ABSENTEEISM OF GRADE 10

MICHAEL FARADAY

A research paper presented to the

Faculty of Karunungan National High School
Karunungan, Wisdom, Sophia

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for

Practical Research 1
Grade 11- Gary Kasparov (GAS)

Complete Name of Researcher A

Complete Name of Researcher B
Complete Name of Researcher C
Complete Name of Researcher D
Complete Name of Researcher E
Complete Name of Researcher F
Complete Name of Researcher G

March 17, 2017

 CHAPTER 1

The PROBLEM and Its SETTING

Introduction:

Attending in class is very important for the students to succeed in academics and

absenteeism is the hindrance to achieve this goal.

Absenteeism according to Merriam – Webster dictionary, is a ‘‘chronic disease’’.

In the context of school, it is the habitual or intentional failure to attend school. It is a

truant behaviour that negatively affects the performances among students.

School absenteeism is an alarming problem for administrators, teachers, parents,

society in general and pupils in particular. Unaccepted absences have a negative effect

on peer relationships which can cause further absences. According to Teasley (2014)

absenteeism is a period of time when a student does not attend school will generally fall

behind their classmates in their academic success ( Ford and Sutphen, 1996).

Absenteeism affects the student’s ability to get high scores in examinations

which can cause the decreasing of grades of the student may fail and will cause him or

her to repeat the same year. Teachers identified the effects of absenteeism on children

as: academic under-achievement, difficulty in making friends which could lead to

boredom and loss of confidence, can have deleterious effects for the child in the later

life, and students who absents from school are at the greatest risk of dropping out of

school early.
 In Canada, researchers examined the impact of poor student‘s attendance in one

Manitoba School district and make recommendations for strategies to improve

attendance. Students attending schools in Division 1 of frontier school district have

consistently scored lower on standardized achievement test than students in other

district in Manitoba.

In Karunugan National High School, Grade10 - Michael Faraday has a biggest

number of absentees in the year 2016-2017. The problem is the seeming of students to

perform well in their academic performance. This may be attributed because of lack of

awareness of the parents in monitoring the attendance of their children in school. The

role of the teacher as an adviser is to understand that their student are dealing with

different problems or situations in life. This study aims to eradicate the effects of

absenteeism in the academic performances of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday in school.

As a whole, students should be aware of the importance of completing their

attendance as a vehicle to increase their academic performance. The foregoing

statement problem made the researchers to conduct this study as a basis of school

campaign to eradicate absenteeism. This campaign will help the teachers to motivate

the students to perform well in school.

Statement of the Problem

This study will identify what appropriate solution should be done for those

students who is always absent in school to eradicate the number of absentees

especially in Grade 10 - Michael Faraday.

 Specifically, the researchers will answer the following question:

1. What is the main reason why there’s a big number of absents in Isaac Newton?

2. What is the academic performance of Isaac Newton?

3. What do the parents do to assist their child with their school performances?

4. What do their teachers do to motivate their students to attend in class?

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The coverage of the study focuses on the absenteeism of Junior High School

Grade 10 - Michael Faraday for the year 2016-2017 in Karunungan National High

School.

The delimitations of the study lies in the academic performance of Grade 10 -

Michael Faraday students. What do the parents and teachers do to assist their child

with their performance in school and motivate them in attending class. It also lies on the

reason why there is always a big number of absentees in the class.

Significance of the study

The research study would be significant to the following:

Students. This study will help the students to minimize/eliminate their absenteeism.

Thus, increase their academic performances.

Parents. This study will help the parents to be aware of the behavior of their child in

school.

Teachers. This study will help the teachers to understand the situation and behavior of

their students and also help their students to minimize their absenteeism.
School. This study will help the school to minimize /eliminate the number of drop-outs

in the year 2016-2017 and help students to have a good performances in school.

Community. This study will help the community to minimize the number of out-of-

school youths in the community.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the summary, the literature and the studies considered

closely related in the presents study.

