A large goal at battle this year is attendance and pushing for high attendance from all students. One large term that will be heard a lot when discussing Missouri School attendance is compulsory attendance. This means anyone at the age of 17 or anyone who has completed 16 credits towards high school graduation and anyone who is older than 7 years old must regularly attend a school of some sort. The state of Missouri holds very high expectations for their public schools the goal being what they call the 90 90 standard meaning that 90 percent of students attend school 90 percent of the time.

This year Columbia Public Schools are playing a large focus into “attendance matters”, because of past troubles meeting the 90 90 standards. Battle High School has taken actions to increase the attendance rate at least within our school including making September attendance awareness month, and meeting with students with different levels of attendance ranging from almost meeting the 90 90 goals to students who are far from the expected level. Administrator Jacob Sirna says “Meeting with students helps in some situations.” This along with the attendance matters posters hung around the building are the efforts staff is putting into the attendance cause.

Along with methods to improve attendance, guidance and administration provide Incentives for good attendance, One of the most prominent rewards for attendance students have access to is the A-plus program. Mrs. Patterson said “Part of the incentives stems from the A-plus scholarship, We want as many students to have access to that as possible.” another incentive Battle provides is the blue and gold card system, While blue and gold cards, are grade based Patterson also said “If you have good attendance you’ll have better grades. There is a direct correlation.”

There are also personal incentives to having good attendance Patterson says “If you’re at school you’re not stressed from being behind in your classes, you don’t have the stress of playing catch up all the time. And you find yourself to be a more active member in the community if you come to school so socially good attendance helps students.” These are also reasons Mrs. Patterson finds the 90 90 expectation important.

How will the attendance help in high school affect my future? One large focus in college acceptance is in fact attendance. Every High school has a college profile that potential schools will look at when choosing students, said profile includes attendance averages. Good attendance is also pertinent to being a successful employee because if you show up regularly your employer will find you to be reliable. In fact according to work.chron.com attendance is among the top 10 work ethics employers want the most.