I’m an educational leadership adjunct professor, and many of my students are working professionals. They come to class after full workdays, often in evening or weekend sections, and I do not take that sacrifice lightly. When attendance slips, it is easy for instructors to frame it as a commitment problem. I do not. I see it as a reality problem, shaped by time, energy, and competing demands.
Students can access course content from almost anywhere, and many have learned to treat presence as optional. Yet attendance still correlates with stronger outcomes and student success (Mowreader, 2025). This article focuses on what I am seeing and doing in my own fully in-person classes.
If we want stronger attendance in in-person programs, we have to treat it as a design problem, not just a compliance problem. In-person time has to offer something students cannot get anywhere else. This is not a new idea. The more productive question is not whether we should force attendance, but how we can structure courses so students want and need to be there (McGrew, n.d.). That framing fits the work: make attendance matter by making class time matter.
Why Committed Adults Still Miss Class
For many of my students, missing class is not a casual choice. It is a judgment call shaped by real constraints. Their day jobs sometimes run late, and once that happens, everything else gets squeezed. Commute time, family responsibilities, and whatever energy is left at the end of the day all compete with class. And when a session feels like something they can recreate on their own by reading, watching, or catching up later, attendance starts to feel negotiable.
It is also worth naming what students report more broadly: absences are often tied to pressures like physical illness, mental health, family responsibilities, work-schedule conflicts, and basic logistics such as transportation (Georgetown University, 2025). None of this excuses chronic disengagement. But it does explain why good, motivated adults sometimes choose absence. When we acknowledge that reality, we can redesign the experience so showing up consistently feels like the best option. So the question becomes: what has to happen in the classroom that cannot happen anywhere else?
The Shift: Make In-Person Class The Place Where Learning Happens
I often hear some version of, “I’ll get the notes.” That line is part of the lecture problem. If class is mostly information delivery, then notes, slides, a classmate’s recap, or a recording can feel like an adequate substitute. In that setup, attendance becomes a convenience decision. Students ask a fair question: if I can get the content later, why do I have to be there?
And sure, in that model the only real value add is the discussion. But even that can get reduced to a recap of what was already said, instead of the place where thinking shifts, assumptions get challenged, and understanding deepens.
The fix is not guilt, stricter policies, points off, or other types of penalties. It is design. In-person class has to include work that cannot be easily captured in someone else’s notes. When the value lives in the doing, not just the hearing, “I’ll get the notes” stops being a workable plan. Here is how I design for that.
Move 1: Design Class So Attendance Has Immediate Payoff
I still lecture, but in short, purposeful segments that set up application. Most of the session is spent doing leader-building work that is hard to replicate alone, including protocol-based case discussions, scenario analysis tied to real leadership decisions, structured peer feedback, simulations, brief presentations with live critique, and mock leadership tasks with clear roles and deliverables.
Attendance Connection: When the value is in the work happening in the room, not on the slide deck, attendance stops feeling optional.
Move 2: Plan for Reality and Protect The Learning Community
Many absences are predictable conflicts that were never planned for. I name that directly, build time for semester planning, and teach communication norms so students flag conflicts early, stay connected, and use the mastery pathway when needed. I also talk plainly about tradeoffs. A retirement celebration or a holiday party can matter, and I get why students want to be there. But in an in-person program, some events have to be sacrificed if the goal is consistent learning and steady progress. At the same time, I do not glorify perfect attendance. If you are sick, stay home. That is good judgment, and it protects everyone else in the room.
Attendance Connection: Attendance becomes a planning decision, not a last-minute reaction, and the community stays stable.
Move 3: Replace Attendance Points With A Mastery Expectation
I do not use attendance as a points game. I hold firm on mastery of the day’s learning, because the learning objectives still matter whether a student is present or not. If a student misses, they complete a targeted make-up task tied to that session’s learning targets, not a generic summary. Missing class does not remove the requirement. It changes the pathway and usually increases the workload.
Attendance Connection: Absences become “only when necessary,” because skipping casually is not easier.
Support Tool: A Course Navigator For The Mastery Pathway
When students must miss, I want the mastery pathway to be clear and quick to access. A simple syllabus-and-assignments bot helps students locate the right materials and the session-specific make-up task, so they can re-enter without confusion. Guardrails stay the same: it is a helper, and students verify high-stakes details in official documents.
Attendance Connection: A clearer mastery pathway reduces avoidance and helps students stay connected.
Conclusion
This approach does not eliminate fatigue, life conflicts, or competing demands. It does not guarantee perfect attendance. But it replaces attendance compliance with learning integrity. It deters casual skipping because learning still must be demonstrated, and it encourages attendance because each session has clear, presence-dependent value.
That is the shift from seat time to value time. Students show up when class is designed as the place where learning happens, not just where information is delivered.
Andy Szeto, EdD, is an adjunct professor in educational leadership with experience teaching more than fifty graduate-level courses. He specializes in instructional leadership, school management, and AI integration in school leadership preparation, drawing from his professional background as a district leader and his ongoing work mentoring emerging school leaders.
References
Georgetown University. (2025, June 27). The challenge of prioritizing class attendance as absences increase. The Feed. https://feed.georgetown.edu/access-affordability/the-challenge-of-prioritizing-class-attendance-as-absences-increase/
McGrew, M. (n.d.). Make attendance matter. Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Kennesaw State University. https://campus.kennesaw.edu/faculty-staff/cetl/teaching-resources/make-attendance-matter.php
Mowreader, A. (2025, June 13). New data shows attendance fosters student success. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/academic-life/2025/06/13/data-shows-attendance-improves-student-success
