Can an Early Alert Excessive Absenteeism Warning System Be Effective in Retaining Freshman Students?

A unilateral decision was made by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Office of Academic Outreach and Support, and the Office of Academic Support and Retention (AS&R) to implement a pilot initiative for reporting, monitoring, and tracking excessive absenteeism during the Spring semester 2003. A Web-based system of notification was designed and provided to instructors for completion and submission. There were 216 students reported as having excessive absenteeism during the first six weeks of the spring semester. There were 78 instructors who submitted absenteeism reporting forms for 25 different courses. Ninety one students were successfully contacted by their advisors and responded. Of the students contacted and responded, 44 passed the course, 33 failed the course and 14 dropped the course. The implementation of this pilot study demonstrated its effectiveness by reducing the number of students who would have dropped, or failed courses due to a lack of attendance. Students reported that they were surprised to learn that their attendance was being monitored and amazed that someone cared enough to contact them and offer guidance and assistance. Faculty and staff were surprised that attendance was being monitored and that student and faculty contacts were initiated, responded to and reported back to the instructor. (Contains 1 table and 1 graph.)