Overview
Alternative schools require unique configuration requirements to ensure correct attendance reporting. The following are types of Alternative Education schools: Continuation, Community Day, some Charter Schools, and COE.
School Options ↑
Navigate to School Info > School Options to verify the settings are correct. Since this database is for Continuation School the Attendance Reporting type MUST be set to Positive.
The Attendance Type MUST be Period and the School Type may be set to Secondary or Flexible.
The Session Type MUST be Regular. This will set up the database to keep positive (hourly) attendance.
The Bell Schedule periods should be set with the correct instructional minutes offered in each period. Not to exceed 60 minutes per period. It is very important that these times are correct, including the AM/PM. This will be the key to getting correct hours per student on the Hourly Attendance Report.
Note: For Hourly Attendance Schools (Continuation, Community Day Schools, etc,) per Ed Code, a Flex Period should not exceed 60 minutes. This will ensure that teachers take hourly attendance. Multiple sections may need to be created to accommodate a class with instructional times exceeding 60 minutes.
Make sure to enter Terms based on the schedule basis of Semester or Trimester. If the options are set to Semester, you should have 1, 2, 3, 4, F, S, and Y in the term table. If the options are set to Trimester, you should have 1, 2, 3, and Y. The starting and ending dates must be valid school dates in the calendar.
Add Terms ↑
From School Options, when school has not started you will see Add New Record. Click on Add New Record and the term window will display allowing you to verify the term dates after the calendar has been created. They should be checked and corrected if needed prior to attendance being activated. Terms must to be valid school dates in the calendar.
If the terms are set up incorrectly when school starts and attendance/course attendance has been activated, you can correct the dates and the existing CAR dates will automatically be adjusted.
Create a Calendar ↑
Navigate to School Info > Calendar. A message will appear that reads You do not have any Calendar Months created yet if a calendar has never been created. The starting date will always be a Monday. If school does not start on Monday use the symbols that apply to set up the correct starting date.
Enter the date and click OK. Month one will appear allowing you to add any symbols needed for that month. Continue to add months by clicking on Add.
When all months have been added you can verify the calendar is accurate by printing it from Attendance Accounting/Reports in Navigation Attendance Calendar.
Custom Bell Schedule ↑
Navigate to Attendance Accounting > Configurations > Bell Scheduler. The Regular Day Schedule is set up in the school options and is referred to as the Default Bell Schedule. If you have a custom bell schedule this should be set up with the Bell Scheduler form. For example: Minimum Day Schedule. This option controls the time the class meets. The Block Schedule Calendar controls the days the class meets.
From the Bell Scheduler form make sure you are on the correct Key and select the correct date. Click on the Copy Schedule to this day button to attach the schedule to the day. An 'X' will appear when the custom schedule is attached.
This option is also available in the school Calendar. Navigate to School Info > Calendar. Click on the box to the left of the date the custom schedule should be attached to. Select a Key dropdown to select a schedule, then click on the Copy Schedule button. When prompted with the "Are you sure" message, select OK.
Block Schedule Calendar ↑
Navigate to Attendance Accounting/Configurations > Block Schedule Calendar. The Block Schedule Calendar controls the periods that meet on a certain day. Depending on the way your schedule is rotating you can enter an entire week and use the 1-Repeat First Week option. Or enter 2 weeks and use option 2-Repeat First Two Weeks. Add the check to the periods that classes met.
If you have the option Utilize A/B Days turned on in the School Options there will be an additional field that displays in the Block Schedule Calendar form. You will need to populate the A or B in this field.
The "A" and "B" day option appears on the section under the Split Term field in the Master Schedule and Scheduling Master Schedule.
Update Absence Code Table ↑
Navigate to Attendance Accounting/Configurations > Update Absence Codes. Click on Add to create individual absence reasons to be used. For Continuation School/Community Day School you will need to define a minimum of A - Absent, T - Tardy, P - Present and S -Suspended.
Make sure to identify the Suspension code correctly. This will have an effect on your hourly reports when back posting is used. Additional codes may be added if necessary.
More information on Absence Codes are available at the following link: Absence Codes.
Teacher Portal Attendance ↑
When using positive hourly attendance, you need to mark all students absent, present, tardy, etc leaving no blanks. This is the required process for taking hourly attendance.
Adding Attendance by Student ↑
Positive attendance is supposed to be taken every hour the student attends class. If attendance needs to be populated by student you can click on that period and populate the attendance code. The All Day code does not apply for Hourly Attendance.
Attendance Reports ↑
Navigate to Reports > Attendance Accounting. To eliminate errors run the Attendance Audit Listing prior to running any Monthly Attendance Reports. Make sure to always include inactive students to clear all errors and not just active students.
More information available at the following link: Attendance Audit Listing Report.
The Attendance Audit Listing should have no errors.
Print Missing Positive Attendance Listing, Print Course Attendance Audit and Print Student Attendance Percentages are reports that should also be run from the Attendance Accounting/Reports.
Print the Hourly Attendance Report for Continuation Schools
Navigate to Attendance Accounting > Attendance Process Dashboard > F. Monthly Activities > Hourly Attendance Report. Select Continuation (3 Hours Max Per Day) for "Which Report". Enter 0 to use the default bell schedule to calculate class minutes. When including passing minutes, enter the length of the passing period - Not to exceed 10 minutes and select the option Use Bell Schedule for Passing. Select the month to be printed and then Run Report.
The report will display with columns that indicate the following information:
Hours Excused = Number of hours/minutes calculated in the week as excused based on the absence code table.
Hours Unexcused = Number of hours/minutes calculated in the week as unexcused based on the absence code table.
Hours Suspended = Number of hours/minutes calculated in the week as hours suspended per defined in the absence code table.
Max Hours = Maximum number of hours a student can collect ADA for the week.
Total Appor = Number of hours a student will receive for apportionment for the week.
Hours + or - = Number of hours a student has been either credited over the max hours met or hours lost based on attendance for the week.
Hours Credited = Number of hours/minutes a student has been credited after minutes have been reclaimed for the week.
Week Credited = The date a student has been credited for attendance.
A plus sign (+) indicates that the student did attend the period and will generate ADA but there is a code other than "P" for Present in the period. For example, if a student is late to Period 1, a "T" for Tardy would generate a plus sign in the Period 1 field.
The " # " in the right hand corner indicates that the student has left and Attendance contains an L or B. The hours plus/minus column will be zero when they re-enroll.
NOTE: When block schedules are used, it is important to include both the number of minutes for passing in the Report Options along with the checkbox for "Use Bell Schedule for Passing" to get accurate calculations. The passing time is counted when there is a difference of minutes between periods.
Print Monthly Attendance Summary Report – Continuation
Navigate to Reports > Attendance Accounting > Monthly Attendance Summary / Continuation. Enter the minutes per Passing Period and select the month to print. Click on Run Report.
This report is for Continuation Schools only and needs to be run using the same options that were selected when running the Hourly Attendance Report. The maximum hours per day is always 3 even though you might have the students scheduled into more classes for academic credit purposes.
Print Hourly Attendance Report – Community Day School
Navigate to Reports > Attendance Accounting > Hourly Attendance Report. Click on the radio button next to N Hours per Day. Maximum Hours will be 6 or 7 hours. Enter 0 to default to the bell schedule. Enter the length of the passing period to 0 minutes.
Enter the attendance month to be printed. Make sure the option to allow back posting is NOT selected.
The following is an example of the Hourly Attendance Report.
Navigate to Reports > Attendance Accounting > Hourly Attendance Report/CDS. Enter the correct month and click the mouse on OK.
The following report will give you information regarding incentive funding that only applies to the Community Day School.
