I.

Title: AbRedAc: Minimizing Students Absenteeism for

Grade 9 Students of San Jose National High School

II. Context and Rationale

Tardiness and absenteeism are habitually done by most of the students nowadays.

Absenteeism means the state of being absent from school or work, especially
if it is frequently

and without a good reason. It is generally used to refer to unscheduled

employee absences

from workplace. There can be legitimate reasons for being absent, like
personal illness or

family issues, but mostly it is without a legitimate reason.

In education, educators agree that prompt and regular school

attendance is an
important key to a student’s success. Students should be taught to demonstrate

respect for staff and for peers, and one way to do this is to practice prompt and

regular school attendance.

In our school, any students shall be considered habitually tardy if

he/she incurs tardiness, three (3) times a month during the school year, as well

as he/she shall be considered habitually absent if he/she incurs unauthorized

absences not exceeding the allowable three (3) days in a month without

submitting an excuse letter. He/ She is considered excuse if he/she submitted

the same on time. Most of the students incur tardiness if they were not able to

wake up early because they were not able to sleep on time; some were doing a

lot of things at night, especially household chores. Some were having their

review late but mostly keeping their selves busy wasting time in the internet,
chatting with friends, and texting. There may, on occasion, be an illness or

emergency that causes your child to be late or absent from school.

Consequently, they will just take an absence, so every time they wake up late,

they will just take another absence, and soon to be a habit. Sometimes, student

absents because they are afraid of something in school like strict teachers, they

do not have something that has to be pass on that day, sometimes they absent

because they are tired or do not want to go to school because of nothing.

It is the aim of every school to lessen, if not eradicate, absenteeism

among its students. One way of addressing this problem is to identify the

causes of truancy. Once they are singled out, understood, and analyzed, these

issues may be addressed with specific actions and measures. This will

eventually result in the better performance of the students, teachers, and the

school in general.

This study primarily aims to determine the monthly status of the

students’ absences and the factors causing students’ absenteeism. The output

of this study is a proposed activity that will reduce students’ absences.

III. Review of Related Literature

Absenteeism, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary means chronic

absence. In the context of the school it is habitual or intentional failure from

going to school. Absenteeism cannot be denied because every now and then,

students may miss some school activities and lessons and it becomes a

problem if the student is away from school for many days.

 According to Balfanz& Byrnes, (2012); chronic absenteeism is

typicallybased 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.In

this regard, chronic absenteeism is not the same as truancy. Truancy is

typically defined as a certain number or certain frequency of unexcused

absences as suggested by Balfanz& Byrnes, (2012).

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. The State Board of Education

(2013) adopted definitions for excused and unexcused absences for use by

schools and districts in order to implement the statutory policies and

procedures concerning truants, and the reporting of truancy offers the three

forms students’ absenteeism:

Excused Absences

A student’s absence from school shall be considered excused if written

documentation of the reason for the absence has been submitted within ten

school days of the student’s return to school.

Unexcused Absences

A student’s absence from school shall be considered unexcused unless

they meet one of the following criteria: The absence meets the definition for

an unexcused absence (including documentation requirements); and the

absence meets the definition of a disciplinary absence.

Disciplinary Absences

Absences that are the result of school or district disciplinary action are

excluded from these definitions. It is important to note that while the first nine

absences in a school year can be deemed excused for any reason the parent or

guardian provides, the 10th and each subsequent absence establish a more

stringent and specific set of reasons for the absence to qualify as excused.

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 Malcolm, Wilson, Davidson and Kirk (2003) 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.
 prolonged absence can have deleterious effects for the child in later

life.
 students who are absent from school are at the greatest risk of dropping

out of school early.

 Absenteeism also affects the teacher’s ability to present classwork in a

sequential and organized way. This can have an effect on the progress of all

the students in the class.

Families of habitually absent students can also suffer for a poverty-

stricken family. It may mean a continuation of the poverty and unemployment

cycle that may run in the family. This also contributes to family conflicts.

Society also suffers when school-age children are not in school. These

children may hang out on the streets. Since they have nothing to do, they

resort to petty crimes like stealing other people’s belongings and property.

Others may become addicted to drugs or engage in other destructive behavior.

Thus, if a student keeps away from school for too long, he may grow up to be

a liability to his community and his country as a whole.

DepEd Order No. 8 series of 2015, also known as Policy Guidelines on

Classroom Assessment for the K to 12 Basic Education Program justified that

it is important for learners to be in school every day. Learner’s class

attendance shall be recorded by teachers daily. At the end of each quarter, the

attendance is reflected in the report card.

