SIS 2000+ Attendance

Section 6, Attendance Student History 

Attendance data is normally entered into the attendance tables via the Rapid Entry (Sec 2), Phone Log (Sec. 3), and Attendance Class Entry (Sec. 4) applications. Also, the Behavior History application will post "suspended" attendance codes to the attendance tables whenever certain Behavior penalties are assigned to students. (See Behavior, Sec. 4, "Add A Penalty" for more details.)

The Attendance Student History program is used to view, edit, or print attendance data for a single student at a time in a convenient spreadsheet format. This program is useful for removing erroneous attendance details from a student's attendance records. The school calendar is displayed as columns in a spreadsheet and the scheduled periods of the selected student are displayed as intersecting rows. The attendance codes for each date/period are displayed in the cells created by the intersecting rows and columns in the grid. The attendance codes can be edited by selecting the target cell and activating the edit mode.
 

6.1 Login
The Attendance Student History program is usually reserved, by permissions, for attendance clerks or school administrators. To login as a district attendance clerk or district administrator, follow the steps below. Otherwise, login as usual from the appropriate school site.

6.1.1 Choose the District Office at the login screen (see Login).

6.1.2 From the SIS 2000+ Main menu, change to the target school using the Switch School option from the File menu.

6.1.3 Choose an attendance track to edit. The view will revert to the SIS 2000+ Main Menu.

6.1.4 Click on the Attendance icon button to open Attendance Menu.

6.1.5 From the Attendance Menu, click on the Student History icon to launch the program.
 
 

Fig. 1

• Student Banner - Demographic data

Demographic data for the selected student is displayed in a banner at the top of the program screen (Fig. 98). The student's ID# is indicated in [brackets] following the student's name. For further details, see the document titled Student Banner.


Fig. 2
 

• Student Banner - Command Buttons

In the right area of the banner are three types of command buttons:
 
• Student Detail Buttons

These buttons enable the user to access, in pop up windows, three different kinds of remote student data for the selected student. From top to bottom, they are: Enrollment History, Student Contacts, and Student Picture.


 

• Student Group Selection Buttons

Five buttons select different groups of student records to be searched or viewed. The first button is a User-defined group. The next four are system-defined groups based on current enrollment status: Active, All, Future, and Inactive.


 

• Synchronize Button

This command will synchronize all other open program windows to the currently selected student.



(See document titled "Student Banner" for more information on command buttons)
 

• Attendance Spreadsheet

Select a term/track to be viewed in the Term field.

The Term Totals are displayed just below the Term field (Figs. 3 & 4). In a negative attendance track they are the total-to-date of Excused, Unexcused, and Tardy attendance codes for the selected student in the selected term.


Fig. 3 - sample, Negative attendance track

In a positive attendance track they are the total-to-date of Excused, Present, and Tardy attendance codes for the selected student in the selected term (Fig. 4).


Fig. 4 - sample, Positive attendance track

Terms Totals may be calculated based on the Apportion flag, the Compulsory flag, or the Course Credit flag in the Attendance Codes table. This is set in the 'Preferences' dialog (see Step 6.3.2). The current calculation method will be displayed above the Term Totals fields (Fig. 5)






Fig. 5 - samples of three possible term total calculation methods
 
Attendance codes are displayed for each student in a spreadsheet grid-type display showing each period as a row and each valid attendance day as a column (Fig. 7). If a cell is totally blank, with no place holder codes, it means the student is not scheduled for any classes on that particular day and period.

If the student is not scheduled for any classes at all in the selected term a "No Schedule Records" message will be displayed in place of the grid (Fig. 6).


Fig. 6

Upon opening, the grid columns will automatically adjust left to right to display, in the leftmost column, the nearest date to today's date. (This default column positioning may be turned off in the Preferences dialog. See Step 6.3.3). Use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars to go to a general target area in the calendar. To view attendance details of a specific day in a specific period, use the arrow keys, Tab key, or mouse click to move the focus to the target cell until it is highlighted in blue (Fig. 7/8). Course/Section details for the selected cell, such as Name of course, Room number, Attendance code description, Teacher, Cycle Day, etc. will be displayed above the grid.


