Assessing the effect of increased student accountability and parental involvement on student attendance at Middle Township High School

The study examined what effect increasing student accountability through a series of pre-set consequences enforced on a zero tolerance basis, coupled with increased parent involvement through prompt communication regarding all student absences and tardy arrivals, would have on attendance. The study was held at Middle Township High School in southern New Jersey, a semi-rural school of grades 9-12 with a student population of approximately 1,000, most of whom drive or ride a school bus. The data was assembled during the first semester of the 1998-99 school year. The study, which measured attendance, both lateness and absence, through surveys and statistical data comparisons, found that attendance did improve when students were held accountable and parents were kept informed. It also revealed that neither parents nor students were satisfied with the increased accountability and both resented that the parent was not empowered to excuse lateness and/or absence for the student