus on Engagement: Attendance should align with active participation and course learning objectives rather than just physical presence.

Pros and Cons of Attendance Policies

Pros:

• Encourages learning through active engagement.
• Fosters professionalism and accountability.
• Supports group dynamics and class discussions.

Cons:

• Limits autonomy for students to manage their own time.
• May penalize students already struggling with life challenges.
• Risks reducing class discussions to minimal engagement.

Solution: In weighing these pros and cons, you might consider how your attendance policy advances and supports the learning objectives that you have identified for your course. CU’s College of Arts & Sciences, for one, recommends that engagement should be a priority, not simply attendance for its own sake. 

Boosting Student Attendance

• Set Clear Expectations: Discuss attendance policies and their rationale in your syllabus and first class.
• Show Value: , such as access to discussions, team activities, or exclusive in-class reviews.
• Create Variety: Incorporate different in-class activities like group work, problem-solving, or quick quizzes to make each session valuable.

Flexible Attendance Options

• Multiple Ways to Participate: Offer multiple participation options so students self-isolating can earn credit without accommodations. Participation can include class discussions, office hours, written submissions, or Canvas discussion posts, ensuring no one attends while ill. Focusing on student engagement with the class material further affords opportunities to assess learning. Use to enable active engagement and learning, even remotely.
• Low-Stakes Assignments: Encourage attendance through activities that enhance learning without significant grade penalties.
• Built-in Flexibility: Permit students to skip a few assignments or turn in late work without penalties.

Sample Syllabus Statements

1. "Your learning depends on participation in class activities. Attendance is expected unless you are ill or have a valid reason. Contact me in advance if you’ll be absent."
2. "You may miss up to three sessions without penalty. Beyond this, each absence will lower your grade by 3 points unless we’ve made prior arrangements."
3. "This course is discussion-based. Regular attendance is crucial, but flexibility is built in. Please reach out if challenges arise."

Encouraging a Supportive Climate

• Create a supportive course climate
  •  Make it clear to all students that they are welcome and that you are committed to their success. Make an effort to learn your students’ names. Be proactive in checking in quickly with students if they miss class  
• Learn students’ names and check in after absences.
• Offer collaborative opportunities for students to set class expectations.
• Use tools like polls, clickers, or quick exercises (One-Sentence Summaries) to track participation and engage students.

Balance

The goal is to ensure fairness while supporting individual needs. Flexible policies can include:

• Dropping the lowest assignment or attendance grade.
• Offering "make-up" participation options.
• Contract or mastery-based course design for personalization.

Research on the Effectiveness of College Attendance Policies Includes:

  Chenneville, T., & Jordan, C. (2012). The Impact of Attendance Policies on Course Attendance among College Students. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(3), 29-35. 

   ������é, M., Roch, S., & Kieszczynka, U.M. (2010). Class Attendance in College: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Relationship of Class Attendance with Grades and Student Characteristics. Review of Educational Research, 80(2). 

  St. Clair, K.L. (1999). A Case Against Compulsory Class Attendance Policies in Higher Education. Innovative Higher Education 23(3): 171-180.