A Comparison of Two Tardy Policies and Their Effects Upon the Same Student Group During the 1980-1981 School Year

The problem. Tardiness in a high school can be very disruptive. This field report deals with two different tardy policies. These policies were used on the same group of high school students on different semesters. The basic question asked is whether the second semester policy, which is stricter in regard to penalties and contains more parent communication, can reduce the amount of total school tardies. Procedure. The procedure used to compare these two policies was the same each semester and tables were used to make the data useful. All the tardies for the first semester were recorded by student, by the class the student was in, and by the total school population. The tardies for the second semester were gathered the same way. All this information was then placed in tables for comparisons. The use of parent communication was also explained in the report. Each class was compared within each policy and then compared to each other after the results were tabulated. A "t" test was administered to test the null hypothesis: The Mean of Policy A is equal to the Mean of Policy B. Conclusion. The null hypothesis was rejected since "t" equaled 7.36 and at the .05 level of significance, p equaled 3.182. Under Policy A, used first semester, the school mean was 9.44 per student. Under Policy B, used the second semester I the school mean was 3.52 per student. This represented a drop in total school tardies of 62.7 percent.The first period or homeroom period contained the greatest amount of tardies both semesters. The eighth period also changed drastically from poor to good with no reasons. Recommendations. The following recommendations were suggested: 1. Policy B used during the second semester, 1981, should be retained. 2. Further study as to the reasons why the first period still had a large amount of tardies as compared to the others should be made. 3. The eighth period should be studied to find out why fluctuated more than any other period with no real explanable reason. 4. Parent communication must be maintained to keep the policy functioning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Drake University

Year dc:date.issued

1981

Author dc:creator

• Jones, Dewitt Robert, Jr.

• Education, Secondary
• School attendance

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Dc Identifier Other

1981 .J713

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:escholarshare.drake.edu:2092/746