Attendance Policies

A few years ago, in one class, I tried not grading for attendance but found the result to be that students skipped class at high levels, paid for it on assignments, and the resulting average was so low that I looked more like a bad teacher than a tough one. I also paid a price in emails and office hours spent re-hashing what I'd covered in class and I was embarrassed that my final evals indicated that very few of the enrolled students filled them out because attendance was low.

So I do grade for attendance and I struggle through how to do it. My current system keeps attendance and participation separate. For attendance, I assign a fraction of a point based on the overall number of class meetings in the semester. This fall for instance, my class meets a total of 28 times, so each class is assigned 1/4th of a point. For every class attended, the student earns .25 points, up to the total of 7 points. Easy enough.

The problem is, some students are going to miss sometimes, and despite the fact that it counts for a fraction of the score, some of these students insist on having a way to earn the points back. Further, the school tends to support the notion of excused absences, without offering a clear definition of what constitutes such an absence, and I am loathe to create a definition myself. Students should make decisions about when to miss class based on their priorities, not mine. So I just refuse to distinguish between different types of absences and I ask my students not to tell me why they missed class. It doesn't matter to me. All that matters is that they missed.

In order to avoid a rebellion then, I allow students to write make-up papers. The papers should be 2 pages and should focus on the readings and the themes of the class that was missed. Within those boundaries, students have to determine the content themselves (I don't want emails about what the make-up paper should be about) and they have to submit the paper within 1 week of returning to class. I attach the papers to the sign in sheet for the day they missed. A student who misses two classes, but writes one make-up paper will receive 6.5/7 for her attendance grade. However, missed classes can still affect participation. In general, I want the make-up paper to be so annoying that it's easier to go to class.

It's not a perfect system but it works fairly well. Students do complain on evals that my attendance standards are too high, because I don't give any 'free passes' (WTF), but that doesn't seem to mar the course too much for them.

I'm open to feedback and suggestions on this.