{"id":2940,"date":"2025-09-14T16:28:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T20:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masfec.org\/?p=2940"},"modified":"2025-09-14T16:28:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T20:28:18","slug":"why-attendance-awards-dont-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masfec.org\/vi\/why-attendance-awards-dont-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Attendance Awards Don\u2019t Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2987 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/masfec.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/giorgio-trovato-_XTY6lD8jgM-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"gold trophy with black base\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>When a school faces chronic absenteeism, it may be tempting to incentivize students to attend school by giving out awards for perfect attendance. However, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/leadership\/should-schools-reward-attendance-what-the-experts-say\/2023\/07\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">research shows<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> that this approach is not effective. Here are a few reasons why incentives don\u2019t work, as well as alternatives to this approach.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Students come to school sick<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Attendance incentives encourage children to come to school while they have sicknesses that may be contagious. Not only does this pose a public health issue \u2013 especially for students who may have weakened immune systems \u2013 it also leads to the spread of illnesses that could result in more absences among classmates.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Instead of issuing attendance awards, provide a clear policy on when children should come to school and when they should stay home<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">Post pandemic, many families may be confused about which health precautions have been lifted and which have remained. Partner with local hospitals to develop and communicate clear guidelines as to when students should stay home and when they should come to school to encourage attendance when students are healthy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Create systems for students to make up work at home<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">When students are genuinely ill, they need to stay home and rest. But they also should have the opportunity to continue their learning when they feel well enough to do so. Establish clear systems for families to collect missing work and \/ or to catch up independently when they can so that the overall class is not disrupted and individual students don\u2019t fall behind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ignores issues at home<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Often, students do not attend school because of issues like housing instability, taking responsibility for younger siblings, providing translation for parents, employment, and chronic illnesses. Not only do attendance incentives punish students for factors that are beyond their control, they also keep students from getting the services they and their families need to actually attend school.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Instead of issuing attendance awards, increase communication with families with absent children<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">Collect data about absences and schedule calls home or home visits with families with irregular attendance. Assess what is keeping children from coming to school and look for solutions that families can implement immediately.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Establish community partnerships<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">While the school should do everything they can to help their students, they don\u2019t have to do it alone. Cultivate relationships with community partners who can help with issues like childcare, housing instability, immigration services, translation services, and other support. Invite service providers to school events and send home frequent notices about opportunities to take advantage of these resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ignores issues at school. <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">One of the reasons students are chronically absent is because they feel unsafe either at school or on their way to school. Attendance awards may increase these students\u2019 anxiety, lack of belonging, or frustration.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Instead of issuing attendance awards, assess school climate.<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> If students are feeling anxious about coming to school, think about ways that the school climate could be improved. Even something as simple as displaying student work in the halls or ensuring every child has a strong relationship with an adult in the building through advisory or mentoring programs can make a huge difference.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Partner with community organizations and local government to assess transportation routes.<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Work with local government and organizations to assess whether there are safety issues along transportation routes like a lack of street lights, busy intersections, or neighborhoods with high levels of crime. Work with the community to find safe ways for students to get to and from school, perhaps through carpooling or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.future-ed.org\/walking-school-bus-drives-better-attendance\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">walking school buses<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a school faces chronic absenteeism, it may be tempting to incentivize students to attend school by giving out awards for perfect attendance. However, research shows that this approach is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":50,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[202,37,118,29,115,16,10,1],"tags":[218,75,220],"class_list":["post-2940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attendance","category-early-childhood","category-high-school","category-in-person-remote-and-hybrid-learning-resources","category-middle-school","category-educator-resources","category-family-resources","category-english","tag-absenteeism","tag-attendance","tag-incentives"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.6","language":"vi","enabled_languages":["en","es","pt","ar","zh","vi","ht"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"pt":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ar":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"vi":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ht":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"yoast_head":"<!-- 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