My institution has a similar policy, but its on a daily basis. Everytime a student is absent a form has to be filled out and a call made to the student to make sure they will be returning to class.
We have a 90% attendnace rule. Students must maintain 90% attendnace in order to continue on in the program. If a student misses more than one day without contacting their instructor, the instructor reaches out to the student to see what's going on. If they can't get ahold of the student, we turn to their emergency contacts given in admissions. Thsi practice has saved many students from dropping. We often hear phrases such as, "I only came back because you care about me."
When a student misses class, the instructor makes an attempt to contact them - I usually send an email when they miss 1 day and make a phone call if 2 or more days in a row are missed.
I also stress the importance of letting me know when a student will miss - tying it to having a job, which many of my students have. I ask them to send me an email or call if they will miss and at least 95% do.
The ones who do not, I "chat" (meet) with them to stress the importance of attending and lettimg me know if/when they miss. For chronic late/absent students, I can pull the total # of hours/minutes missed in a course to show them, especially for lower grades due to missed assignments or when they did not do well on a quiz/test. This allows the student objective cause/effect and I can assist them in making a plan going forward.
I agree the importance of personal responsibility needs to to be taught to the student. When they are out in the workplace, they won't have someone who will insure that they are living up to their committments that they have made with the company that hired them. We as instructors can remind them. But their performance depends on skills that they have to develop. Maybe an interactive seminar would be a good thing to establish for the students with role modeling.
Our school has attempted to pair a newer student with a student in a class ahead to assist in mentoring giving them the heads up so to say.
We have a nursing pinning ceremony for the graduating nursing students. They look forward to this experience.
I agrre with you Erin this helps alot
Our school commitment is portrayed tto students by the services that are offered to them to help deal with the stressors that they experience and the school also encourages loyalty through the compassionate and caring attitudes of the instructors. The overall attitude is very positive and stresses the success of the student. The students in turn feel very committed towards "their" school.
I take notice from the first day of class. I pay attention to each student. I spend time with them in a clinical setting to find out more about them and to let them know I am there for them for any reason. I give them my phone number and tell them they can text or call me for any reason. This starts the process.
Calling and asking the student why they were absent seems to help sometimes. A few times it has helped students feel that they are not going to meet their goals unless the try and come to class.
There are many things currently being done at my school to improve retention like calling students if they are absent, monitoring attendance and giving awards for perfect attendance like a pizza lunch. There has been a lot of emphasis recently on the idea that everyone on staff contributes to retention and when our retention is poor, so is the budget!
Our Campus starts by being totally commited to the student and supporting the staff.
A best practice in Academics at my school that shows our commitment to our students is our "reach out" program. In Academics it is not only the instructors who call students who are not in attendance, but also the Program Directors and the Academic Dean call them. We do this for a couple of reasons. First being that while the student may be more comfortable with the instructor the reason they aren't attending may be a classroom issue, so the Program Director may be able to get that vital information from the student. The reason for the Academic Dean calling is that students tend to respond much faster to calls from the Dean. I am then able to ascertain what is happening in that student's life, whether it's a school issue or personal one and figure out what we can do help this student get back on track to graduation.
When a student doesn't show up tp class the program diesctor call the student to find out why and see if there is anything they can do to help them. It is imperative our students attend classes since it is an accelerated program.
I have observed in my short time at this institution a remarkable interaction of the administration at the highest with students.
Often time students are called by the dean to address some of their ongoing issues.
We let our students know that they are appreciated by providing many extra curricular activities in order to celebrate school spirit.
We also let them know that we take their opinions very seriously with the information that they provide in their surveys, by taking the best suggestions and taking action.
In our Graduate Employment department, we strive to get every last one of our graduates employed in their prospective fields.
Our school works a lot with the community and potential employers to continue promoting the importance of the education we are delivering. Businesses come in and talk to our classes about the opportunities they will have after completing programs, and we even have students job shadow during their time here so that they can see that what they learn in school has a real world application.
Student surveys are done on a regular basis. The results are analyzed and action is taken when appropriate. Students are able to see that their opinions matter.
As a school I believe that we demonstrate commitment from the moment they enroll by communicating with the students. As part of the curriculum we are always talking about the student's future and career. We discuss how to be successful at their sites and on their boards. We are always discussing their successes in class and the expectations while in school as a form of career preparation.
Do find that this is an effective practice or do the students simply show up for the food? How can you tell?
