Do perfect attendance awards work?
A team led by Harvard researchers tested them in a randomized trial. Middle and high school students who had at least one month of perfect attendance in the fall got one of three things in January: a letter and certificate for perfect attendance they had already earned, a letter saying they could earn one for perfect attendance in February, or nothing.
15,329
students in grades 6 to 12, in 14 districts, in a randomized trial of perfect attendance awards.
Robinson, Gallus, Lee and Rogers (2021)
+8.3%
more absences the next month for students mailed a surprise perfect attendance certificate.
Same study
+8.9%
more absences the month after a pre-announced award ended. During it, no fewer absences.
Same study
The surprise certificate made things worse: 60.75% of those students had perfect attendance in February, against 62.55% of students who got nothing. The harm was largest for lower-performing students, whose perfect attendance dropped to 53% against 60% without an award. The pre-announced award changed nothing while it ran, and absences rose after it ended. Only the youngest students, sixth graders, showed a benefit from the announced award.
Why? Follow-up survey experiments with young adults suggest awards signal that perfect attendance is unusual, not what the school expects. A student who has been honored for it may feel a day off is earned. Perfect attendance awards also push students to come in sick, which is why the CDC discouraged them during the pandemic.
Do attendance incentives work at all?
The research is mixed, as Attendance Works puts it. Cash is no shortcut: in a Washington, D.C. study, small cash rewards improved middle schoolers’ attendance, but not by a statistically significant amount. Incentives can motivate students who are close to coming every day. They do little for a student who misses school because of asthma, a long bus ride, a younger sibling to watch or a class where they feel they don’t belong.
Before choosing an incentive, Attendance Works, drawing on researchers Rekha Balu and Stacy Ehrlich, suggests asking what is actually keeping students out, whether an incentive is the right tool for it, and who makes the attendance decision. That is often a parent rather than the child.
What makes an attendance incentive more likely to help?
“Monthly or weekly recognition tends to work better than annual awards,” the FutureEd and Attendance Works playbook notes. The rest of the guidance follows from the same idea.
Reward improvement, not perfection. Recognize good or improved attendance. A perfect-attendance goal is lost after one sick day, and the students who need the push most never reach it.
Short periods, often. A week or a month, not a semester or a year, so students and families can feel successful again soon.
Never ask a sick child to come in. Perfect attendance recognition can push students to come to school sick. Design every contest so students with health conditions can win it.
Recognize on-time arrival too. Tardies cost class time. Attendance Works suggests recognizing punctuality as well as daily attendance.
Include families and classes. Recognize families, especially in the early grades, and use friendly class competition so classmates look out for each other.
Keep it cheap and part of tier 1. Recognition is one universal support for every student, built on relationships, alongside outreach and help with barriers. It does not replace them.
As Attendance Works says, “Recognition is not meant to be a bribe.” The goal is students who value showing up, not students who show up for a prize.
What works better than incentives?
For students who are already missing a lot of school, the things that move attendance are personal.
A relationship
An adult who notices the absence, calls home and asks what is getting in the way.
Accurate information
Parents often don’t know how many days their child has missed. An attendance letter with the real count helps.
Belonging
A school where the student is welcomed, missed when gone and has a reason to come.
The guides on how to reduce chronic absenteeism and tiered attendance interventions show where recognition fits among the other supports.
Attendance incentive ideas that fit the evidence
Low-cost, short-term, for good or improved attendance, and open to every student:
- A shout-out on morning announcements for classes with the best or most improved week
- A traveling trophy for the homeroom with the best month
- Extra recess or a class party for the top or most improved class
- A positive note or call home when a student’s attendance improves
- Lunch or breakfast with a favorite staff member
- Homework passes, first-in-line, or a spot on a class attendance wall
- School-store dollars that students can spend on gifts for family
- Gas cards, bus passes or grocery cards for families, aimed at real barriers
- For high schoolers, a letter documenting good attendance for job applications
Most of these ideas are from Attendance Works’ tips for incentives. Ask students and families which ones they find meaningful, and check food rewards against your district wellness policy.
How BrainBridge helps
BrainBridge doesn’t run incentive programs. It makes the personal follow-up happen. From each morning’s attendance file, every staff member gets a list of who to contact, with each student’s absences and the family’s number and language. Staff call, or text from a school-assigned line, and texts go out in the family’s language. The weekly meeting flags students whose absences are rising and gives each one a next step with an owner and a date. Goals for the school and for each student show whose attendance is improving, so you know who to recognize.
Common questions
Do attendance incentives work?
Sometimes, and rarely on their own. Attendance Works describes the research as mixed. Well-designed recognition can help as one part of a schoolwide approach, but the students who miss the most school usually face barriers a prize cannot fix, like illness, transportation or trouble at school.
Do perfect attendance awards work?
The best evidence says no. In a randomized trial with 15,329 middle and high school students, surprise perfect attendance certificates raised absences the following month by 8.3%, and a pre-announced award did not lower them. They can also push students to come to school sick.
Why would a perfect attendance award make attendance worse?
The researchers’ follow-up surveys suggest awards send an unintended message: that perfect attendance is unusual, not what the school expects. A student who gets one may feel they have already done more than expected, and that a day off is earned.
Should schools pay students to come to school?
The evidence is thin. In one Washington, D.C. study, small cash rewards to middle schoolers improved attendance, but not by a statistically significant amount. Low-cost recognition, outreach and help with barriers are a better first use of money.
What are good attendance incentive ideas?
Weekly or monthly recognition for good or improved attendance, class competitions with a small shared reward, positive notes home, lunch with a favorite adult, and help for families like bus passes or gas cards. Ask students and families what they find meaningful.
Are incentives enough to reduce chronic absenteeism?
No. Incentives are a universal, tier 1 support. Students who are already chronically absent need someone to find out why and help: a call home, a mentor, a plan with the family. Recognition works best on top of that.
Chronic absenteeism: the numbers, the rules and what works →
Sources
- 1. Robinson, Gallus, Lee and Rogers, “The demotivating effect (and unintended message) of awards,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 163 (2021): 51–64. Randomized field experiment, 15,329 students.
- 2. Same paper, working-paper version (Harvard Kennedy School): grades 6 to 12 in 14 districts in one California county; surprise award +8.3% absences in February and perfect attendance 62.55% to 60.75%; pre-announced award no change in February, +8.92% absences in March; lower-performing students with the surprise award 53% perfect attendance against 60%.
- 3. K-12 Dive, “Study: Praising perfect attendance may have reverse effect” (March 18, 2019).
- 4. Harvard Graduate School of Education, Usable Knowledge, “How Attendance Awards Backfire” (July 2019).
- 5. Attendance Works, “What Makes an Attendance Incentive Program Successful?” (June 5, 2018), on Balu and Ehrlich’s framework for designing incentives.
- 6. Attendance Works, “Incentives”: research offers a mixed view; avoid perfect attendance awards for a semester or year; “Recognition is not meant to be a bribe.”
- 7. Attendance Works, “Tips for Incentives” (PDF): good or improved attendance, students with health needs, punctuality, families, low-cost ideas.
- 8. FutureEd and Attendance Works, Attendance Playbook (May 2023), incentives section: “Monthly or weekly recognition tends to work better than annual awards”; small cash rewards in Washington, D.C. (Fryer and Allan) not statistically significant; CDC discouraged perfect attendance incentives during the pandemic.