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Student Tardiness
Tardiness in schools, if left unchecked, can create serious systemic problems. The principal, as
instructional leader and manager, must mobilize his executive staff and general staff in such a way as to
drastically reduce the incidence of tardiness and protect instructional time. Failure to do so will lead to a
marked decline in the academic climate and performance of the institution. Indiscipline will also
Tardiness is a problem whether it is practiced by students or teachers. It usually takes two forms;
tardiness for school and tardiness for classes throughout the school day. The school administration must
deal with it head on or it will definitely get worse. There must be a clear and strictly enforced policy
Students must understand the importance of punctuality and how it connects to their future working lives,
since the school is also mandated to produce good citizens and workers. Tardy students miss important
instruction and get lower grades or fail subjects. They also disrupt the delivery of instruction as they
straggle into class late during the first 5 -10 minutes or more of each class. They can also be engaged in
misconduct during the unsupervised time before they reach their classes. Those lost minutes may add up
The most crucial learning hours of a school day are the morning hours, because it is when students are
most attentive. Students who are tardy miss the beginning of their morning class. When students come to
class late, it can disturb the flow of a lecture or discussion, distract other students and hinder learning.
And if left unchecked, lateness can become habitual and spread throughout the class. Because there are a
number of possible reasons students arrive to class late, considering which causes are at the root of the
problem can help guide instructors to appropriate responses and strategies. Understanding the reasons,
however, does not require tolerating the behavior. Students have problems with lateness for many reasons
including distractions, cultural differences, skill deficiencies and poor motivation. To most effectively
build on-time behavior, identify and address the source of the lateness. For example, an elementary
student may be late because she lacks adult help to wake up and prepare for school each day. Her problem
may be best solved by giving her skills to plan a wake-up-and-get-ready schedule for arriving on time.
Just by the nature of arriving late and missing school hours, students receive fewer hours of
instruction than students who are in class when the bell sounds. But not only does a student who is
always arriving late to school establish bad punctuality habits, their tardiness also disturb the learning
Motivation is usually the most important step to stopping lateness because so many students see no reason
to be on time. Convincing students that on-time behavior is an essential skill, it usually has more change
than any other approach. Discuss the problem with them and make sure there isn’t any legitimate reason
why they can’t be on time. If there is a real concern, brainstorm a way they can fix it. Maybe they’re
taking the long route to class. Having consistent consequences. When it’s time to start dishing out the
consequences, be consistent. Make sure to do all the steps above so that few students get to the
consequence stage. The biggest reason for inconsistent consequences is because there is simply not
enough time in a day. If the teacher try to start giving consequence before going through the other steps to
create a system that basically works, the teacher will have far too many tardy students to be consistent
with the consequences. Tardiness causes students to feel disconnected with school, leading to behavior
problems and dropouts. Students who are frequently tardy to school are also more possible to be fired
from a job for showing up late. When students are tardy, they negatively effect their teachers and other
students.