Getting students to show up on time
I am curious of some strategies to get students to show up on time. I teach 8:00am classes and I find, even though they registered themselves for the morning class, it is "too early" for them to be prompt. They often come in thirty minutes late. I have tried encouragement or not providing them with the notes for the day but it does not seem to be effective.
I agree Chris some students think that it is ok to be late for school but not late for work. I have heard students say I am paying for this if I am late its my choice.
We have tried to turn it around and send the students the message the class loses out when you are not there to contribute; the student loses if he misses something important the instructor started the class off with; relate it to their job and how it affects their performance for promotions, etc.
It is also a clue to the instructor the student may need some one-on-one time - how often are they late to class, how late are they? Is it transportation problems, home problems, lifestyle problems?
Patty,
Has this policy had a positive impact on student retention?
I stress important of habits,and what employers are looking for,and there purpose of there education,vision and dreams.
Hi Patty,
Thank you for sharing the methods you use to deal with students that are tardy. You and your staff have developed a comprehensive plan that is clear and easily applied.
This is a consistent problem and one that many schools choose to ignore with consequences for the students later. Meaning that employers will not tolerate tardiness.
Keep up the good work.
Gary
At our school (I am the owner and one of the instructors), we adopted a policy to handle lateness that has been working very well.
First we explain to the students at orientation that all of our policies come from what our survey of employers are looking for in their staff. SO, with reliability and attendance being the #1 employer concern our lateness policy is:
If a student is more than 5 minutes late for class, they are docked for an additional hour of absence. The maximum absence for any individual class is 20%. There are a few posted "extenuating circumstances where they will not be docked". In addition, if a student is not in their seat at the time a test is distributed, they cannot take the test and get a zero on it.
Typically the tests are handed out within the first 5 minutes of class so, late students get a zero on that test as well as being docked an extra hour. This may seem extreme, however before we started this policy a few years ago, students just strolled in at will like it was a country club. Our classes don't even start until 8:50 and it was a huge problem before our new policy.
By giving them a penalty for being late, they have much more incentive to be on time, and they typically are. By the end of the first semester (15 weeks) they are all pretty much "trained" to be on time and isn't that part of the career training "package"? Preparing them to be successful in their new careers.
However, this will work BEST if it is a school wide policy.
Breaking down the issue can be helpful. My classes are 90 hours of instruction in 3 weeks, and they can't miss more than 12 hrs. in that time, which is 2 complete days. Try explaining their employability if their interviewer thinks they might miss 2 days every 3 weeks on the job...
Some students think that it is ok to be late for school but not late for work.
I encourage by giving some extra credits for their attendance.
Thank you for your feedback. I am trying to work out this issue with possibly a jeopardy game at the start of each class on last classes material for minimal extra credit points. The problem is our college's attendance policy is if you are not in class for 14 consecutive days that you may be dismissed. Additionally, we are not able to "grade" based on attendance. I will be trying my game idea at the start of our next quarter which begins in two weeks.
Ilene
We also have a problem with getting students in on time , but the difference is that we have 6:30 A.M. starts, so I suppose it is all about your perspective and what you are accustomed to.I do not beleive that there is any easy answer to that question but rest assured that there is always some other students that either start earlier or are their later, but your students have and need to adhere to their start time
Hi Ilene,
You raised a question about a very common problem with students--that is getting to class on time. The key and challenge to getting them to class on time is developing a reason for being on time and a penalty for not being on time. If there are no consequences for their lateness then they will have no reason to be on time. The college has to support you in how you handle this. There are a number of options such as point deductions, dismissal, repeating the class, not being allowed to enter the class after the start time, etc. All of these consequences need to be based upon training the students to meet the standards of their career field. If they are tardy then they are not going to reflect the professionalism that is needed for career success.
Gary
Where I teach, if the students are a total of 12 hours out for the class, which is 3 weeks long, they have to retake the class and repay for the class. This seems to ensure them being on time, even though some of them will push it right up to the minute.
Rod
