Open topic with navigation

Setting up school attendance codes

When a Teacher or School Administrator records attendance in the system, he or she chooses an attendance code that indicates the student’s status. To save the Teacher time, each class has a default attendance code (typically, "Present").

A Teacher can choose from a preset list of school attendance codes. Every school attendance code has a base type (Present, Absent, or Tardy), subtype (Unexcused), and weighting. You can reserve a code for the use of non-Teachers and set it to expire on a future date. Also, for district reporting purposes, each school attendance code is mapped to a district attendance code. A District Administrator maintains district attendance codes [State attendance code setup >>].

For each school, PowerSchool SMS includes several preset school attendance codes, such as Present (a Present type), Absent Unexcused (an Absent type), and Tardy Unexcused (a Tardy type). To supplement these, you can define additional attendance codes; for example, to record a student being absent for a field trip, to track the number of students who buy lunch in the cafeteria.

To set up a school attendance code [You can do this if your role is School Administrator.SA]:

1

In the Admin menu, click School Setup. The School Setup page appears.

2

Under Attendance, click Attendance Codes (setup list). The Attendance Codes page appears.

=

Or, in the Admin menu, click Attendance. The Attendance page appears. Under Step 2, click Attendance Codes (setup list). The Attendance Codes page appears.

3

In the Actions menu click Add Attendance Code.... The Add Item page appears.

=

To change an attendance code, in the Description column click an attendance code. The Edit item page appears. Or in the Actions menu click Edit Attendance Code....

=

To delete an attendance code, select the attendance code and in the Actions menu click Delete Attendance Code....

4

Enter or change Information, which includes:

=

Description: A clear description ("Absent - Field Trip", for example) which should be unique among the school’s codes. PowerSchool SMS uses this as the code’s name in lists visible to Teachers and others who take attendance.

=

Short code: A short code ("FT", for example) which should be unique among the school’s codes.

=

State equivalent: Maps this school attendance code to a district attendance code, which are used for reporting district attendance. A District Administrator sets up these codes [State attendance code setup >>]. Caution: Choosing this code demands care since it affects the consistency of state reporting.

=

Attendance value: Specifies the weighting given to Present, Absent, and Tardy. This enables school attendance to be tallied by value. For example, a code named "Field Trip" might have the following values: Present = 1.00, Absent = 0.00, and Tardy = 0.00.

=

Attendance type: Specifies the base type: Present, Absent, or Tardy.

=

Unexcused: For Tardy or Absent attendance types.

=

Use for intervals: The options available depend on the school’s attendance-taking method [Setting an attendance method >>]. For example, at a secondary school using daily attendance, the options Daily attendance and Class attendance would be available.

=

Teacher can use: Determines if Teachers are able to use this code.

=

Inactive as of: Enables you to set an expiry date for the use of the code. This is useful if you want to retain an obsolete attendance code in the system for reporting purposes, or when attendance tracking requirement change. Note: You cannot render inactive an attendance code that is assigned to a student behavior action [About student behavior >>].

5

Click OK.

Table 29: Permissions pertaining to attendance code setup

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