| Student management > Taking attendance

Taking attendance

You record attendance in the system by choosing an attendance code that indicates the student's status; for example, Present, Absent Unexcused, or Tardy Unexcused. To save time, each class has a default attendance code which the staff member changes only if necessary. Typically, the default code is "Present" [Figure 48].

When the staff member needs to choose a code other than the default, he or she can select from a preset list of school attendance codes. A School Administrator sets up the attendance codes [>>]. PowerSchool SMS tallies attendance according to methods and schedules set up by a School Administrator [>>].

As a Teacher or School Administrator, you take attendance for a class or homeroom; you can also view past attendance. A School Administrator can assign attendance for a future date and change past attendance, including clearing attendance records [>>]. The frequency at which you take attendance depends on the attendance-taking method in use at the school: one-daily, twice-daily, or by-class see Setting an attendance method [>>].

A class or homeroom may have a time which attendance is due to be submitted. If you are the staff member responsible and attendance is not submitted, you may receive an alert to that effect [>>]. Note: In some circumstances, system processes result in automatic attendance being assigned, such as absences for a suspended student.

You can take attendance by:

= Assigning attendance on a student roster [>>]
= Assigning attendance to one student [>>]
= Assigning attendance to various students at once [>>]

Table 16: Permissions pertaining to attendance

To

You need this permission

Details

Set to

View class attendance information

School Setup > Classes

[>>]

View

Edit class attendance information

School Setup > Classes

[>>]

Edit

View homeroom information

School Setup > Homerooms

[>>]

View

Edit homeroom information

School Setup > Homerooms

[>>]

Edit

To change an attendance code set by student behavior action steps

Attendance > Override Student Behavior Attendance

[>>]

Yes

Pearson
Always Learning
www.pearsonschoolsystems.com 
Tel: 866-434-6276
Email: psstechsupp@pearson.com