Teenagers nowadays are much preferred not to go to school and just stay at

their home as a result of absenteeism. Student’s absenteeism was now one of the

biggest issues our school is facing. It gives a negative effects not only for those

students who are always absent but also in our school and may also result to academic

failure.

In the study of Goldstein et. al. (2014), he explained that a major problem forced

by schools across the country is student absenteeism. Although the problem is

pervasive in American schools, the attention focused on this issue has been

inadequate. Poor student attendance has far reaching effect on the individual, the

school, and society in general.

The action research conducted by Murica (2011), focused on how does

attendance affect student performance? The idea for the research was derived from the

fact that entirely too many students were absents from school on a regular basis. Her

research focused on student attendance of grade VI pupils of Zapote Elementary

School from the 2011-2012 school year. Her action research was needed in order to

enlighten the current attendance problem. It also showed the relationship between
attendance and academic achievement. ‘‘Student attendance is one variable that has a

significant impact on student.’’ (Gottfried, 2010). His research showed the relationship

between academic achievement and school attendance.

The study of Murcia (2015) revealed that one of the most annoying experiences

for teachers like her is when students are absent. They prepare lesson plans with the

objective that 100% of the class will learn from the day’s classroom activities, and it is

most satisfying when all students are present on that day and the days thereafter to

ensure maximum learning. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to achieve perfect

attendance. No matter how interesting and well-prepared her lessons and teaching

materials are, there are bound to be students who miss out the day’s activities willingly

or unwillingly.

In the study of Keter (2011), he discussed absenteeism in school as the habit of

staying away from school without providing a genuine or any reason for not attending

classes. Similarly, researchers also found out that some students in Apitong National

High School are skip their classes without valid reasons. Also it is a truant behaviour

that negatively affects the performances among students. In addition, his study

confirmed absenteeism is caused by many factors such as: phobic adolescence, lack of

interest, teacher approach, pamperness, private couching, diseases, school

infrastructural facilities, entertainment. Therefore, absenteeism can lead to depression

and also result in poor quality of education as a result of time lost while being away from

school. It could also lead to normal degration that leads to drug abuse, early

pregnancies and unruly behavior. He suggested that absenteeism can be remedied by

providing adequate co-curricular activities to students. Schools should strive to have up

to date learning facilities like libraries as well as sorting facilities to make students

enhance students’ retention.

Based on an Oregon Department of Education (n.d.) report, on October 1, 2014,

570,857 students were enrolled in Oregon’s public schools. By applying the data

available in Buehler, Tapogna, and Chang’s (2012) report on chronic absenteeism in

Oregon, some alarming statistics are revealed. Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) used

available data to produce a report regarding chronic absenteeism in the nation’s public

schools. Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing more than 10% of school days, is

often not recognized because reporting it is not universally required, and the issue has

reached a critical level before school staff become aware. According to them the state

in which this study was conducted is one of only six that report statistics on chronic

absenteeism, but those six are not consistent in their reporting standards, a fact which

may further obscure the issues. For example, in this state at least some transfer

students are reported as chronically absent. Furthermore, Balfanz and Byrnes reported

that both low-income rural and urban students are at-risk. Early elementary and

secondary students are absent more often than students in the late elementary grades.

In middle school, rates of chronic absenteeism begin to rise, and they increase each

year through the middle and high school years. In addition chronic absenteeism is

largely a school-specific problem; “a school can have average daily attendance of 90

percent 2 and still have 40 percent of its students chronically absent, because on

different days, different students make up that 90 percent” (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012,).

