EFFECT OF STUDENT ATTENDANCE ON PERFORMANCE - COMMENT ON LAMDIN

Evidence that student attendance has a positive and significant effect on student performance was reported by Lamdin (1996). Our comment sug gests that Lamdin's results are biased because of his failure to inclu de measures of student innate ability and competition in the explanati on of student performance. When these two variables are taken into acc ount, student attendance is shown to be insignificant in terms of its effect on student performance. Thus, policies designed to increase stu dent attendance may result in an inappropriate use of education resour ces.