Date of Award
5-1-2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Educational Leadership
First Advisor
Dr. Jeanne L. Surface
Abstract
Improving student attendance has been a major focus in school districts all over the country (Atkinson, 2005; Cole, 2011; Railsback, 2004). Students cannot be taught if they are not present. There are three factors that are crucial to the issue of students being tardy to class: the requirements of state laws, the importance of the first minutes of class and the interference on others instruction. Finding an answer to erasing tardiness is crucial (Railsback, 2004). Many schools throughout the nation discuss concerns about students arriving to class tardy. Policies are put into place, not only class wide, but school wide, in attempt to help prevent students from missing class time (Atkinson, 2005). Consequences are put into place when these policies are abused in an attempt to curb the behaviors of students who arrive late. Even with these attempts, tardiness to class continues to be a problem and hinders the opportunities for an education that teachers provide their students. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of a newly implemented tardy policy in a large middle school in a large Midwest school district. Using a mixed methods approach, quantitative data analyzed tardies by comparing the first semester of a 7th grade class in the 2012-2013 school year when a tardy policy was not implemented, to that of the first semester of the same student in the 8th grade class in the 2013-2014 school year once the tardy policy had been implemented using t-tests. The researcher then completed a qualitative approach to delve more deeply into the teachers’ perceptions of student attendance and how it impacts the classroom. Six purposely selected teachers were asked guiding questions to provide a framework for discussion. The researcher identified any categories and participant opinions that had a similar theme. This was done with the use of coding the findings.
Recommended Citation
Sejkora, Tyree Dawn, "Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Attendance of a Newly Implemented Tardy Policy" (2015). Student Work. 3622.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/3622
Comments
A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education. Copyright 2015 Tyree Dawn Sejkora.