According to the other study conducted by Balfanz & Byrnes, (2012); chronic

absenteeism is typically based on total days of school missed, including both excused
and unexcused absences. The authors add that, chronic absenteeism is often defined

as missing 10 percent or more of school days; in practical terms this translates into 18

days a year; on the other hand missing 20 percent or more of school, 40 or more days,

is defined as severely or excessively chronically absent. However, the State Board of

Education (2013) states that; a student is considered to be “in attendance” if present at

his/her assigned school, or an activity sponsored by the school (e.g., field trip), for at

least half of the regular school day. Therefore, a student who is serving an out-of-school

suspension or expulsion should always be considered absent. However, according to

his study, education has a huge impact on any human society and it can safely be

assumed that no society is optimally functional until it is properly educated. In the global

perspective, it is an undeniable fact that the progress of a nation is very much

dependent on the education of its citizens. This study investigated the major causes of

students’ absenteeism; and the possible solutions to the vices in Universal Secondary

Education Schools in Uganda. Additionally, study also showed that; lack of scholastic

requirements, household work, lack of interest in education, hunger at school/lack of

mid-day meals, sexual harassment at school, long distance to school, illness or disease,

loss of parent or close relative, peer influence, and harsh punishment at school were

the top ten (10) causes of students’ absenteeism in USE schools respectively.

Deita (2015) indicated in her action research that going to school regularly is

crucially important for a students’ education and social skills. She found out that chronic

absentee students are places at a disadvantages both socially and academically. They

miss out on critical stages of social interaction and development with their peers at the

same impacts negatively on their academic progress. This can result to low self-esteem,
social isolation and dissatisfaction that could well have precipitated on attendance in the

first place. Likewise, the students came from different cultures and their interest in

education varied. The classes are heterogeneous meaning there is no classification of

the students according to their general point average. Those students who showed low

academic performance need a constant follow up to their attendance and requirements.

If the absences of the students become habitual, there is a need to be investigated in

the light of action research. Hence, it is the purpose of this study to conduct an action

research in order to identify the possible causes that drive students to be absent.

In the latest study of Demir, K. & Akman Karabeyoglu, Y. (2015) they narrated

that in the secondary school level, there are many factors that directly and indirectly

influence student achievement. Therefore, studies have been conducted in many areas

including teaching approaches, learning styles, curriculum, and teacher training in order

to improve secondary education quality and the academic achievement of students

while trying to develop new approaches and applications based on these new

approaches.

‘‘Absenteeism interrupts the learning process’’, (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012). The

educational system is founded on the assumption that students will attend school. For

example, in Turkey students in upper secondary education are obliged to attend

according to the Ministry of Education Secondary Education Institutions, Article 40,

Passing and Exam Regulation. Students’ success depends on complete participation in

all classes. In addition, students feel an increasing sense of alienation toward their

classmates, teachers and their school (Lannegrand-Willems, Cosnefroy, & Lecigne,

2012). In the literature, there are many definitions within the scope of absenteeism. For
example, Lannegrand-Willems et al. (2012) defined absenteeism as, "a student being

absent in school with or without an excuse". He also indicated that when absenteeism is

rare, it is not considered as a problematic situation. However, increased absenteeism is

considered to be an indicator of various risk factors. Savi (2011), concluded in her study

that schools variables alone are not sufficient to reduce absenteeism. Having the belief

to be respected, and having a sense of belonging to the school community can reduce

absenteeism. A similar opinion, the studies of Marvul, et. al (2012) also revealed that

the interest of school is not enough by itself to solve absenteeism issues; family and

circles of friends are also important. The effect may be due to parents creating a

supportive environment for motivating success in attending school by monitoring the

children, putting forth an effort to communicate and gathering knowledge about their

daily activities at school and outside of school. On the other hand, the family attitude

itself can be a major obstacle against absenteeism.

 CHAPTER III

Methodology

This part presents the researchers’ method to accomplish this study.

Research design

The researchers used case study method to explain their study about

absenteeism of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday in the year 2016-2017. This research

design aims to describe the situation for the purpose of explaining the problem.

Yin (1984) defines the case study research method as an empirical inquiry that

investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the

boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which

multiple sources are use.

