Analyzing Class Attendance and Student Achievement in Prescribed College Mathematics Courses

Abstract

Class attendance has been a concern of educators over the years. Multiple research studies have examined class attendance and its impact on student achievement in various college classes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship existed between class attendance and student achievement in prescribed college mathematics courses. Class attendance was compared with various factors for students at one institution across multiple sections of two different prescribed mathematics courses, College Algebra and Applied Statistics. Results indicated that the number of days that a student missed class did affect their overall performance in the course. Additionally it was noted that if a student missed more than 40% of class instructional time, they were certain not to receive a final course grade higher than a D.