A learner who incurs absences of more than 20% of the prescribed

number of class or laboratory periods during the school year or semester

should be given failing grade and not earn credits for the learning area or

subject. Furthermore, the school head may, at his/her discretion and in the

individual case, exempt a learner who exceeds the 20% limit for reasons

considered valid and acceptable to the school. The discretionary authority is

 vested in the school head, and may not be availed of by a student or granted by

a faculty member without the consent of the school head.

IV. Research Questions

To researchers aim at developing activities to reduce absenteeism of Grade 9

students at San Jose National High School.

Specifically, the researchers would like to answer the following research

questions:

1. What is the monthly status of student’s attendance?

2. What are the factors causing student’s absences?
3. What are the proposed activities in reducing student’s absenteeism?

V. Scope and Limitation

The study focused on the status of student’s monthly attendance, factors

causing the student’s absences with the end view of proposing activities that will

reduce the student’s absences.

The researchers will use checklist, School Form 2, and students excuse letters

as the main data gathering procedure.

The respondents of this study is limited only to the Grade 9________

( ____students) of San Jose National High School.

VI. Methodology and Research Design

The researchers used the descriptive research which aims to identify the

monthly status of students absences and the factors causing students absences. The
respondents of this study are Grade 9 _______composed of ___boys and _____girls

students of San Jose National High School.

The researcher will use unstructured interview to gather data. To support the

result of this study, the research tools such as checklist, excuse letter and School Form

2 will be utilized to attain the objectives of this study.

Unstructured questionnaire was conducted, tailed and interpreted to identify

the factors causing student’s absences, giving proposed activities that will reduce

students absences, writing the research title, formulating the research problem,

drafting the review of related literature and studies, determining the research design

and methodology, preparing research tools, conducting data procedure, presenting and

interpreting results, drawing conclusions, writing recommendations and preparing the

research output as well as proposing activities that will reduce the students absences.

The design of the research followed IPO Model. The Input includes the

monthly status of students’ attendance and the factors causing students absences. An

arrow going to the second box shows the Process which is the analysis of the monthly

status of students’ attendance and the factors causing students absences. Finally, the

third box shows the Output which includes the proposed activities that will reduce the

students’ absences.
 IN P U T M o n th ly s a u f d e ' c i g : P R O C E S OU TP
Figure 1. The IPO representation of the significant concepts of this study.

VII. Work Plan

ACTIVITY FROM TO
Gathering literature
Formulating objectives
Analyzing and drafting literature
Drafting the introduction
Identifying research design and methodology
Drafting and peer validation of questionnaire
Tallying and interpretation of response
Drafting results an discussion
Drawing conclusions and writing the

recommendation
Finalizing the introduction, review of related

literature, results and discussion, bibliography

Drafting the research blueprint
Encoding and polishing the entire paper and peer

validation of the problem solving blueprint

Submission of the action research to the

principal and presentation to peers

TARGET DATES
END PROJECT FIRST DRAFT FINAL REPORT

Table 1. Timetable for the preparation of the action research.

VII. Results and Discussion

This part of the study presents the responses to the research objectives heaved

in the research.

1. Monthly status of students’ attendance in terms of absences.

Month Frequency

Table 2. Monthly status of students’ attendance in terms of absences

2. Extent of the Factors Causing Students’ Absences

5 4 3 2 1 WM VI RANK
A. Health
1.I have a toothache
2.My stomach hurts.
3 I have a headache
4 I’m down with

fever/ flu
5 I have other

diseases like diarrhea

etc.
Composite Mean
B. Personal

Attitude
1 I am not interested

in my studies
2 I feel lazy
3 My friends

influence me to be
absent from my

classes
4 I can’t concentrate

in my studies
5 I didn’t wake up

early
6. I did not study/

make my

assignments night

before
7. I got fond of

playing computer

games
Composite Mean
C. Teacher –

Related

Factors
1. My teacher

scolded me
2. I can’t

understand

my teacher’s

lesson
3. I don’t like

my teacher
Composite Mean
Atmosphere
1. Our
classroom
is hot and
uncomfort
able.
2.It is noisy inside
our classroom.
3.My classmate
bully me.
4. I have no
friends in my
classroom.
Composite Mean
E. Home- Related
Factors
1.My parents ask
me to be absent in
my class.
2.My parents
always quarreled.
3.My parents
don’t care about
my studies.
4. I’m too pre-
occupied with
household chores.
5.I have no money
to by snacks in
school.
6. We have no
food/ I did not eat.
Composite Mean
Legend:

Scale Weight Verbal Interpretation

 Table 3 Factors Causing Students Absenteeism

A. Health
Fever/Flue is the most common reason of the students for being absent.

It obtained the highest weighted mean of 2.39 with the verbal

interpretation of “Sometimes” on rank 1. It is followed by headache,

which obtained the 2.02 with the verbal interpretation of “ Rarely”.

