I'm a dean of attendance. Where do I start?

Keeping track of student attendance is an important part of every school. With Schoolrunner, there are several ways to monitor attendance. Attendance records are created when students are marked as "absent", "tardy", etc. If students aren't specifically marked with some sort of attendance code, they're considered to be present in school. Check out the different suggestions below to see what tracking methods will work best for you and your school.

Know the Difference Between "Class" and "Daily" Attendance

There are two different attendance concepts in Schoolrunner: daily attendance and class attendance. Class attendance records represent whether a student is absent or tardy for each period of the school day. In a single day, students can have as many class attendance records as they have classes. Daily attendance, on the other hand, is a single attendance code that represents a students overall status for the day. For example, a student can be considered "Tardy" for the day while having one or more "Absent" class attendance codes. Learn more here.

Monitor Teachers' Attendance via the Staff Dashboard

If you want to make sure that teachers are taking attendance in each of their periods, using the staff dashboard is the best place. There are several columns on the staff dashboard that track class attendance. This dashboard is usually best to use on a daily basis to get a real-time view of attendance rates and gives you information on class attendance records, not daily attendance records. Schoolrunner knows which teachers are responsible for which sections based on the data we get from your SIS, so be sure that sections and periods are properly scheduled there so they show up correctly in Schoolrunner.

Use the Daily Attendance Page to Check on Records

For a quick, easy breakdown of daily attendance records, you can use the Daily Attendance page to select a date range and then order the list of results by staff member name. You can even download the results as a spreadsheet if you want.

View Attendance Rates on the Student Dashboard

You can use the student dashboard to check on overall attendance percentage. Choose a group of students and a date range to start viewing data. The "Attendance" column looks at how many school days each student has been absent for within the date range you set to give you an overall attendance percentage. Be sure to look at the bottom of the dashboard for rows that show you total and average numbers.

Create and Save Daily Attendance Reports on the Analysis Page

The Analysis page is a much more powerful way to view daily attendance records, and allows for different ways of breaking out the same data. Start by choosing the "Attendance" dataset and then:

1. choose your "Breakout" and "Series Breakout" options (try "Attendance Type" and "Staff Member" to start with)
2. click into the "Result Filters" tab
3. filter for date range and attendance types (OSS, Tardy, Absent, etc.), if desired
4. click "Load Data" to view your chart
5. click into the pivot table for more display/breakout options

Once you've configured a great report, save it so you can come back to it quickly, and share it to other users that might find it helpful!

Use the Class Attendance History Page

The Class Attendance History page lets you view and filter any class attendance record that's been logged at your school. This can be helpful for keeping an eye on how often individuals or groups of students have been missing class.

Additionally, if your SIS sends Schoolrunner your bell schedule (or if you set it up on your own), you can view a period-by-period breakdown of attendance for any given day.

Export Attendance Data Out of Schoolrunner

Schoolrunner ensures that your data is available for export. This can be useful for additional analysis or manipulation outside of the Schoolrunner system. Both daily and class attendance records can also be exported in a format friendly to PowerSchool imports.