Respondents of the study

Non-probability sampling is the method used by the researchers, specifically

quota and purposive sampling. Quota sampling is the method where in the respondents

are chosen based on their characteristic. Purposive sampling is also used by the
researchers wherein they chose their respondents who has the capacity to answer or

respond in the objective of the study. The respondents of the study are the selected

students of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday of Karunungan National High School with the

highest number of absences for the school year 2016-2017, from the month of June to

December. The researchers obtain the data of the School Form 2 from the class adviser

to determine that the students with the highest number of absences. Likewise, the

researchers conducted a semi-structured interview with the participants and the

advisers last December 31, 2016 and January 6, 2017 to identify the characteristics of

the anticipated samples as well as to validate the data.

Table 1.1 Students who has a greatest number of absents in Grade 10 - Michael

Faraday

Male Female Total

Sample Populatio % sample Populatio % sample population %

n n
13 15 87% 7 23 30% 20 38 53%

Table 1.1 shows the respondents of the present study. It is presented in the table

there will be 13 males out of 15 which is 87% of the total population and 7 females out

of 23 which is 30% of the total population. Therefore out of 38 students of Grade 10 -

Michael Faraday, the researchers selected 20 students out of 38 which is 53% of the

total population. These selected students obtained the highest number of days of

absents from June to December of the school year 2016-2017. Therefore, it can be
pointed out that, there are more males students who need to pay more attention in

monitoring their attendance and their behavior at school.

Data Gathering Instruments and Procedures

 Notebook

 Serve a journal/checklist used to note all the names of the respondents for the

study and all their answers of all the questions asked to them.

 Cellphone

 A technology used to record all the answers of the respondents as a copy of the

researchers if they forget to note the answers in their journal and used to get

pictures for documentation.

 SF2 or School Form 2

 Data used to determine the names of the students of Grade 10 - Michael

Faraday who has the biggest number of absents for the month of June to

December in the school year 2016-2017.

 Form 137

 Data used to get the average of the respondents for the first quarter up to third

quarter to determine if absenteeism really affects their academic performances.

1. Set the date of interview.

2. Asked the permission of the adviser of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday Mr. Juan H.

dela Cruz
3. Asked the data of SF2 from the monitress of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday Ms.

Allysa L. Kalayaan.

4. Asked the permission of class president of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday Mr.

Pepito Manaloto and asked the names of her classmates who has the biggest

number of absents.

5. Conducted a house to house interview and semi structured interview.

6. Asked the permission of the parents to interview them together with their

children.

7. Discussed and explain why we need to conduct our interview for our study

entitled Absenteeism of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday.

8. Start asking a questions with alternative answers for the respondents to find it

easy to answers our questions and asked their explanation about their answers.

9. Asked the signature of the parents and the students for evidences.

10. Say thank you for the interviewee for cooperating in the conducted interview.
 CHAPTER 4

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS and INTERPRETATION of DATA

These are the findings in the study based on the result of the observation and

interview.

1. What is the main reason why there’s a big number of absents in Isaac

Newton?

There are (3) students out of (6) respondents said that the reasons behind

their absences is their idleness and (2) out of the (6) respondents say that it is

because they have work or they help their parents. Out of the (6) respondents (1)

of them says that the reasons of his absences is the distance of the school from

their home.

2. What is the academic performance of Isaac Newton?

Out of the (6) respondents (6) students got a lower average in the second

the second quarter. In the third quarter (2) students out of (6) respondents
 increase in their academic performance and got a higher average while (4) out of

the (6) respondents remain decreasing.

3. What do the parents do to assist their child with their school

performances?

(1)The parents must give enough attention to their kids so that they can

monitor the attitude of their children. (2) They should be aware of monitoring the

attendance of their child at school. And (3) they should motivate their child to go in

school by giving incentives like adding the amount of their allowance and providing

services for their schooling.

4. What do their teachers do to motivate their students to attend in class?

Teachers must give much attention to those students who has bigger

number of absences. (2) They should improve their relationship in their students. (3)

They should be updated on what is happening to their students. (4) They should

improve their learning materials, (5) prefer a more fun and creative presentation of

their lessons, (6) starting the class with an energizer or ice breaker, and (7) refrain

scolding of their students.

 CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY of FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary of Findings

To generalized the respondents answers why they are absents oftentimes

are because of the following reasons: distance from school, having work, peers,

sickness, and the most dominant reason is the idleness. These reasons behind their

absences affects their academic performances resulting in a lower average of their

grades in every quarter. And as a proposition of the respondents they said that

parents should give enough attention, monitor them, and motivate them to go in

school. In addition, they said that teachers should also procure to eradicate their

absences, like improving relationship between them, improving their learning

materials, providing ice breaker before starting the class and most importantly refrain

scolding them. And based on all the answers of the respondents the researchers can

conclude that absenteeism really affects the academic performances of Grade 10 -

Michael Faraday and parents is one of the big factor of having this problem called

absenteeism.

Conclusion

To sum up absenteeism is a very common problem our school is facing.

There are many factors why most students of Grade 10 - Michael Faraday are not

attending their classes which can affect their academic performances, behaviour and

social interaction to other students and as long as to the teachers. The said factors

are the following: idleness distance from school, work, peers, and sickness. We as

the researchers found out that not only the students are the problem but also their

parents. The lack of attention of the parents to their child is one of the big factor why

most students Grade 10 - Michael Faraday are not attending in class. But on the

other side, even though it is very common problem there are many possible solution

and absenteeism can be avoided. These are by adding allowances, giving services

for schooling, and by giving much attention of the parents in monitoring the

attendance of their child in school.

Recommendations

1. Teachers should make their lessons more fun and interesting.

They should provide creative presentation of their lessons and power point

for instance for the students to be eager in attending their classes because some

students find their subjects and lessons boredom and sleepy.

2. Starting the class with an energizer or ice breaker.

 Teachers must provide an energizer or ice breaker before they start their

lessons to catch the attention of their students and also for them to get the 100%

percent attention of their students in the prepare activity and lessons because some

students even it is early in the morning they are spastic, sleepy and tired and look like

they not eat breakfast.

3. Teachers must refrain scolding their students.

Teachers must avoid scolding their students especially those who are

always absent and have failing grades because this will make their students irritated

and a factor to skip their classes. And their students will feel and think that they are

not doing a right thing in their class and may also result in hating them by their

students.
References:

Balfanz & Byrnes (2012). Students’ Absenteeism: A Silent Killer of Universal Secondary

Education (USE) in Uganda.

Retrieved from new.every1graduates.org/up-

content/uploads/2012/05/FINALChronicAbsenteeism Report_May16.pdf

Deita, C. C (2015). Action Research on absenteeism of the Grade VIII Students of A.S.

Bernando National High School.

Retrieve from www.docfoc.com/action-reseactionarch-on-absenteeism-of-the-

grade-viii-pastereur-students

Demir, K. & Akman Karabeyoglu, Y. (2015). Factors Associated with Absenteeism in

High Schools.
 Retrieved from

q=http://www.ejer.com.tr/ODOWNLOAD/pdflen/tr/kademir62.pdf&sa=u&ved=Oa

hUKEwiP5rrlxvjRAhUN-mMKHdiCA50QFggSMAA&usg=AFQJCNG143arjN-

7xoxhEtuYzNhaqK5HKQ

Goldstein, J. S. et al (2014). Absenteeism: A Review of Literature and school

Psychology’s Role.

Retrieved from www.

Researchgate.net/publication/271925375_Absenteeism_A_review_of_the_litera

ture_and_School_Psychology’s_Role

Keter, T. (2013). Absenteeism in school.

Retrieved from enerza.education.com/absenteeism-in-school

Murcia, L. (2015). Action Research on Student and Pupil Absenteeism in School.

Retrieved from https://owlcation.com/academia/action-research-on-student-

absenteeism

Murica, M. (2011).Draft Action Research Project Progress Report.

