Creating a Culture of Accountability at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
Discover how Paul Laurence Dunbar High School tackled chronic absenteeism and transformed student accountability with end-to-end campus management.
About Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
Students
1,000+
Grades
9-12
The Challenge
Tackling Chronic Absenteeism & Incentivizing Students
Baltimore’s Paul Laurence Dunbar High School needed a better way to track student attendance, reinforce accountability, and create an engaging school culture. With the city having one of the highest chronic absenteeism rates in the state, Principal Dr. Yatunde Reeves wanted a system that could not only accurately monitor attendance but also motivate students to show up on time using incentives and rewards. Building a positive environment where students were rewarded for meeting and exceeding expectations was a key priority, rather than only being disciplined for missteps.
Beyond daily attendance, maintaining consistent student accountability was a challenge for the school. Behavioral expectations, such as school uniform policies, were enforced inconsistently across classrooms, leading to variability in detention assignments and discipline. The school relied on multiple disconnected systems and manual processes to manage digital IDs, daily student check ins, rewards, and interventions, making it difficult to track student movement, monitor behavior, and reward accountability efficiently.
KEY PROBLEM AREAS:
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“It’s about more than tracking data—it’s about making students feel seen. I want to track on-time attendance, but I also want to say thank you. This helps me do both.”
The Solution
Attendance, Behavior, & Incentives
All Within a Single Platform
When a teacher discovered Minga, it gave Principal Dr. Reeves and her team a way to unify fragmented tools into one consistent, school-wide platform. What started as a search for a digital hall pass solution quickly expanded into a system for tracking attendance, managing behavior, reinforcing expectations, and organizing incentives. Now, each morning, students check in using their digital ID, giving staff real-time visibility into who’s on time and in uniform. When students checks in late or out of uniform, Minga automatically logs the tardy behavior or infraction, notifies staff and parents, and ensures appropriate follow-up, making enforcing accountability more consistent, accurate, and less labor-intensive.
By connecting check in and attendance data directly to rewards, Minga brought structure to the school’s existing incentive program. Students now see a clear link between showing up and being recognized, with rewards ranging from school-branded gear to exciting music events featuring popular artists—turning participation into something students are genuinely excited about.
What Minga Offered:
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“Tracking on-time attendance is important, but having a system that seamlessly combines digital check ins, behavior management, and student incentives made Minga a true one-stop shop.”
The Outcomes
Record Attendance & Engaged Students
Clear Incentives That Students Value
Minga strengthened Dunbar’s incentive strategy by directly linking positive behavior and attendance to meaningful rewards. Students could see how meeting expectations led to prizes like school-branded gear or access to exclusive events, making the path to recognition both clear and motivating.
High Participation Through Daily Check Ins
With students scanning in each morning using their digital ID, check ins quickly became a routine and something they looked forward to. Instead of the thought of metal detectors and security, students saw check ins as a quick and fun way to earn rewards. Participation increased, exceeding the school’s 90% attendance criteria, while giving admins reliable and real-time attendance data.
Automated Consequences
Late arrivals, non-compliant uniforms, and other behavioral infractions are now logged effortlessly in Minga, triggering automatic consequences and notifications. This helped ensure that discipline was no longer inconsistent or teacher-dependent, but instead fair, timely, and supported by data.
Improved Admin Efficiency & Visibility
Administrators no longer rely on paper passes, spreadsheets, or manual processes to monitor student behavior. With access to digital hall passes and real-time dashboards, the leadership team can easily track check ins, student movement, behavior trends, and missed detentions—allowing them to respond quickly and prevent small issues from escalating.
A Stronger Partnership with Parents
With automated notifications and clearer communication around student behavior and attendance, parents became more engaged. Many reached out to confirm check in data and even showed up to collect rewards for their students—deepening school-home connections.
A Culture of Accountability, Backed by Data
By unifying check ins, hall passes, behavior management, and incentives, Dunbar created a school-wide system that didn’t just enforce accountability—it celebrated it. Students understood what was expected. Staff had the tools to stay consistent. And leadership had the data to lead with intention.
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“Students talk to each other about meeting the check in criteria. Parents even show up to collect prizes for their kids!”
Ready to Build a Culture of Accountability on Your Campus?
Schedule a 30-minute demo to discover how Minga’s all-in-one Campus Management Platform can support student accountability and attendance at your school.