Fig. 7 - sample attendance spreadsheet for a negative attendance track


Fig. 8 - sample attendance spreadsheet for a positive attendance track

Multiple Entry lines for the same period
Sometimes a student may have multiple entry lines for the same period. There are two possible reasons for this:
 

1. Concurrent course sections -

The student may be scheduled in more than one course in the same period on the same cycle day. An example of this is illustrated in Figs. 9 & 10 below. In cases of concurrent course sections (called "segments") there will be a line for each course labeled with the same Period marker so that attendance for each course can be tracked separately. For more information on concurrent scheduling see Student Schedule Editor.


Fig. 9 - first line of Period 2 displays attendance codes for "AM POL"


Fig. 10 - second line of Period 2 displays attendance codes for the concurrent course of "POL SYS"
 

2. Schedule Changes

A second possible reason for multiple entry lines is schedule changes. In the middle of a term, if a student drops a course and adds a different course to replace the dropped course (same period), the attendance grid will create a new line for the same period for the added course section (Fig. 11). The new line is created for purposes of clarity, i.e., to draw attention to the user that a schedule change has occurred. In these cases, there will be blank cells (indicating no scheduled course) leading up to the schedule change on the line representing the added course and blank cells following the schedule change on the line representing the dropped course. However, for the ease of use during data entry, the two lines may be merged using the Merge Data command. When two or more lines are merged in this fashion there will be no blank cells because all the cycle days for the period are scheduled. This may be done in the read-only mode or the edit mode. See Step 6.6 for Merge Data instructions in the edit mode.


Fig. 11
 

6.3.1 Open the 'Preferences' dialog
Select "Preferences" from the File menu (Fig. 12) or press Ctrl+P on the keyboard to open the 'Preferences' dialog (Fig. 13)

Fig. 12

Fig. 3 -  Preferences dialog

6.3.2 Set Term Totals default calculation method
Term totals are derived from the absence codes entered in the grid. Various attributes have been assigned to each absence code during the configuration of SIS 2000+ by checking or unchecking logical fields in the Attendance Code table using the Table Editor application. According to those attributes, the current option selected in the Base Unexcused and Excused Totals on option group will affect the way the term totals are calculated, as follows:

• Apportion Flag in the Attendance Definition Table -

Student is considered absent for funding purposes.
• Compulsory Flag in the Attendance Definition Table -

Indicates excused or unexcused absence for state compulsory education. For example, in California, absence due to religious holidays is considered an excused absence for compulsory education laws.
• Course Credit Flag in the Attendance Definition Table -

To be used in districts where attendance, or lack of it, has an effect on granting credit. For example, in school districts when a student has more than 10 unexcused absences the student may lose credit for the course.

The current selection will be displayed above the Term Totals fields on the main screen (Fig. 5).

6.3.3 Set 'Reposition student to today's date'

• On -

The leftmost attendance date column in the grid will default to today's date when a new student record is opened or navigated.
• Off -

When a new student record is opened or navigated, the leftmost attendance date column in the grid will default to the last date displayed in that position in the previous record opened.

6.3.4 Set Merge Cells
The merge feature can be set to default to On or Off whenever the application is opened. The merge feature can also be toggled on or off during operations by using the "Merge Cells" command in the 'Options' menu (See Step. 6.6).

6.3.5 Set Advanced preferences
Use the Tab key to move the focus to an option group. Then click on the Advanced command button to open the 'Advanced Preferences' window (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14 -- sample Advanced Preferences for the Reposition Students option.
 

• Select the Type/Level (District or School) that the option is to be applied to.
• Enter comments in the Notes field.

