Students who regularly attend school have a higher chance of academic success, build stronger relationships with teachers and peers, and develop essential life skills.
Unfortunately, maintaining good attendance can be challenging for various reasons, such as illness, family emergencies, and other distractions.
Setting SMART goals can be a practical approach to address this challenge effectively. This article covers 13 SMART goals examples for enhancing school attendance.
These examples will help students create a plan to increase their attendance. Students can set themselves up for future success by taking control of their attendance goals.
What is a SMART Goal?
The SMART system enables you to establish practical goals for improving attendance. If you’re unfamiliar, SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.
Let’s delve deeper into each SMART element:
Specific
It might seem apparent, but the more precise your attendance goals are, the higher your chances of achieving them. Vague goals can be challenging, while specific goals provide clarity and direction.
For example, if you aim to improve your student’s attendance, you may set a precise goal: “Increase attendance by 10% within 6 months.” This type of approach offers clear guidance on what needs to be done.
Measurable
Measurable goals are essential because they allow all parties to monitor progress effectively. When setting an attendance goal, ensure it includes criteria that can be quantified. This will make it easier for students to succeed in their academic journey.
Attainable
Consider the student’s current abilities and strengths when creating attendance goals. After all, unrealistic aspirations may lead to frustration for both the student and the teacher. You’ll have a more achievable set of goals that fall within your student’s existing skill set.
Relevant
You should focus on meaningful goals that are essential to you at a personal level. Doing so provides you with the resolve and decisiveness to push through difficulties.
Ask yourself questions such as: What do I value most as a teacher? What brings me fulfillment? By understanding your core values, you can finally begin pursuing purposeful goals.
Time-Based
To stay accountable on the journey to success, it’s important to have a detailed time frame. Maintaining a sense of urgency will help you make progress consistently. Not setting a deadline may actually reduce your odds of reaching objectives.
13 SMART Goals Examples for Improving Attendance
Take a look at some examples of SMART goals for attendance:
1. Enhance Student Health and Well-Being
“I’ll implement a health education program to provide students with information and resources to promote healthy habits, including physical activity and nutrition. By the end of the school year, we aim to reduce absenteeism due to illness by 10%.”
Specific: The goal is clear—develop a health education program that promotes healthy habits in students.
Measurable: The program’s impact can be measured by calculating the reduction in absenteeism rates.
Attainable: Creating a health education program to improve student health is possible within the given time frame.
Relevant: This aligns with enhancing student health and lowering absenteeism rates.
Time-based: Success is expected by the end of the school year.
2. Develop a School-Wide Attendance System
“I aim to increase overall attendance by at least 5% within the next quarter. To do this, I’ll implement a comprehensive attendance system incorporating tracking, reporting, and consistent follow-up procedures for students and parents.”
Specific: The aim is to design and implement an attendance system that improves overall attendance rates.
Measurable: You can assess the system’s impact by calculating the changes in attendance rates.
Attainable: The provided deadline is reasonable enough to achieve your objective.
Relevant: This statement will help you effectively track attendance rates in the school.
Time-based: You have one quarter (three months) to accomplish the goal.
3. Use Positive Reinforcement Techniques
“I plan to use positive reinforcement techniques such as verbal praise, certificates, and incentives to encourage regular student attendance. I want to boost daily attendance by 2% by the next month.”
Specific: This is explicit about using positive reinforcement to encourage and increase attendance rates.
Measurable: You can determine whether you’ve used the techniques to succeed.
Attainable: Utilizing positive reinforcement strategies is feasible within a month.
Relevant: The goal pertains to enhancing attendance rates at school.
Time-based: One month is required to achieve lasting success.
4. Provide Incentives for Good Attendance
“Within this semester, I’ll create a rewards program that provides incentives such as extra credit, extended lunch periods, or preferred parking spots to students who maintain good attendance records.”
Specific: You will provide incentives for good attendance by the end of this semester.
Measurable: Ensure that you track the impact of the rewards program regularly.
Attainable: With enough resources and time, the school should be able to implement a rewards program.
Relevant: This helps promote regular attendance and improve student performance.
Time-based: Goal completion is anticipated after this semester.
5. Create an Engaging Curriculum
“I will develop and implement an engaging curriculum that stimulates student curiosity and interest in learning. We aim to increase daily attendance by 3% over the following quarter.”
Specific: Design and implement an engaging curriculum that promotes student attendance.
Measurable: Make sure you track the increase in attendance over time.
Attainable: Creating an engaging curriculum within the provided deadline is doable.
Relevant: This is beneficial for student learning and improving attendance records.
Time-based: You want to accomplish this by the end of this quarter.
