Attendance & Absences Policies
Below we've provided Attendance Policy options, as well as rationale for using each of them—or not. Feel free to use the language below in your syllabus, and adapt as necessary.
Open Policy
A student's grade is not affected (positively or negatively) by attendance or absences.
Sample Syllabus Policy: "I do my best to make sure class sessions are worth attending, but I do not grade students based on your attendance. My expectation is that you can make your own decision about whether coming to our sessions is beneficial to your learning or not."
| Rationale For | Rationale Against |
|---|---|
| Allows for the natural variability in student lives without penalizing them. Clear and simple guidelines facilitate student success. Reduces faculty workload in negotiating individual absences. Allows focus to be shifted to assignments. Demonstrates trust in student judgment. | If the policy is that attendance is not expected, students may prioritize other courses. Students may seek additional help from faculty to go over materials already covered in class. Asynchronous content and evaluation are likely to be needed. |
Attendance Bank
Allows students a certain number of absences without penalty, and then counts further absences against student grades.
Sample Syllabus Policy: "Your presence in class is crucially important. That said, I understand that life can bring surprises, so your first three absences (for whatever reason) will not affect your grade. After three absences, every additional absence (no matter the reason for the absence) will reduce your overall participation grade by one full letter grade."
| Rationale For | Rationale Against |
|---|---|
| Allows for the natural variability in student lives without penalizing them. Clear and simple guidelines facilitate student success. Reduces faculty workload in negotiating individual absences. Allows focus to be shifted to assignments, deliverables, content. | In short classes with cumulative assignments, this policy could lead to additional make-up work. If there are barriers to students making up the work e.g. (no canvas content, no recorded lectures, no shared class notes, etc.) then missing a class could be a significant disadvantage for the students. |
Strict Attendance
Counts all unexcused absences against the student's grade.
Sample Syllabus Policy: "In-class learning is an essential part of this course, and can’t meaningfully be replaced by reading someone else’s session notes or asking for a review of the session office hours. And so all absences, aside from University-approved excused absences (e.g., religious obligations, illness/injury verified with a doctor’s note), will lead to a one-third grade reduction in a student’s participation grade (e.g., from an A to an A-). Exams missed due to an excused absence will need to be arranged (in advance, whenever realistically possible) with the professor. Students who accumulate more than six absences in the course for any reason will not receive credit for the course."
| Rationale For | Rationale Against |
|---|---|
| Strictly enforced attendance guidelines facilitate clarity for the students. This is a good strategy for classes where all work is cumulative, and where therefore an absence can put the student at a significant disadvantage. Facilitates treating all students the same way based on a simple metric. | Students may be penalized for circumstances often beyond their control. Treating the students the same way, when they are leading different lives, can produce inequities. May produce barriers for certain students and increased workload and communication to the faculty member to address absences. Could be extremely difficult with large class sizes. NOTE: University-excused absences must still be permitted (e.g., religious observance). |
