Student attendance and student achievement: a tumultuous and ambiguous couple. A case study of Kigali Institute of Education

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of student attendance and student achievement at Kigali Institute of Education (KIE). Indeed, the variable “attendance” has not been considered in the Senate Probe Committee’s report submitted in 2004, and which examined other variables. Yet, the literature review reveals that it impacts positively on student achievement. Therefore, this study investigates critically that key variable in view of KIE’s attendance policy and implementation mechanisms with the ultimate objective of verifying if they match with new teaching trends. Thus, it confronts different policies by using information gathered from 21 universities’ regulations. It thereafter scrutinizes attendance lists vis-à-vis scores in different modules. Factual results confirm the correlation between student attendance and student achievement despite loopholes observed on the policy side. Nevertheless, there is need to update the policy, to soften implementation mechanisms and to explore non class-based delivery modes by turning new technologies to profit aiming at autonomy and independence since students sometimes must struggle between studies and social or professional responsibilities.

Keywords: Student attendance, student achievement, correlation, autonomy, independence