6. Foster Positive Relationships With Students
“By the end of the academic year, I’ll establish positive relationships with students. I will greet students by name each morning, holding monthly check-ins with every student, and offering praise and recognition for positive attendance behavior.”
Specific: The goal outlines the overall objective and how it will be achieved.
Measurable: Make sure you follow the listed action items for success.
Attainable: Nurturing positive relationships with students can boost attendance rates.
Relevant: This statement is pertinent to enhancing overall student performance.
Time-based: You have one academic year to reach the SMART goal.
7. Set Clear Expectations and Consequences
“I’ll establish clear expectations and consequences for student attendance for three months. I plan to create a detailed attendance policy that includes rewards and consequences for positive and negative attendance behavior. I will share the policy with parents, students, and faculty.”
Specific: You have precise actions available: create an attendance policy and share it with the required people.
Measurable: Assess attendance rates regularly to determine if the policy impacts attendance positively or negatively.
Attainable: It is feasible to create a clear policy and distribute it in the required time frame.
Relevant: This certain goal is pertinent to improving academic success.
Time-based: Three whole months are needed for goal achievement.
8. Track Truancy Proactively
“I will proactively track truancy rates and reduce them by 20% over 8 months. I’ll accomplish this by identifying the reasons for truancy and implementing personalized interventions for each student who exhibits this behavior.”
Specific: The statement is concise and clear, detailing the objective and the time frame.
Measurable: You should track the truancy rates and the number of students who exhibit truancy behavior.
Attainable: This is doable since it involves identifying the reasons for truancy and implementing personalized interventions.
Relevant: The goal relates to reducing truancy rates and improving attendance in the long term.
Time-based: The SMART goal has an 8-month window for timely completion.
9. Set Up After-School Programs
“I’ll set up after-school programs catering to the students’ different interests and needs after one semester. I will involve students in planning and promoting these programs to boost participation and attendance.”
Specific: The statement outlines the action items and when they should be reached.
Measurable: Count the number of students participating in the after-school programs.
Attainable: It is doable to set up after-school programs within the provided timeline.
Relevant: This is appropriate for improving student attendance and engagement.
Time-based: Goal achievement should be expected within a semester.
10. Provide Support for Struggling Students
“I will strive to ensure that no student feels alone or unsupported. I’ll reach out to students with difficulty and provide them with resources and support to help improve their attendance within 6 months.”
Specific: This goal outlines what you must do (reaching out to students and providing them with resources).
Measurable: Check the number of students you reach out to and the resources you provide them.
Attainable: Providing support to struggling students is achievable within 6 months.
Relevant: Creating a supportive environment is essential for improving attendance.
Time-based: You have a 6-month end date to meet this particular goal.
11. Assess and Address Barriers to Attendance
“I will survey to identify common attendance barriers for students over the three months ahead. Based on the results, I’ll develop an action plan to address these barriers, including providing transportation assistance or addressing underlying health issues.”
Specific: This outlines the exact steps of conducting a survey and developing an action plan based on the findings.
Measurable: The number of barriers identified, action items developed, and attendance rates can be tracked to evaluate progress.
Attainable: Conducting a survey and developing an action plan is a realistic goal within three months.
Relevant: Improving attendance is crucial for academic success and student engagement.
Time-based: Accomplishment of the goal is expected in three months.
12. Integrate Attendance Into Teacher Evaluations
“To better track attendance, I want to integrate teacher attendance into their evaluations within four months. That will clearly show how attendance affects student performance and incentivize teachers to ensure students attend classes.”
Specific: The SMART goal outlines the action that needs to take place and how it will be done.
Measurable: Ensure all teachers are evaluated based on their students’ attendance.
Attainable: This goal is possible in four months if the proper steps are taken to introduce the system.
Relevant: This is suitable since it helps the team understand how attendance affects student performance.
Time-based: There is a four-month time frame to accomplish the statement.
13. Encourage Parental Involvement
“I hope to implement a program encouraging parents of absent students to be more involved in their children’s day-to-day activities. The program will include providing parental workshops and promoting communication between parents and teachers within 5 months.”
Specific: This is specific because it outlines the steps necessary to implement a program fostering parental involvement.
Measurable: The person could evaluate the level of increased parental involvement.
Attainable: Promoting parental involvement in school activities is definitely doable.
Relevant: You can improve student attendance by engaging parents in their children’s education.
Time-based: The goal should be completed after 5 whole months.
Final Thoughts
Establishing SMART goals is a fantastic strategy for improving school attendance. The SMART goals examples provided can serve as a starting point for students to create their personalized objectives.
With determination and a positive attitude, students can accomplish their attendance goals and pave the way for a brighter future.
Good school attendance leads to better academic performance and also builds character and responsibility. By committing to their goals, students can set themselves up for a lifetime of success and achievement.