Click on the Done command button to save the advanced preferences or Cancel to close the window without saving changes.

6.3.6 Save all Preferences
Click on the Done command button in the 'Preferences' dialog screen to save all preferences or Cancel to close the dialog without saving changes.
 
 

6.4.1 Select a group
In the upper right hand corner of the screen is the Group field (Fig. 15), displaying the current group of student records that is selected for viewing or searching.

Fig. 15

To activate a particular group, click on one of five Student Group Selection Buttons in the Student Banner in the upper right of the screen. Selecting the appropriate Group will facilitate a more organized and efficient user interaction with the program and will narrow the search time when finding a student record.
 

"User-defined group"
is a shortcut to open a list of user-defined student groups created in the Group Editor program. Make a selection from the list and return to the host program.

"Currently Active Students"
selects only those students who currently have a Student Status of "Active". This is the default group selected whenever the host program is first opened.

"All Students this Year (active and inactive)"
selects active and inactive students of the current school year.

"Future Students"
selects only those students who have a Student Status of "Future", such as student records that are being prepared ahead of time for next semester or next year enrollment.

"Inactive (withdrawn) students for this year"
selects only those students with a Student Status of "Inactive" in the current school year.

 

6.4.2 Three search methods
Once the target group has been selected using the Student Group Selection Buttons, there are three methods available for finding a student record:
 

• Scroll Search


Scroll forward or backwards through the selected group of student records using the VCR buttons at the bottom of the screen.
 
• The Find command


Click on the Find button at the bottom of the program screen (or press ALT+F on the keyboard). Or, as an alternative to clicking with the mouse, move the focus to the Find button using the TAB key and then press Enter to initiate the command. The 'Find Student' form will appear (Fig. 16).


Fig. 16 - sample search criteria

The quickest way to find a student is to enter the student Identification number and click on the List button. If the number is valid the application will open directly to that student's record. However, if the ID number is not known, any combination of fields may be used in a search. The form has eight student demographic fields to search on. Enter search strings into data fields and click on the List command button to begin a search (click on Clear to delete all data and start again or Cancel to exit the form). Remember that only those student records that satisfy all criteria will be retrieved.


Fig. 17 - candidates retrieved in a search on Last Name of "Smith", Gender of "Female", and Track of "T"

If a unique match is found, the application will open directly to that student's record. If no match is found, a "No Match" error message will occur. If there is more than one student in the school site with the same criteria, a selection list will open showing possible candidates in the search (Fig. 17). Compare the data in the [ID] (student identification number), Gender, Trk (Track), Birth Date and SNN (Social Security Number) fields. Select the correct student by clicking on the entry line until it is highlighted in gray and then clicking on the Select command button. The view will open to the student's record in the application (or click on the Find command button to return to the 'Find Student' form or click on Cancel to exit the Find procedure).
 

• The List command


Click on the List command button at the bottom of the program screen. A selection list of all students in the currently selected Group will be displayed, listed in alphabetical order by last name (Fig. 18). The Student ID number is displayed in [brackets] after each name followed by the Gender code, Track code, Grade level, Birth Date, and Social Security number of the student. Scroll up or down to find a student, highlight the target name, and click on the Select button to go to the student's record (or click on the Find command button to go to the 'Find Student' form or click on Cancel to exit the selection list).


Fig. 18

List command shortcut #1: Jump directly to the beginning of any alphabetical group in the list by typing a letter on the keyboard.

List command shortcut #2: Enter the first few letters of the last name of the target student in the Search field. As the search string is entered, the focus will jump to the first qualifying last name in real time (Fig. 19).


