Date of Award

Fall 2021

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Terrance McAdoo

Abstract

For many students, school attendance is a critical issue. There have been several studies conducted concerning attendance numbers. These studies have shown that poor attendance often affects grades, graduation rates, and socioeconomic status post-high school. The purpose of this study was to first investigate the reasons behind absences and attitudes towards school and classes because of missed days. The second purpose was to determine if a weekly mentoring meeting had any noticeable effect on attendance. The targeted pool of students consisted of those who had been identified as chronically absent the previous semester. An initial set of open-ended questions and a demographics questionnaire were used to gather preliminary information. Afterward, students were asked to participate in weekly meetings to discuss reasons behind any occurring absences the previous week, and if any opportunities arose that were not taken advantage of and why were they not taken advantage of. Some findings were 1) peer relations, school environment, and classroom subjects affect students’ experiences in school, 2) in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were unaware of the accumulation of absences that had amassed the previous school year, 3) personal decisions highly influence a student’s decision to miss school, 4) many of the students had no concern for days missed, and 5) having a weekly mentoring meeting had a positive effect on decreasing the number of days missed.

Rights

© 2021, Herbert Allen Gray

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