In a push to increase attendance and overall student engagement in the last weeks of the first semester, administration has promoted a new way to prompt students to get to class.
This system’s objective is to “help students who are on the fence about attending class make the decision to come,” principal Aaron Bearinger said.
From Nov. 11th to Dec. 18th, Jingle All the Way to Class will reward students with zero tardies and zero absences, who will then be entered to win a prize each week or a grand prize at the end of Jingle All the Way to Class.
“This new system won’t be used to crack down on or enforce stricter attendance guidelines, but it is to incentivize students,” Bearinger said.
Based on school records, overall attendance levels fall between 1-1.5% as the semester goes on. Yet the months leading up to the end of the semester take the sharpest decline.
“November and December can be tougher months with the changes in weather, time, and amounts of classwork,” Bearinger said.
Teachers will continue to take attendance as normal, with one change. Every Monday a winner from each grade will receive a prize for their stellar weekly attendance from the pool of students who were present and on time during the week.
By playing on two of the biggest motivators of this time of year, holiday music lyrics and presents, administrators hope this new idea will help curb the decline in attendance rates.
This program may seem to target the “troublesome” students who skip class but many teachers, students, and parents believe that this program will benefit the responsible, rarely-tardy peers.
“Jingle All the Way to Class shines the light on the idea that human nature tends to focus on the few who aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing [being tardy/truant] and this is a way to counteract that focus on the negative and its outcomes,” science teacher David McEnaney said.
By highlighting the kids who consistently attend class on time, teachers and administrators hope to encourage others to follow their example.
One of the first students to win Jingle All the Way to Class was sophomore Lily Sanow. She won a digital camera for her stellar attendance rates.
“I had a lot of people congratulate me,” Sanow said. “By being seen for my hard work I think that a lot of other students will also want to participate in this.”
Although Jingle All the Way to Class has been met with positive and encouraging comments, many individuals remain unconvinced about the actual impact of this program.
“The kids who will be motivated to win a prize are probably the kids who go to class on time every day,” Spanish teacher Shaun Hoover said.
Hoover also points out that this program may motivate the underclassmen over the upperclassmen.
“Overall, I am probably a bit more skeptical than hopeful with Jingle All the Way to Class,” Hoover said.
With the delicate balance between reasonable optimism and honest uncertainty, Jingle All the Way to Class has connected these ideas. The initiative has prompted a new system to motivate students to attend class and represents a stronger emerging culture of responsibility and care for one’s education, consistent with MN’s reputation of academic excellence.