Fig. 19
 

Note on Students Enrolled in more than one track:  A student who is enrolled in more than one track simultaneously at the same school site will have a separate record for each track in all SIS 2000+ "banner" applications. This will result in a multiple listing for that student in the 'Find Student' screens (Fig. 19). When selecting a student with multiple tracks, be sure to select the correct track for processing. The track is indicated by the track code in the Trk column.    Fig. 19

 
 

6.5.1 Select a Term to edit
From the main screen of the selected student, select a term to edit from the drop-down list in the Term field (Fig. 20). All terms for the current school year in which the selected student is enrolled are displayed, along with the date range and corresponding track for each term. (Terms are defined in the Track Editor program.)


Fig. 20 - example of term selection for a student enrolled in a single track

If a student is scheduled in more than one track simultaneously in the same school, terms for all tracks will be available for selection (Fig. 21).


Fig. 21 - example term selection for enrolled in two tracks simultaneously

6.5.2 Activate Edit mode
Click on the Edit command button to activate the edit mode. The attendance grid will turn from gray to white. The cells in the grid represent the intersection of a date and a period. Only those dates/periods in which the student is scheduled will be highlighted in white. Cells representing dates/periods in which the student is not scheduled will be highlighted in red.

Depending on the track definition, attendance will default to either "assumed present" (negative attendance) or "assumed absent" (positive attendance). The example in Fig. 22 is that of a negative attendance track. In this sample, the default place holder code for "assumed present" is a period (.). As attendance is taken day to day and entered into the system via the Rapid Entry, Attendance Class Entry, or Attendance Scanning interfaces, the attendance codes entered overwrite the default place holder codes and will become visible in this grid when it opened.


Fig. 22 - negative attendance track

6.5.3 Select date/period to edit
Valid attendance dates are displayed as columns in the calendar. Periods are displayed as rows. Use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars to go to a general area in the calendar. Then use the arrow keys, Tab key, or mouse click to move the focus to a cell representing the day and period to edit until it is highlighted in blue. Course/Section details for the cell selected, such as Name of course, Room number, Attendance code description, Teacher, Cycle Day, etc. will be displayed immediately above the grid (Fig. 23).


Fig. 23 - Monday, February 10th/Period 1 selected for editing
 
 
 

Teaching Assistant flag -  If the current student is enrolled in the selected course as a teaching assistant, a (TA) flag will precede the course name in the Course/Section field in the main screen (Fig. 24).    Fig,. 24 - Teaching Assistant  flag

 

6.5.4 Enter an Attendance Code
Press Shift+? on the keyboard to open a list of attendance codes (Fig. 25). Select (highlight) an attendance code to enter. Click on the Select command button to enter, or Cancel to abort. The code entered will overwrite the existing code in the cell (Fig. 26).


Fig. 25


Fig. 26

Editing Multiple Entry Lines for the same Period
Sometimes a student may have multiple entry lines for the same period. There are two possible reasons for this.
 

1. Concurrent course sections -

The student may be scheduled in more than one course in the same period on the same cycle day. An example of this is illustrated in Figs. 27 & 28 below. In cases of concurrent course sections (called "segments") there will be a row with the same Period marker for each course so that attendance for each course can be tracked separately. Place holder codes or other attendance codes will occupy all scheduled cells. Enter attendance codes in the normal fashion. For more information on concurrent scheduling see Student Schedule Editor.


Fig. 27 - first line of Period 2 displays attendance codes for "AM POL"


Fig. 28 - second line of Period 2 displays attendance codes for the concurrent course of "POL SYS"
 

2. Schedule changes -

A second possible reason for multiple entry lines is schedule changes. In the middle of a term, if a student drops a course and adds a different course to replace the dropped course (same period), the attendance grid will create a new line for the same period for the added course section. See Step 6.6 for instructions on how to edit this configuration.
 
6.5.5 Save



Click on the Save command button to post all changes to the attendance records, or Undo to cancel. Changes made in this spreadsheet will be reflected in the Attendance Class Entry application (See Sec 4).
 
 

Fig. 29 - unmerged entries for Period 2, indicating a schedule change on 9/22. Edit mode.

