The Effect of Attendance on Students' Academic Performance. An Empirical Study in Bangladesh

Table of Contents

Abstract

1. Introduction
1.1 Statement of the Problem
1.2 Purpose of the Study
1.3 Research Objective
1.4 Research Question
1.5 Significance of the Study
1.6 Hypothesis of the study
1.7 Limitation of the study

2. Literature Review

3. Methodology
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Target Population
3.3 Sample and Sampling Techniques
3.4 Research Instruments
3.5 Data and Data Collection Procedure

4. Results

5. Discussion

7. Recommendation

8. Suggestion for further Research

9. References

Abstract

The core of this study is to investigate the impact of class attendance on the academic achievement of the students. The academic achievement or academic performance is measured by the exam score of the students. Structured questionnaires have been prepared which provide a clear guide to extract the exact information from the desired source to conduct to study smoothly and effectively. The findings of this study explored that class attendance has a very strong relationship with academic performance of the student. The strong relationship between variables is claimed by the correlation between class attendance and academic performance of the students which is correlation 0.7686. Since, based on the findings of this study, it is concluded that class attendance has significant impact over academic performance so that it is recommended that compulsory class attendance and scholarship for full attendance are needed to be effectively implemented. This important study has been conducted in many other developed, developing and underdeveloped countries so that it becomes crucial to identify the effect of class attendance on the academic performance of students in Bangladesh.

1. Introduction

A school is an educational institution which is set up with an aim to provide education to the students. School learning is very important not only for children but also for the nation. School provides the fundamental learning which is very crucial to build an educated nation and knowledgeable labor force. This education also has impact on the tertiary level education. Effective teaching and learning can only take place when teacher and student attend to the school on a regular basis. Regular attendance helps a student to prepare for the examination through class discussion. Therefore, they can achieve higher exam scores. Hence higher academic performance will be achieved. Pascopella 2007 stated that when students attend consistently in school they are more likely to be succeeded. Therefore, attendance in school is very important. In the widely cited paper "Do students go to class? Should they?" Romer (1993) examined the relationship between class attendance and academic performance and found that class attendance has significant and positive impact over academic performance. Therefore, he recommend for mandatory class attendance policy for enhancing academic performance. Onomuodeke (1995) stated that irregular students in school face learning problems, inability to read and fear consulting with teachers. Moreover, there have been conducted many studies related to the attendance and academic performance. Most of the authors such as Schmidit (1983), Marburger (2001) etc. found the significant positive relationship between attendance and test score or academic performance. These findings indicate that when students attend their class on a regular basis it is more likely that they will obtain higher exam scores. On the basis of these results many discussion have been made and many suggested compulsory class attendance in the educational institution

1.1 Statement of the Problem

The researcher has investigated series of problems and obstacles that contribute to the students' academic performance. Some indentified factors include overcrowded class, poor facilities in the class etc. Based on the previous research students attendance is low in rural area compared to urban area whereas poor class attendance severely affects exam performance or academic performance. But in public certificate examination the rural students are also having almost equal performance in term of grade point average compared to the urban students. This unscientific performance calls a certain question into our mind that whether attendance in the school and the lesson taught in the school for the preparation of examination has any effect or contribution on the academic performance of secondary students at Kishoreganj district.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The study is aimed at determining the impact of class attendance on the academic performance of secondary school students at Kishoreganj district.

1.3 Research Objective

Determine the magnitude of the class attendance on the academic performance of the secondary students.

1.4 Research Question

Is there a correlation between class attendance and academic performance of secondary school going students?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The study will helps to understand the impotence of class attendance for the academic performance of school going children. The findings will provide an insight about effectively establish and tighten the policy of imperative attendance in the school.

1.6 Hypothesis of the study

The students who have more class attendance have better academic performance than those students who have less class attendance.

1.7 Limitation of the study

The main limitation of this study is that the result of this study is not generalizable and only limited to a particular area of Bangladesh. As a result, the result is not generalizable in other settings beyond the original setting in which the study is conducted. So, the result is only applicable to the sample used in the study not to any others. Another limitation of this study is lack of data accessibility and time constraints.

2. Literature Review

In the study of determining the impact of class attendance on the test score performance, by using sample of 382,335 students in 1,305 schools in Carolina state, Romano and Aucejo (2014) found that extending the school calendar by ten days increased math and reading scores by 0.80 percent. The study also suggested that decrease in the absence leads to the 5.80 percent and 3.0 percent increases in math and reading scores respectively. By using the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis on a sample of 2,680 students of secondary school students in Delta regions of the North, Central and South, Oghuvbu (2010) investigated the correlation between attendance and academic performance and found that students’ attendance was positively and significantly related with academic performance. In an analysis of the causal effect of class attendance on the student performance Stinebrickner and Stinebrickner (2008) also found significant and substantial effect of attendance on the academic performance.

According to Purcell (2007), Silvestri (2003), Moore et al., (2003) and Hirby and McElroy (2003) the class attendance and engagement of students plays a vital role in the education's system. Several previous studies have shown that class attendance is a crucial indicator of academic performance. Hence the higher the attendance the higher the final grades achieved by the students. However, Eisen et al., (2015) found different results where the study indicated that there is no statistically significant relationship between class attendance and academic performance by adjusting the control variables which includes gender and ages. Cortright et al., (2011) regular attendance has influence on the examination performance. One interesting findings of this study is that regular attendance is more important for dealmaker students than male students, since female students who is earning above average grade has attended more classes than female students who is earning below average grade. But for male students no such difference was found.

With a perspective of examining the relationship between attendance and academic performance, in a widely cited study, Romer (1993) reported that average attendance rate is about 67 percent in undergraduate economics course at three major United States' universities. With a sample of 195 students and based on the regression results the study found that a positive and significant relationship between students attendance and exam performance. Based on this crucial findings Romer (1993) suggested that initiatives, policies and measures which are aimed at increasing student's attendances including making attendance compulsory needed to be considered. Durden and Ellis (1995) investigated link between attendee and overall grade of 346 students where they concluded that attendance does matter for academic performance. The study also found that very low attendance has negatively significant impact on the examination performance. Rodgers (2001) in his study with a sample of 167 students in the statistic course observed that attendance has statistically significant effect on the performance of the students. Hirby and McElory (2003) examine the determinants of the levels of attendances at classes and relationship with academic performance with a sample of 368 first-years economics students. The study indicated that part time occupations with excessive hours of work, travel time are the main determinants of class attendance, which in turn has negative effect on the grade point. By using the sample of 400 agriculture Economics students at four large U.S universities, Devadoss and Folzt (1996) postulated that the difference in exam performance between student with perfect attendance and student with half of the class attendances on an average a full letter grade while the study took into account motivational and aptitude differences across students. Moreover, Chan et al., (1997) and Rogers (2002) found significant positive relationship between class attendance and exam performance. According to the research conducted in Kuwait by Al-Shammari (2011) suggested that attendance is the basic factors which increases student achievement in learning settings. Chang (2010) found that the students which chronically absent from their Kindergarten school demonstrate lower exam performance than their peers. In other studies conducted by Gottfried and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (2009) stated that attendance is positively and significantly related to students' academic performance in Louisiana's public elementary and secondary school. Jones (1984) stated that when student missed class lecture it causes lower grades. Then students become discouraged and missed more class that leads even lower grades.

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