(217) An Examination of Mandatory Class Attendance and Academic Performance in a Doctor of Pharmacy Program

Objective : This study aimed to determine if there was an association between class attendance and course grades in required PharmD coursework,

Methods: A mandatory attendance policy (MAP) with an 80% attendance threshold for students and class cohorts was implemented. Pre- and post- MAP course grades, post-MAP attendance records, and MAP violations were collected. Due to curricular revisions, grade analyses were restricted to first and third professional years.

Results: For third year courses, there was a significant increase from pre-MAP to post-MAP mean unweighted cohort GPAs from 3.13 to 3.34 (t = 7.64, df = 2127.7, p < 0.001), and likewise for first year courses, from 3.13 to 3.22 (t = 2.89, df = 2248.4, p = 0.004). For final grades in all third year courses, failures decreased significantly from 1.04% pre-MAP to 0.31% post-MAP, (X2 = 4.06, df = 1, p = 0.044), and likewise for first year courses, from 3.20% pre-MAP to 1.73% post-MAP, (X2 = 6.01, df = 1, p = 0.014). For both years, grades improved at upper and lower distribution ends, post-MAP. Student body adherence to MAP in the two academic years post-MAP was high and ranged from 93.2% in fall semester 2021 to 79.6% in spring semester 2023. Withholding of video-recording ranged from 7-13 times over the four semesters and the percentages of courses affected each semester ranged from 17.6% to 37.5%.

Conclusions: MAP was associated with improved academic performance in overall distribution of grades, reduction in failing grades, and improvement in unweighted cohort GPAs. Adherence to MAP was high for students and class cohorts. Implementation of a MAP warrants consideration by schools and colleges of pharmacy seeking to improve students’ academic performance.