Overview
NOTE: The Calculate Attendance Totals Based on Period Attendance option was added to support changes due to COVID for the 2020/2021 school year. The option is no longer needed. Alternative Education schools will automatically be processed with Period Attendance Totals based on the School Options "Education Type" field set to Alternative Ed (LOC.TY = 1). It is advised to check the settings and verify this option is disabled.
There is a new option in Aeries that allows a school to calculate attendance totals based on period attendance. This option was added due to changes in attendance due to COVID. The option allows for period calculations to display in various areas such as the student profile and attendance history summary. This option will impact the CALPADS STAS extract by converting the period data (hourly) attendance/absence into Days that will be used when submitting STAS data to CALPADS.
The option to enable this feature is available from the School Settings page within the school site. When this option is turned on, a 'true' value will be stored in the OPT table labeled Calc AttTotOnPA for the currently logged in school site.
Make sure to log into the school being enabling, not the district. This setting must be enabled on a school-by-school basis and can not be turned on districtwide via the District database. Upon logging into the school, go to the Navigation bar and select School Settings under Pages.
In the School Settings, check the box "Calculate Attendance Totals Based on Period Attendance".
The other location that can be used to enable this feature is under Attendance History Configuration. Once the option is enabled in either page, the setting will be actively enabled in the school and a check box will display in both pages.
Configuration Settings ↑
To enable these settings from the Attendance History Configuration page, check the box Calculate Attendance Totals Based on Period Attendance? and select Save. Once the option is enabled in either page, the setting will be actively enabled in the school and a check box will display in both pages.
Next, select Update Attendance History - Update All schools Now button. This is necessary in order for the calculations to be updated in the Attendance History table (AHS). The process is a Long Running Process and will take some time to complete. An email will be sent to the user once the process has finished. A new option to add a data range is available but is not necessary when running calculations for the entire year. More information can be found in Attendance History Configuration document.
Once Attendance History has been calculated based on Period Attendance totals, various areas in Aeries will reflect the newly calculated information.
Profile ↑
On the profile page, the Periods Present will display based on the period attendance totals.
Attendance History Summary ↑
Additional information will display on this page to reflect the calculated period totals. For example, Periods Attended, Periods Absent Excused, Periods Absent Unexcused, etc.
Display Layout by Card:
Display Layout by Grid:
Attendance Page ↑
The Attendance Page will display minimal information for the student: Days Enrolled, Days with Truancies and Days Suspended.
CALPADS STAS Extract ↑
The CALPADS STAS extract will include period (hourly) attendance/absence converted into Days. The formula used to calculate this information are outlined in the following document.
The following fields in the Attendance History (AHS) table are used for the Period Attendance calculations:
PE Periods Expected to Attend
PA Periods Attended
POS Periods Absent, Out of School Suspension
PIS Periods Present, In-School Suspension
PAX Periods Absent, Excused
PAU Periods Absent, Unexcused
PIC Periods Complete Independent Study
PIN Periods Incomplete Independent Study
Below is an example of the period calculations for a student.
Attendance
Student has enrollment for 1 week (5 days):
Student has a total of 25 periods where they are expected to attend (5 days * 5 periods)
Student has 3 periods marked as absent
Attendance History
Attendance History Query:
- EN = Days Enrolled
- PE = Periods Expected to Attend
- PA = Periods Attended
- PAU = Periods Absent Unexcused
Calculation
Below is the calculation from the CALPADS Data Guide:
Days Attended PA/PE * EN 22/25 * 5 = 4.4
Days Absent Unexcused PAU/PE * EN 3/25 * 5 = .60
STAS Record
Below is a sample STAS Record for the example student:
STAS^^1234^99999999^3032919^2016-2017^CID^12003825^Student^M^^Y^5^4.40^0^0^0^0.60^0