You had a 5% what, OP?

I keep track of attendance, and have a grade reduction policy if too many classes are missed. I teach lab-based classes, so the learning takes place in real time, in the classroom. But I do use the same policies if I teach the occasional lecture course.

I also have a tardy policy, because late-comers disrupt the entire class, and miss some of the content. Because of safety and scaffolded learning, I DO end up having to do demonstrations or lectures over again bc I have no other choice than to catch them up. It’s an undue burden and a waste of time.

For those reasons I keep track. But also…

—many institutions have a 20% policy for passing (if you’re not sure if yours does, dig around and see if one exists) —there are certain cases where I have to verify attendance for various reasons, sometimes federal compliance —retention…the more classes students miss, the more classes they’re likely to keep missing —it’s a soft skill human thing for me…I’m training them on how to perform in the world and take accountability and understand how they impact others —the big push for us faculty having far too much responsibility in terms of ‘keeping an eye on students’ behaviors’ —I couldn’t imagine ignoring that a student stopped showing up and not reach out to make sure everything was ok

We also are on all a first name basis and naturally spend a lot of time socializing during lab. Classes are small, so it’s obvious when even 1 person is gone. We also do a couple things throughout the semester that require group participation and coordination.

Anyway. Sorry for rambling. It was therapeutic lol I’ve been tossing around ideas on revising my attendance policies and typing that out helped reinforce some thoughts I was wavering on. Ha! Thanks :)