Do Attendance Policies Improve Student Performance? The Relationship among Attendance, Class Policies, and Grades1

摘要

Class attendance is beneficial to students both in terms of grades obtained and in achieving learning outcomes. The link between attendance policies and actual lecture attendance and the link between these class policies and learning outcomes, however, has not been as clearly established. In this study we examine the relationships among these factors using attendance and grade data from three semesters in an introductory agricultural economics course. While the link between attendance and grade performance is positive we do not find that attendance policies improve either course performance or even class attendance itself.