Overview
Especially in lower grades where attendance is taken only once a day, tardy rate is a key indicator of student success, much along the lines of class period attendance for high school and middle school. Accordingly, field work has shown that a tardy rate was frequently requested by elementary educators.
The Tardy Rate metric enables educators to easily identify students who have missed an excessive amount of instructional time, allowing for immediate attention and intervention. Although a student's daily attendance is a vitally important first screen, the Tardy Rate metric provides educators additional insight into when (what morning and/or day) and where (what subject area) a student’s absences are occurring, so that they can target their interventions accordingly. In addition, educators can review aggregated information on tardies by student and for the class as a whole in order to identify and address patterns among groups of students.
Ideally, teachers should review attendance and tardies daily, but at a minimum on a weekly basis, to address issues before attendance declines or tardies increase to a critical level.
Tardy Rate Metrics