Innovative Attendance Incentives

Every student in school, every day. That’s the goal across the network of Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) neighborhood conversion charter schools. 

For our 30th year, BCP has kicked off an ambitious goal for a critical challenge facing public schools across the nation: chronic absenteeism. We’ve launched a new initiative this year to decrease chronic absenteeism by at least 17% across our six BCP schools, boost academic achievement, and highlight effective, scalable strategies for long-term impact across Baltimore City Public Schools, BCP’s educational partner. Last year, nearly half—48.7%—of City Schools students were chronically absent (defined by missing at least 10% of school days). 

BCP’s initiative, led by Jayla Pope, the new Lead Attendance Monitor and a 2023 Morgan State University graduate and Fulbright Scholar, is generously funded by the Abell Foundation and the Richman Foundation. Ms. Pope’s research is targeting a group of BCP students who were chronically absent last school year, providing personalized support, and tracking their growth. Her whose work will result in a BCP white paper on our findings that will be shared across the district.

Each BCP school has its own attendance goals, attendance team in place, and is working on its own initiatives. We want to highlight two schools’ innovative approaches:

Frederick Elementary School (FES): 

2025-2026 attendance goal: 83%

2024-2025 final attendance: 80%

Attendance on “Count Day,” Sept. 30: 88%

Late last school year, FES kicked off Kidz Corner, a school store where students “purchase” items with “bucks” earned by being in school year day. Part of a larger, comprehensive attendance program (see below), Kidz Corner quickly sparked excitement and motivation among FES’s Pre-K through 5th grade students. How it works:

• • • When a student earns perfect attendance for one week, they receive a Kidz Corner buck each Friday.
    • Shopping privileges are on Friday during recess with students lauded for their perfect attendance in class and with peers.
    • Students may choose to save their bucks for higher-priced items at the store. 
    • The most popular items? Fidget toys and little cars.

“Students want the bucks,” says Tetra Jackson, FES Principal. “Lots of teachers distribute the bucks and make it a big deal. Students see their peers earning the chance to go to Kidz Corner and want to emulate that.”

Never underestimate the power of dangling a carrot (or candy) in front of an elementary-school student. For Count Day, Ms. Jackson announced prior to Sept. 30, that if you came to school, there was a special surprise from Principal Jackson. Every student received Ring Pops. 

Other FES initiatives to curb its absenteeism rate:

• • • The A-Team (Attendance Team) calls every absent student’s family by 9:30 a.m. every day.
    • If the student misses three days in a row, the A-Team makes a house call to the student’s home.
    • If a teacher’s homeroom attendance percentage drops in two weeks, that class receives the incentive of an in-class movie and popcorn if their attendance rises by the next week.
    • The teacher with the highest average attendance each month receives a gift card.
    • Students receive perfect attendance certificates, which are distributed in front of peers, and parents receive letters of thanks from the A-Team. All perfect attendance students are celebrated at lunchtime and may eat Lunch Bunch on the stage. 
    • Any field trip requires 80% attendance to attend.  

Pimlico Elementary / Middle School (PEMS)

2025-2026 attendance goal: 85.5%

2024-2025 final attendance: 83.4%

Attendance on “Count Day,” Sept. 30: 96% – and 89.98% for the month of Sept.

Each morning, when PEMS educators log attendance, each student receives a raffle ticket for Rocky’s Attendance Contest, a new, daily attendance contest named for the PEMS mascot, Rocky the Stallion. The grade with the highest attendance increase at the end of the month earns a pizza party. For Sept., the 2nd grade, with 91.58% attendance, enjoyed a pizza party.

Any student with perfect attendance for the month is entered into a raffle for a $100 Visa gift card for their family, with one winner per grade. This month, students who earn three out of four Rocky Prize Cycles (weeks) will attend a special field trip to the Maryland Zoo. 

PEMS’s Count Day program on Sept. 30 reached nearly 100% perfect attendance for all students – 96% – with the incentive of attending a Count-Day Carnival if you attended school on Sept. 30. Students enjoyed a mini-fair of games, food/ice cream truck, the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens mascots, a DJ, and carnival games and fun activities like (glitter tattoo station, bubbles, and photo booth).

Thank you, FES and PEMS and every BCP school, for all you are doing to help every child be in school every day, ready to learn and thrive!