Attendance and the First Day of Class
In our focus on student engagement, Palm Beach State seeks to emphasize the importance of first class meeting attendance. Research and our own experience clearly show the connection between teaching and learning that begin in the first class and student success. We earlier proposed a prohibition on adding a class after the first class meeting. However, this registration solution has raised many concerns and prompted further discussion on possible negative impacts on students.
In these discussions, it became clear that a student's presence in class on the first day is not a registration issue but an attendance issue. While attendance is expected for all class sessions and activities, class attendance policies are set by the individual faculty member. Therefore, the policy on adding classes must give the faculty member some flexibility to determine in advance whether to allow or prohibit adding the class after the first class meeting.
The statement in bold below was developed by a subcommittee that studied this issue. The Joint Deans’ Council recommended approval of the policy to the President’s Cabinet, who approved the policy. It is published in the College Catalog and the Student Success Handbook, as follows:
Attendance at the first class meeting of any Palm Beach State course is required. Students who do not attend the first class may be dropped from the course, depending upon the individual faculty member's attendance policy. It is the student's responsibility to read the course schedule notes and/or visit the College website. The College policy of reinstating students for financial aid reasons or for having been dropped due to College error supersedes individual faculty attendance policies.
Enacted July 2006; reviewed June 2010; reviewed July 2019, July 2020
Attendance Statement and Reporting Requirements
www.palmbeachstate.edu/academicservices/information-and-reference/academic-affairs-policies-and-documents/
Students are expected to attend all of their scheduled classes for the duration of the session. For eLearning classes, students are expected to regularly log in to access the class website and participate in the course according to the schedule of events outlined by the faculty/instructor. Any class session or activity missed, regardless of cause, reduces the opportunity for learning and may adversely affect a student’s achievement in the course.
Specific attendance and grading requirements for each course are stated in the respective course syllabus. These requirements may vary from course to course, and it is the student’s responsibility to read and adhere to the policies set forth by each class faculty/instructor syllabus. Students should seek any needed clarification from the class faculty/instructor.
The Never Attended grading roster opens the first day after add/drop and remains open for 8 days. You have up until midnight of the 8th day to post your Never Attended rosters.
- You can access your Never Attended roster by going to your Class Roster and clicking on the open button and then scrolling to the right to find the boxes to mark the students who have not attended.
- If all students have attended, click on the box “All Students Have Attended” at the bottom of the page. Once you have submitted, you cannot make changes and you will need to follow the instructions below.
- You should wait until at least two class meetings, if possible, before the window closes to make sure you have seen students who registered during the last days of add/drop.
- The roster must be submitted by midnight of the 8th day after the end of add/drop of the class or the window will close and you will have to report the Never Attended manually by printing your roster, marking the students that Never Attended, or writing All Have Attended and submit to your Academic Deans office for processing. A WN grade appears on the student’s record (or FN if the student’s class is a third attempt) once the Never Attended is recorded for that student.
- If you have marked a student as Never Attended in error, you will need to send an e-mail to Peter J. Biegel, College Registrar, (biegelp@palmbeachstate.edu) indicating the Student’s Name, I.D. and reference number of the class. NOTE: One e-mail for each student is required, as this e-mail will serve as the grade change request and be placed in the student’s file. Once you Save Changes, even if the window is still open, you must contact me to have the WN removed from the student’s record.
Enacted July 2007; reviewed June 2010; revised July 2011; revised July 2013; July 2014; July 2015, updated August 2018, July 2020