In January 2024, the Department of English voted to implement a new attendance policy. This policy provides consistency across all courses in the department. As such, it also represents a compromise between many different faculty with different classroom approaches and different pedagogies.

The policy provides consistency and flexibility.

This policy should appear on your syllabus:

In all English department courses, students can be absent without penalty for no more than two weeks’ worth of class time during session I, and one week’s worth of class time during session II. Absences begin to be counted on the first day of class, regardless of when you registered. 

This means you can miss:

• 6 hours in a 3-hour per week course
• 8 hours in a 4-hour per week course
• For ENA 101, which meets for 7 hours a week, students are limited to:
  • 8 hours of absence in the ENG 101 course and 6 hours of absence in the ENA 101 course. 

Students missing less than two weeks’ worth of class time will not be penalized for those absences. However, student engagement, which is part of the overall course grade, relies on in-class activities such as low-stakes writing assignments, peer review, and in-class high stakes essays. Some of these cannot be made up outside of class and may affect the engagement grade. 

Students who exceed the two-week limit may receive a lower course grade. After four weeks of absence, students can no longer pass the course. 

This policy applies equally across in-person, online-synchronous, hybrid and online-asynchronous courses. For hybrid courses, which meet once a week in-person and have a weekly asynchronous activity, missing the weekly asynchronous activity counts as an absence. For online-asynchronous courses, your instructor’s syllabus will explain how attendance will be counted.

Students do not incur penalties for two weeks of absence or less. Between two weeks and four weeks, faculty have discretion. They can choose to impose a penalty for absences beyond two weeks or they choose not to. After four weeks of absence, students can no longer pass the course.

Please note:

• Faculty have a legal obligation to excuse students from class for religious observance. 
• Faculty have discretion to excuse absences for other reasons including official college/university activities, illness, death of a family member or loved one, or inclement weather. Faculty also have discretion to decide how absences exceeding the two-week limit will affect a student’s final grade. However, after four weeks’ worth of absence, students can no longer pass the course, regardless of the reason. In other words, even if you make a distinction between excused and unexcused absences in your course, four weeks is the limit for a student to miss class and still pass.
• As such, faculty should include the English department attendance policy verbatim on their syllabus, along with any additional clarifying information about: 

1) how late arrivals or early departures from class affect total absences;

2) how total absences exceeding the two-week limit impact the final grade;

3) whether absences can be excused and under what circumstances; and 

4) whether students are allowed to make up missed work. 

As long as a student’s total number of absences does not exceed the two-week limit, their attendance should not be used in calculating their final grade. However, the engagement/participation part of the course grade, which should be based on measurable activities during class time, can be impacted when students miss class. 

Sample Syllabus Statement to Explain Attendance and Participation to Students

Version 1: More Composition Specific

Class attendance is an essential piece of everyone’s growth as writers. This course uses a writing studio model and is designed to enhance your skills as a writer in a writing community. In this course, we will do many in-class writing exercises designed to help us practice the writing skills that are crucial for the major and minor assignments. You will have the opportunity to grow as a writer by giving and receiving feedback about writing assignments. Our core essays build upon group discussions of the readings. Although participation is a key portion of all these exercises, class attendance is the vital first step. Therefore, missing too many classes will influence your overall class performance and your final grade. This happens, in part, because there will be graded  in-class assignments which are not reproducible and which cannot be made up. The English Department attendance policy is as follows:

In all English department courses, students can be absent without penalty for no more than two weeks’ worth of class time during session I, and one week’s worth of class time during session II. Absences begin to be counted on the first day of class, regardless of when you registered. 

This means you can miss:

• 6 hours in a 3-hour per week course
• 8 hours in a 4-hour per week course
• For ENA 101, which meets for 7 hours a week, students are limited to:
  • 8 hours of absence in the ENG 101 course and 6 hours of absence in the ENA 101 course. 

Students missing fewer than two weeks’ worth of class time will not be penalized for those absences. However, student engagement, part of the overall course grade, relies on in-class activities such as low-stakes writing assignments, peer review, and in-class high stakes essays. Some of these cannot be made up outside of class and may affect the engagement grade. 

Students who exceed the two-week limit may receive a lower course grade. After four weeks of absence, students can no longer pass the course. 

This policy applies equally across in-person, online-synchronous, hybrid and online-asynchronous courses. For hybrid courses, which meet once a week in-person and have a weekly asynchronous activity, missing the weekly asynchronous activity counts as an absence. 

If an issue arises which is preventing you from coming to class on time, or if you know in advance that you will miss a class, please reach out right away.

Version 2: More General to the Department:

LaGuardia’s English department has a common attendance policy across its courses to help students achieve their goals. Many of our courses use a writing studio model and are designed to enhance your reading, writing, and analytical skills. This often involves many in-class exercises designed to help us practice the reading, writing, and analytical skills that are critical for the major and minor assignments in your course. By participating in these activities, you will have the opportunity to grow as a thinker and writer by giving and receiving feedback on your work. Our course’s core writing assignments are built upon group discussion of assigned readings or course themes. Although participation is a key portion of all these exercises, class attendance is the vital first step. Therefore, missing too many classes will influence your overall class performance—and that of your classmates’—in many ways.

In all English department courses, students can be absent without penalty for no more than two weeks’ worth of class time during session I, and one week’s worth of class time during session II. Absences begin to be counted on the first day of class, regardless of when you registered. 

This means you can miss:

• 6 hours in a 3-hour per week course
• 8 hours in a 4-hour per week course
• For ENA 101, which meets for 7 hours a week, students are limited to:
  • 8 hours of absence in the ENG 101 course and 6 hours of absence in the ENA 101 course. 

Students missing fewer than two weeks’ worth of class time will not be penalized for those absences. However, student engagement, part of the overall course grade, relies on in-class activities such as low-stakes writing assignments, peer review, and in-class high stakes essays. Some of these cannot be made up outside of class and may affect the engagement grade. 

Students who exceed the two-week limit may receive a lower course grade. After four weeks of absence, students can no longer pass the course. 

This policy applies equally across in-person, online-synchronous, hybrid and online-asynchronous courses. For hybrid courses, which meet once a week in-person and have a weekly asynchronous activity, missing the weekly asynchronous activity counts as an absence. 

Optional Chart to Visually Explain the Attendance Policy:

Number of absences*	3 hours (for 3-hour classes) 4 hours (for 4-hour classes)	4-6 hours (for 3-hour classes) 5-8 hours (for 4-hour classes)	7-12   (for 3-hour classes) 9-16 (for 4-hour classes)	More than 12   (for 3-hour classes) More than 16 (for 4-hour classes)
Student action steps	Communicate with your instructor    Stay up to date on the syllabus and course work.	Stay up to date on the syllabus and course work Make concrete arrangements with your instructor for completing any missed assignments eligible for make up (depending on your professor’s policy).	Communicate with your instructor about consequences to your grade. Exceeding the two-week limit for absences means that your final grade may be lowered due to excessive absences. Make concrete arrangements with your instructor for completing any missed assignments eligible for make up (depending on your professor’s policy).	You no longer have a path to pass this course. Reach out to your advisor and review deadlines for drop, withdraw, etc. and make a plan with advising.