Retrieve from alexandriadraftactionreport.blogspot.com/

Oregon Department of Education (n.d.). Brookins, James M., "Interventions Addressing

Chronic Absenteeism" (2016).Ed.D. Dissertations.Paper 1.

Retrieved from q=http://commons.cu-portland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi

%3D1000%26context

%3Dedudissertation&sa=u&ved=OahUKEwifx7ilwvjRANvNVWnKHC58CZYQF

ggdmaaQ&usg=AFQjCNeHeuGPbMEN4uIT-KqvIKsG-SRco_ug
 APPENDICES

Absences in the month of June - December

Name June July Aug Sept. Oct. Nov Dec.

. .
Student A 0 0 1 2 2 2 1

Student B 8 2 1 4 0 5 1

Student C 1 0 0 0 1 1 1

Student D 0 0 0 3 1 3 3

Student E 0 0 0 2 1 1 2

Student F 0 0 0 1 2 2 1

Appendix A
Summary of School Form 2 for the month of June-December of Grade 10 -
Michael Faraday
Source: SF2 (School Form 2)

Appendix B

Summary of Form 137 from the first up to the third quarter of Grade-10

Michael Faraday

Average

Name 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter

Student A 85 83 82

Student B 80 79 81

Student C 80 77 79

Student D 85 82 78
Student E 85 84 83

Student F 81 80 78

Source: Form 137

Appendix C

Questionnaires

1. Why do you absent?

2. How does it affect your performance in school?

Is your adviser or classmates say something about your absences?

3. What will make you motivated or eager in attending your classes?

Are you a member of 4P’s? Are your parent’s supports your study?
 Appendix D

Transcript of the Interviews

Respondent 1 (Student A)

1. Supine. (tinatamad)

2. I got a lower grades

My adviser says that I need to take my missed activities and quizzes.

3. If my parents took a service for me

Yes

Respondent 2 Student B)

1. Supine (tinatamad), because of my peers, our house distance from my

school
 2. I got a lower grades and I have many activities need to take.

They say that I need to take my missed activities.

3. None

Respondent 3 (Student C)

1. Supine (tinatamad), with fever

2. It is possible that I will fail in my subjects.

3. None

Yes

Respondent 4 (Student D)

1. Because I have a work, I help my parents at farm.

2. I have many activities need to take.

3. If my parents says I don’t need to work.

Yes

Respondent 5 (Student E)

1. Because our house is far from my school.

2. I have many activities need to take.

3. If my parents provide a service for me.

Yes

Respondent 6 (Student F)

1. Sometimes I serve as a driver of who adopted me when he is going to

work.

2. My grades decreases.
 Yes, they said that I need to take my missed activities and quizzes because

if not I will failed.

3. Nothing, but I will go to school because it is for my own sake.

Proposed Activity

1. School Campaign for the students.

This campaign is not only a campaign to motivate not only the

students of Grade-10 Michael Faraday but all the students of Karunungan

National High School but this will inform all students the essence of

attending their classes and completing their attendance not only for the

school to avoid drop outs but also in succeeding in their academics. This

campaign will also inform them the possible effects of absenteeism not only

in their academic performances but also in their lives because if they will
 continue having this attitude they will have failing grades and this will result

in repeating the same year. Additionally, this campaign will help the faculty

to encourage their students to perform well in school.

2. Seminar for the parents.

This seminars will help the parents to monitor their children at school

because the researchers found out that they are one of the factor why

there’s a big number of absenteeism especially in Junior High Grade-10

Michael Faraday. In the said seminar the teacher will teach the parents the

right way of handling their children in their home because one of the reason

why students are having a bad attitude not only in school but in their home

also is because of the lack of attention of the parents towards their child.

This seminar will also inform the parents about the behaviour, attendance

and academic performances of their child at school for them to be updated

on what is happening on their child during school days and to know what

they need to do to resolve the problem of their children. This seminar will

also make the parents aware of monitoring the attitude of their children.
Documentation