Metro Atlanta schools turn to incentives, other methods to reduce student tardiness

As more and more educators look to curb student tardiness in metro Atlanta schools, a number of them are turning to incentives and developing programs to encourage regular attendance.

Frequent absences and chronic tardiness can significantly disrupt learning, and educators say the reasons for students starting the school day late can vary greatly: from youngsters oversleeping, to parents getting students to school late, to students missing the school bus and having to rely on a neighbor to give them a ride.

Fulton County school officials highlighted the problem at a board meeting in November, noting some elementary schools in particular have “certain students, and multiple of them, (who) miss or come in late to school over 30 or 40 percent of the school year,” said Patty Foglesong, with the Fulton school system’s strategy and innovation department.

“Numbers that I’ve heard range up to 80 tardies (for an individual student),” she said. “And when you’re talking about 180 school days, that’s a lot. For some, it might be a minute; for some, it might be an hour.”

While schools are required to report to the Georgia Department of Education attendance records for students, they do not have to report tardies, according to Garry McGiboney, a deputy superintendent with the state DOE.

There are no state board rules or regulations regarding student tardies, which are handled by local school districts. The state DOE tracks student absences, but not tardies.

When asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for school tardy rates in elementary, middle and high schools, the largest districts in the metro area could not immediately provide the information.

“We (state DOE) do not keep data on that (tardies),” McGiboney said. “Just anecdotally, tardiness has been and continues to be a problem in public education.

“Every time we have discussions with parents or administrators … about attendance, that’s when tardies are also brought up,” McGiboney said. “And they’re asking if attendance is having that much impact on student achievement, it’s possible, and it seems likely, chronic tardiness would also over time have a like impact on student achievement as absence because they’re missing instruction.”

Fulton school board members are in the process of changing policy to give principals more flexibility dealing with tardiness. Students are typically considered absent if they’ve missed half a day of school. The Fulton County school system is the fourth-largest in Georgia, with approximately 95,000 students, who attend 100 schools.

“Anything you can do to help drive home the importance of being at school on time would be very helpful,” said Linda Schultz, president of the Fulton school board. “It’s bad for the kid to come in late all the time. And obviously it’s a disruption to the classroom. And it also just doesn’t send the right message if you’re thinking that our students are preparing themselves for going to college or the workplace.”

Paula Cobb, principal at Taylor Elementary School in Gwinnett County, which has close to 970 students, said she estimates the number of tardy students at the school is under 2 percent. To give students an incentive to get to school on time, educators give out pencils, stickers and awards.

“Every nine weeks, we have what we call a Learning Celebration,” Cobb said. “The teachers give out … lots of different awards. If a teacher sees an improvement with a kid that has had an issue with being tardy, that will be a chance to give the award … for being the most improved with getting here on time.”

Laura Montgomery, principal at Hightower Trail Middle School in Cobb County, which has around 1,020 students, said her tardy rate is also low. The school doesn’t offer incentives but does require students to come in before school starts for detention if they’re chronically late.

“When they (students) reach 10 unexcused tardies, the administrator in charge of that grade level talks to that child,” Montgomery said. “We have communication with the parent about what’s going on, and typically that child will come in early one morning — we call it detention. They have to be at school at 8 o’clock in the morning, and they sit for quiet study time, from 8 to 8:45.

“At my school, typically what we have are children who have overslept,” she said. “Middle school children, by the time they’re in eighth grade, are certainly old enough to be responsible. … On occasion, they get caught up in video games, who knows what. Then they have to call the neighbor to get them to school.”

Educators say tardiness doesn’t appear to be as problematic at the high school level — where kids who are driving to school can lose parking and other privileges if they’re often late — while at elementary and middle schools, children are more dependent on parents for transportation.

“There’s an impact on students and their learning because they’re coming in behind the eight ball for their day,” said Mountain Park Elementary’s Perlman. “And especially with little kids, they really need routine. …We try to minimize any impact that (tardiness) would have, but sometimes the teacher is going to have to stop what they’re doing.

“You don’t want to shame a child for coming to school late because … it’s really not their fault, a lot of times if they’re late. … It’s really challenging.”