Other diseases like stomached ache come in third with 1.68 weighted

mean and verbal interpretation of “Rarely”. The least common reason

for them for being absent is diarrhea, with 1.54 weighted mean.
B. Personal Attitude
The student got fond of playing computer games is the most common

reason why the students are absent. This account for 3.18 weighted

mean with the verbal interpretation of “Sometimes”. Another reason

commonly cited is that they did not study/ make assignments the night

before and did not wake up early. This result from 1.41 and 1.11

weighted mean respectively with the verbal interpretation of

“Sometimes” and “Rarely”. Feeling lazy and cannot concentrate on

studies also keep them away from school. The former has a weighted

mean of 1.59 with verbal interpretation of “Rarely” while the latter has

1.41 weighted mean with verbal interpretation of “rarely”

c. Teacher- Related attending

The reason that they cannot understand their lessons tends to make them

absent from their classes. It has the highest weighted mean of 3.38 with verbal
interpretation of “often”, while the reason that the students are scolded for their bad

behavior by the teacher follow close behind 2.50 weigtehd mean . It has the verbal

interpretation of “sometimes”.

d. Classroom Atmosphere

The highest weighted mean of 2.05 with the verbal interpretation of “rarely”

was accorded with noise inside the classroom which means that this is the primary

reason why they tend to be truant. The reason for being bullied by fellow students:

and their classroom is hot and not comfortable follow with both 1.63 weighted mean

and verbal interpretation of “rarely”.

e. home-Related

Students who say their parents asked them to be absent resulted in the highest

weigtedmeanof 1.50 and verbal interpretation of “rarely”. Household chores come

second with the weigthed mean of 1.50 and verbal interpretation of “rarely”. The

other reasons ranged from weigted mean of 1.14 to 1.34, including their parents don’t

care about their studies, their parents quarreled, having no food, and no money to buy

snacks in school.

Ix. Conclusion And Recommendations

In order to limit absenteeism , it is recommended that fhe educators;

1. Emphasize that the academic success is very much dependent on student

attitude towards school.

Motivate them so they will be looking forward to attending their classes

regulary. For those who wake up late, encourage them to get alarm clock. Do

not schold the pupils who come late. Give them a time-table to change their

sleeping habits and to study before bed instead of watching T.V.

2. Give extra attention to those who are left behind in the lessons.
Tap bright pupils to the teach thes, ir classmates with learning difficulties. In

other words, cooperative learning should be practiced in the teaching-learning

process.Once the learners fully understands the lesson, he/she can keep up

with his/her other classmates, thus self-confidence is gained.

3. Educate the students on how to take care of their overall well-

being.
Empahsis should be given to oral overall body wellness. Teach them how to

avoid communicable diseases. Give them information on how to properly

wash their hands, which is the main source of germs and bacteria among

children. Let them develop proper eating habits. Since most of the children in

the school come from poor families , point out to them the cheap but healthy

foods. Ask them to pass on this information to their parents.

4. Inform parents about the benefit of keeping their children in school.
Emphasize to them that they keep on asking their children to be absent, this

will set a bad example to the child. If the parents themselves are keeping child

away from school , they must believe that household concerns are more

important than their education.

5. Refrain from scolding misbehaving pupils.
As much as possible, remind them of their wrong doing in a most diplomatic

manner. Self control should be a virtue which the teacher should practice in

the course of her teaching everyday of the school week.

6. Ensure that classroom atmosphere is conducive to learning.
Noise-reduction among students should be a priority. Plderstudents,like grade

IX students, tend to have louder voices so they should be taught how to speak

softly and without needing to shout. The key here is discipline. The teacher

must also see to it that the students are comfortable and have no other

concerns except the lesson at hand. There should be a lively interaction

between the teacher and the students, but the teacher should see to it that noise

is modulated so as not to distract pupils from their learning.