EFFECTS OF CLASS ATTENDANCE ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGE YOLA



EFFECTS OF CLASS ATTENDANCE ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGE YOLA
 
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
Attendance in school is important because students are more likely to succeed in academics when they attend school consistently. It is difficult for teachers and students to build skills and progress if large numbers of students are frequently absent. In addition to falling behind in academics, students who are not in school on a regular basis are more likely to get into trouble with the law and cause problems in their communities. What factors lead to student absenteeism and would the implementation of an incentive program motivate students to come to Campus regularly
In Nigeria, it is commonly assumed that College of education students benefit from attending lectures. This assumption, however, needs to be tested, as developments in information technology are increasingly calling for a reassessment of the traditional approach to university education, largely based on physical attendance of lectures and classes, and a number of alternative weightless educational models, based on distance learning, are being introduced (Stanca, 2004).

In the past decade, a number of studies have examined the relationship between students' attendance (or absenteeism) and academic performance, generally finding that attendance does matter for academic achievement (e.g. Durden and Ellis (2002), Devadoss and Foltz (2006), Chan et al. (2007),). This kind of evidence has led some authors to call for measures to increase student attendance and even to consider the possibility of making attendance mandatory in some undergraduate courses. The main problem in assessing the effects of attendance on academic performance is that attendance levels are not exogenous, given that Internal controls is the whole system of controls financial and otherwise established by management in order to carry on business of an organization in an orderly manner to ensure adherence to management policies, safeguard the assets and secure as possible the completeness and accuracy of records (Ramaswany, 2004).
The study of determinants of a college students’ academic performance is an important issue in higher education, among all factors, whether or not attending lectures and classroom discussions affects a students’ exam performance has received considerable attention (Chen and Lin, 2006). It is commonly assumed that university students benefit from attending lectures (Stanca, 2004). Lectures and other class meetings are a primary means of instructions in almost all undergraduate courses (Romer, 2003).
Class attendance is likely to be substantially influenced by contextual factors (Credé, Roch, & Kieszczynka, 2010), such as attendance norms at the university, perceived difficulty of the class, characteristics of the instructor, and whether students can obtain lecture material online. It is also true that individual difference factors such as motivation, conscientiousness, and intelligence increase the likelihood of a student attending class (Devadoss & Foltz, 1996; Arulampalam, Naylor, & Smith, 2012). As stressed by Barlow and Fleischer (2011: 234), “[s]hortcomings of teaching are acknowledged as a potential factor [for class absenteeism], but poorly motivated students may not even give themselves the opportunity to find out how inspiring their teachers may be.”
Moreover, one can argue that students do not attend class because they are missing the least productive classes (Stephenson, 1994), effective analytical abilities are not being properly developed in undergraduate classrooms (Hartman, 1979), and students would learn relatively little if they attend it (Romer, 1993; Hunter & Tetley, 1999). The reasons may have to do factors such as the instruction is of low quality, students have already mastered the material, or they can learn the material better by spending the same time studying in other ways.
Regardless of the reason for student absenteeism, a key issue in why it matters is that class attendance is likely to be beneficial for learning, irrespective of the specific teaching mode or modes used by the instructor (Credé et al., 2010).
In an earlier, quite revealing study, published in the American Economic Review, Schmidt (1983) measured the impact of time commitments by students to various course activities on the students' performance in a given class. The author found that, by far, the most valuable and important time commitment in a course was the time actually spent in the classroom.2 Time spent studying for any or all exams was not a statistically significant determinant affecting student performance in that class, which reinforced the idea that the most important learning in a course takes place in the classroom and that students who do a conscientious job on a daily basis preparing for and participating in class outperform those students who skip class and try to cram for exams.
Although acknowledging that attendance per se does not ensure that learning will take place, a reasonable number of studies analyzing the impact of students’ attendance on their academic performance (e.g., Romer, 1993; Park & Kerr, 1990; Chen & Lin, 2008) found a positive and significant relation between attendance and academic performance, with the effect being larger in high absenteeism contexts. Recently, Schmulian and Coetzee (2011) contended that such a positive relation will most likely not be as meaningful in distinct cultural and economic environments, other than the US, and for large classes. Moreover, Triadó-Ivern, Aparicio-Chueca, Guàrdia-Olmos, Peró- Cebollero and Jaría-Chacón (2013: 2282) recognized that despite student absenteeism being “a current feature of all university classrooms”,
Statement of the problem
Research has revealed significant relationships between attendance and grades which concluded that initial attendance is a lair predictor of future academic performance (Gunn, 2015). The total amount of time that students report studying has often been examined as a potential predictor of success in school. It might seem that the more time that students spend studying, the better grades they should receive (Plant, Ericsson, Hill and Asberg, 2005). In the context the students’ attendance and academic performance seem to be more important points in educational institutions for students’ evaluation.
In this research, Attendance is the amount of time that students participate in class activities, and is measured hours per day, days per week, sessions per month and percentage of time. Academic performance is measured as student’s exam performance, student’s GPA and class discussions of the student. In tertiary institution most  expecially, college of education, most students find it difficult to attend classes as a result of one form of social activities, this has affect their academic performance in one way or the other, as a result of this, the research intend to find out the effect of class attendance on studnts academic performance  in federal college of education Yola.

Objective of the study
The major objective of this study is to find out the effect of class attendance on students academic performance of NCE II students in Biology, in federal college of education yola
The specific objective is
1.      To investigate the relationship between class attendance and students academic performance in biology
2.      To determine the factors that affects the attendance of students in biollgy department in College of education yola
3.      To find out the effect of class absenteeism on undergraduate academic performance in biology
Research question
The following research question will guide the study
1.     What are the relationship between class attendance and students academic performance in biology
2.     What are the factors affecting the attendance of students in biology department in College of education yola
3.      What are the effect of class absenteeism on undergraduate academic performance in biology

Significance of the study
A major concern in schools is to increase student achievement. One way to do this is to focus on how students attend class daily with the teacher at the centre which will
influence student achievement and create the best environment in which to facilitate learning and engage students. The study is therefore significant for the following reasons:
This study will be useful to both teachers and students who may want to know the factors that could make or mar student's academic performance. Understanding how class attendance can influence their performance

 Lastly, understanding the importance of class attendance and their impact on student performance will help school administrators at higher institution to know the effect of class attendance on students performance. Therefore, the study may  improve attendance so that a student can expand the social experiences, lessons, and acceptable behavior that help with fitting in and succeeding in school and life.

Scope/Delimitations of the Study
This study centers on the effects of class attendance on students academic performance in Biology in federal government college Yola, one hundred and twenty NCE II students will be selected for the study In Biology Department, federal college of education Yola. 

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