High School Students Get Swag on Count Day
September 10, 2012 RSS Feed Print
Ten states use attendance counts from a single day to determine district funding for the school year.
Once a year, Detroit Public Schools pulls out all the stops to get students in their seats.
In 2010, the district enticed students with a total of $20,000 in Target gift cards. The prize for attendance in 2009: a shot to win a laptop, iPod, or 42-inch flat screen TV.
This year, every Detroit public high school student who shows up to school on Oct. 3 will be rewarded with a free pair of Nikes, courtesy of a local shoe store.
The reason for all the swag: Count Day. The number of students in attendance for the entirety of count day in the falldetermines 90 percent of per-pupil state funding for Michigan