| This qualitative evaluation focused on the problem of student attrition at a northern California college, its attendance policy, the policy's impact on previous students' decisions to persist in school, and on administrators' attempts to increase retention. The purpose for this study was to evaluate the participants' perceptions about their college experiences, the college's attendance policy, and that policy in relation to the participants' involvements and decisions to persist in school. A qualitative narrative design was employed within a purposeful stratified sample of five former graduates from the college. The conceptual framework involved social integration of the adult learners, their sociopsychological situations, and multiple theories for causes of attrition. The research questions focused on participants' former college experiences, the study site's attendance policy, and the influences the attendance policy had on participants' decisions to persist in school. Data were collected from written personal narratives, demographic surveys, member checking, and three colleges' attendance policies, including the study site's attendance policy. Data were coded and analyzed, including comparisons and contrasts of three attendance policies, extracted from three northern California colleges' catalogs. Findings revealed two of three policies were similar in wording and contained criteria for leave of absence. Findings also showed two of the five participants had adverse understandings about the study site's attendance policy. The findings could affect social change when policymakers are empowered to collaborate for improving the terminology, documenting criteria for leave of absence, and reflecting on how the improvements affect absenteeism, student retention, and graduation rates. |
