CASH FOR TIME IN CLASS PILOT PROGRAM REWARDS ATTENDANCE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Daily drawings for cash, prizes, and privileges - such as not having to take final exams - will be used to entice high schoolers to attend class under a pilot program designed to reward students for good attendance.

Students who have perfect attendance and are maintaining a grade of B or better in all their classes can opt out of taking their end-of-semester final exams, under Antelope Valley Union High School District's Attendance Improvement Program.

``It's a pilot program to reward those kids who do a good job. I think that's kind of cool,'' trustee Darrel Brown said. ``In the Sheriff's Department (where Brown is a sergeant), if we don't call in sick for six months, we get to sell back sick days for extra money. That's a benefit that we have.''

Brown said he has some reservations about dangling cash in front of students, but added, ``Heck, we use the lottery to fund schools. It's a pilot program. If it works and helps the kids, I'm for it.''

High school district trustees at last week's board meeting approved spending $8,000 to fund the program for a semester at Phoenix High School, the district's last stop for expelled students, and at a regular comprehensive high school still to be named, starting next school year.

A total of $6,000 will be allotted to the regular high school, and $2,000 to Phoenix High.

The board will be briefed next March on whether the program has improved attendance. At that point, trustees could consider continuing the program and possibly expanding it to other schools.

The program was proposed by Larry Freise, the district's coordinator of attendance and special projects, who did 18 months of research on attendance as part of his doctoral studies.

The district will not collect about $10 million in state pupil funding this school year because of student absences, Freise wrote in a report to trustees.

``We need to get kids back in class. The (average daily attendance) money you get is strictly off bodies in seats. If they are not there, you can't get money and can't educate the kids,'' board President Brett Nelson said. ``It's a small reward. What you reap in ADA and kids being there far exceeds the minimal expenditure.''

The district, which has nearly 19,000 students, has an 89.5 percent attendance rate.

While current district programs for preventing absences and boosting attendance center around punitive measures - such as loss of class credit and truancy citations, the Attendance Improvement Program will provide incentives, which research shows can be a way of improving attendance, Freise said.

``Rewards for excellent attendance have shown improvements in attendance rates of up to 4 percent in other districts across the country,'' Freise said in his report.

In addition, ``consistent attendance is correlated with higher grades, graduation rates, and standardized test performance. Poor attendance and truancy are correlated with lower grades, graduation rates, (and) test scores,'' Freise's report said.

At Phoenix High School, students who attend an additional seventh hour beyond the six required hours of class will be eligible to win prize money in a random drawing every day.

One student will get the pot, which is $1 per student, however many are in that seventh-hour class that day, with a minimum of $10. All other students will get a prize, such as a soda, coupons or pencils.

At the comprehensive high school, students will be eligible for cash awards, prizes and privileges such as opting out of final exams.

The cash award will given out in a daily lottery starting at $10. A student's name will be drawn at random, and if that student has had no absences or tardies in the last five days of school, he or she will get the money. The student has to be in school that day when his or her name is picked.

If that student doesn't qualify, then the amount doubles to $20 and rolls over for the next day's drawing.

Students who have two absences or less in a 90-day semester will be eligible to win prizes. Freise said he plans to approach businesses to donate prizes, such as season passes to Magic Mountain, a used car, or gift certificates to Antelope Valley Mall.

Two absences will get students one ticket to the prize drawing, one absence two tickets, and zero absences four tickets, Freise said.

Freise in his research found a number of attendance incentive programs that allowed students who met certain academic performance levels to miss their final exams.

Under the district's program, a student can opt out of a final exam in one class if he or she has had no more than two absences during the semester and has a B or better in that class.

Students can opt out of two final exams if they have only one absence during the semester and have a B or better grade in those classes.

If students have a B and want to get an A, they can take the final exam, Freise said.

Some teachers Freise talked to liked the idea, but others did not. He said he told them, ``What are kids going to learn more from: a final exam or being there for 88 out of 90 days?''

``Research shows consistent attendance is positively correlated with good academic performance. Getting kids there on a daily basis is important for success in class,'' Freise said.

Freise said he surveyed about 250 district students, who said cash rewards, prizes and privileges were three things that can change their behavior.

``Ultimately we would hope that students would attend out of an interest in education, but what the research shows is that kids attend school for a multitude of different reasons, very little to do with interest in learning or intellectual gain,'' Freise said. ``Many attend to get a high school diploma, get grades to go to college, participate in athletics.''

Research also shows that as schools continue to place more ``levels of accountability'' on students, such as more testing, that drives student motivation down to attend, Freise said.

``If a student's motivation to perform a task is low, or if they consider the task to be uninteresting or boring, rewarding them for completing that task will increase motivation,'' Freise said. ``You would hope kids attend from internal motivation, but that's not the reason for kids attending. You have to do what you can to get them to attend. Sometimes we have to apply rewards when you do something right.''