A Case Against Compulsory Class Attendance Policies in Higher Education

Compulsory attendance policies have been instituted in higher education with the expectation that academic achievement will improve. The empirical research findings of the relationship between class attendance or attendance policies and academic achievement are equivocal. Pintrich's theoretical model of motivation in the college classroom posits that students' motivational beliefs, classroom context, and students' behaviors are important variables in academic achievement. A case against compulsory attendance policies which is based on evaluation of the empirical research and the application of Pintrich's model to the question of the value of compulsory attendance policies in higher education is presented.