For the ease of use during data entry, the two lines may be merged using the "Merge Cells" command. Although the 'Preferences' dialog is used to set the default setting for the merge feature (see Step 6.3), the "Merge Cells" selection in the Options menu (Fig. 30) can be used to toggle the merge feature on or off during operations.

Fig. 30

In the example below (Fig. 31) the two entry lines for Period 2 were merged. This is possible as long as there are no overlapping (concurrent) course sections (called "segments") in a cell, i.e., the schedule change was done in an orderly fashion - the new class was added the day after the original class was dropped. When data is merged, the only way the user can detect a schedule change is by highlighting a the cells in the line and reading the Course/Section description in the data fields above the grid. Data can be unmerged by deselecting the 'Merge Data' entry in the Options menu.

Fig. 31 - merged entry lines for Period 2. Edit mode.
 
 
6.7 Preview/Print Attendance Spreadsheet data
All attendance codes recorded for a specified date range within the selected term of an individual student may be printed in a proprietary report from within this application. The report is formatted much like the attendance spreadsheet appears on the screen, displaying each calendar day in the term as columns from left to right with the attendance codes entered for each period. The number of pages required in a report depends on the date range specified; one page can display 36 days. Term totals are displayed under the header of the report. A legend for the attendance codes appears at the bottom of each page (Fig. 32).

Fig. 32 - sample report
 

Teaching Assistant flag -  Courses in which the student is enrolled as a teaching assistant will be preceded by a (TA) flag in the Spreadsheet Attendance report.

 

6.7.1 Find a student (see Step 6.4)

6.7.2 Select a term to report (see Step 6.5.1)


Fig. 33

6.7.3 Initiate



Click on the Print command button. This action opens the 'Reporting Period' dialog (Fig. 34)


Fig. 34

6.7.4 Define a date range for reporting
There are two methods of defining a data range in the 'Reporting Period' dialog. Select a method by clicking in the radio buttons of either Attendance Month or Custom:
 

• Attendance Month method -

An "Attendance month" is a date range defined for attendance purposes, roughly corresponding to each month in a track. Attendance months are pre-defined in the track calendar of a track via the Track Editor application for each track in the database according to district or state requirements. A date range for an attendance month commonly (but not always) ranges from the first school day to the last school day of each calendar  month in the  track. The months are coded numerically ascending as "1", "2", "3", and so on, representing the first, second, third attendance months, etc. in the track's calendar. For example, if the first day of school starts on September. 1, the range of attendance month "1" could be September 1- September 30 or if the first day of school starts on August 31 the range of attendance month "1" could be August 1- September 30, and so on.


Fig. 35 - sample Attendance Month date range

In the From Month field, select a attendance month code to begin the reporting period. In the To Month field select an attendance month code to end the reporting period (Fig. 35). The attendance month range selected must fall within the date range of the current term selected for reporting (the default values will begin and end with the first attendance month in the date range of the term selected for reporting). The beginning and ending calendar dates of the attendance month range defined will automatically be displayed in the From Date and To Date fields on the right side in the read.
 

• Custom method -


Fig. 36 - sample custom date range

When this option is checked, the attendance month range fields are disabled and the From Date and To Date fields are enabled. Here, a custom date range can be defined by entering beginning and ending dates into the fields (Fig. 36). The date range defined must be within the date range of the selected term. Use the drop-down calendars activated by the field buttons for convenient date selection.
 

6.7.5 Continue
After a date range is defined, click on the Print command button in the 'Reporting Period' dialog box (or Done to cancel the report process and return to the main screen). In the dialog box that appears (Fig. 37), answer "Yes" to preview the report or "No" to send the report directly to the printer without previewing.


Fig. 37

If "Yes", the print preview will open. After viewing the preview, press Esc to exit the preview. In the dialog box that appears (Fig. 38) answer "Yes" to print the report or "No" to close the preview without printing.


Fig. 38
 
See Reports & Reporting for information on other standard SIS 2000+ Attendance Reports.