What does it mean when Flathead High Principal Peter Fusaro says “I’ll be interested to see how many students we have at the end of the year with perfect attendance…the chances are pretty good to win a new car”?
That’s the question I asked myself Friday morning after reading Hilary Matheson’s Perfect attendance nets chance to win car story in the Daily InterLake. The details are in the story, but a local car dealer is donating a new car to the winner of a lottery in which each Flathead high school student with a perfect attendance record receives one ticket for a random drawing.
Last year in the Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, and Bigfork high schools, there were approximately 4,200 students. So when Fusaro says “…the chances are pretty good to win a new car,” is he saying he believes that (a) perishing few will have perfect attendance records, or (b) one in 4,200 (roughly, coming up tails in 12 consecutive coin flips) is a pretty good chance of winning? And, based on, say, the past five years, what are the likely odds of winning?
Whatever the answers, it seems to me that promoting perfect attendance is the wrong goal. I doubt there is any practical difference, indeed any measurable, let alone statistically significant, difference between students with perfect attendance records and those with an unexcused absence or two. Preventing dropouts, and improving graduation rates are far more important goals.