A comparison of teachers and community volunteers in improving high school attendance

Abstract

This thesis was undertaken to investigate if community volunteers are more effective in increasing attendance than classroom teachers. Three of the four high schools in one school district in Nova Scotia were the sample. This correlational study analyzed the attendance data supplied by school officials for a seven month period in each of the years 1987, 1988 and 1989.

During the 1987 school year the teachers telephoned the parents in all schools to inform the parents that their child was absent. The teachers sometimes evoked statements that could be construed as potentially punitive. During 1988 teachers performed the same task in the same manner as in 1987, except in one school where the community volunteers telephoned the parents to inform them of their child's absence. The volunteers conveyed a neutral message that merely stated that the child was absent. During the 1989 school year, the teachers in all schools telephoned the parents.

Attendance percentages were significantly higher in a school when the community volunteers telephoned the parents to inform that that their child was absent from school than in control group high schools or in the same school, when parents were telephoned by the teachers. In the school where the community volunteers were used, attendance was lower in the baseline year of 1987 when the teachers conducted the attendance program. During 1988, when the volunteers conducted policy, attendance increased significantly. During the 1988 year, when the attendance procedure once more was conducted by the teachers, the attendance percentages reverted to lower levels associated with the baseline period in 1987.