site settings - attendance - sis support - documentation

Site Settings – Attendance

November 28, 2018 © 2018 Tyler Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved


To schedule individual training for your district, contact [email protected].

Path: Management > Site Level > Site Settings – Attendance

Overview

This area provides instructions for performing the following functions:

▪ Define site attendance marking options and call notification options

▪ Publish the school calendar

▪ Set up the site attendance step system

Options tab

Click Edit to make changes to any of the settings.

▪ Attendance Date and Calculation – At the end of each school day, you may opt to manually

change the attendance date to the following day or let the system date set the date for you.

o Choose Manually set Attendance Date if you wish to manually set the next Attendance date

during the Summarize and Close Process each day.

o Choose Automatically set Attendance Date same as System Date if you would like the

Attendance date to set to automatically be the same as the system date. This means the

Current Attendance Date automatically shows the same as the Server’s date and requires no

manual setting.

Note: When using this method, the dates in the Daily Calendar no longer show a state of

Closed at the end of the day.

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The Closed status is not needed within Tyler SIS. It is there only for visual purposes for

manual date setting, to indicate that a date was already used and closed.

o Choose Deduct Lunch Shifts if you wish to have the minutes from the Lunch Shift Grid

automatically deducted from the appropriate period for the students’ ADA. For more

information, see the information on Lunch Shifts on page 3 of this document.

▪ Check-In/Check-Out – This feature allows Tyler SIS to calculate the number of attendance

minutes a student misses when they arrive to school late or leave school early.

1. Select the default code to use for Late Arrival when a student arrives after class has begun.

This drop-down list pulls from the Attendance Codes which are marked for partial minutes.

2. Select the default code to use for Early Dismissal when a student leaves before class ends.

This drop-down list pulls from the Attendance Codes which are marked for partial minutes.

3. Select the default code to use for Full Period Absence, when a student misses an entire

class period. This drop-down list pulls from the Attendance Codes which are not marked for

partial minutes.

4. If there is a grace period, when a student can be late without consequence, type in the

number of Grace period minutes.

Note: When a student checks in, the student is absent the number of minutes less this

number. For example, if a student arrives 20 minutes late and there is a 15 minute grace

period, they student will show as absent with a Late code for 5 minutes.

5. Check the Teacher Rosters to Use Special-Additional Attendance box if your building has

adult education classes. If checked, all attendance done through the Attendance by Class

screen is applied to Special Additional Attendance.

▪ Attendance by Class – Check the Teachers can mark students absent All Day or any Period

box if teachers keep the same roster of students all day. If checked, teachers may also edit

student attendance comments. This is typically checked on in Elementary sites.

▪ Auto Withdraw

1. Check During Summarize and Close to automatically withdraw students who have a

minimum number of consecutive full day absences, then type in the number of days. Select

the appropriate withdraw code from the Use Withdraw Code drop-down list.

Note: This option works only when Manually set Attendance Date option has been

selected. This is because the action is taken at the time the user closes the current day

attendance and selects the next attendance date when using the View/Maintain >

Attendance > Summarize and Close this Date feature.

It does not work with the Automatically set Attendance Date same as System Date

option.

2. To keep students enrolled who are absent due to suspension or other reasons, enter the

code(s) in the Exclude Suspension codes field, separated by commas.



Calendar Tab

Schools may create more than one schedule: a default schedule, a schedule for any grade level, or schedules for individual students. You may set up a block schedule (alternating days) or a traditional master schedule. For each schedule type, you also need to look at the Days Groups when you create or maintain courses in Site Subjects and Sections.

Note: All settings at the top half of the screen, with the exception of the Daily Absence

Computation Method, are Site Wide. If you are using Additional Daily Calendar the

selections made here must encompass all of your site calendars.

Maintain Dates

Before creating the school calendar, indicate dates that will be skipped when the calendar is published.

1. Before clicking Edit on the Calendar tab, click Maintain Dates.



2. The Skip Dates When Publishing screen displays.

3. If the Central Office has already entered these dates for the district, click Copy Dates from CO Site.

4. To add a date, click Add and type the Date and Description.

5. To delete a date, click the trash can icon .



6. Click Done to save and return to Site Settings - Attendance.

Maintain Lunch Shifts

Use this feature to remove lunch minutes from being calculated for students’ ADA, based on the lunch shift identified in the students’ Course Assignments screen. This field is pulled from the site sections to which the student is assigned.

1. Before clicking Edit on the Calendar tab, click Maintain Lunch Shifts.

2. Click Edit, click Add New Lunch Shift, and type in the name of the Lunch Shift in the text box.

3. Double click under Lunch Code in the table to type the codes which have been used in your site

sections.

4. Tab to the Start Time field to enter the time when students with that lunch code go to lunch.

5. Tab to the Length field to enter the number of minutes students with that lunch code are at lunch.

Attendance minutes will be removed during this time for all students with the assigned lunch code.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 for each code to add more lunch codes as needed.

7. If there are any extraneous codes, click the trash can icon to delete them.

8. To create an additional set of lunch shifts for another calendar, repeat steps 2-6.

9. Click Apply to save and continue or Done to save and return to Site Settings - Attendance.

10. To remove a set of lunch shifts, click and then click .

Daily Absence Computation Method

Click Edit to set Full and Half Day absence calculations by specifying a Daily Absence Computation Method. This feature affects the Attendance Step System and Report Cards.

Note: Due to state specific rules regarding attendance calculations, this feature is not

available in IL or WI.



MO schools that participate in the state’s A+ program must use the either “By Number of

Minutes Absent”, or “By Number of Minutes Absent (same calc all Gr).

Options 3 and 4 are helpful when a building has a lot of students with partial schedules who

do not follow a certain a number of minutes.

▪ By Number of Minutes Absent – Uses Min. Full-/Half-Day Absence Length and K Min. Full-/Half-

Day Absence Length to evaluate absence minutes then report Half or Full day absence.

▪ By Number of Minutes Absent (same calc all Gr) – For all grades, uses Min. Full-/Half-Day

Absence Length to evaluate absence minutes to report Half/Full day absence.



▪ By Number of Minutes Present -- Uses Min. Full-/Half-Day Absence Length and K Min. Full-

/Half-Day Absence Length to evaluate present minutes to report Half/Full day present.

▪ By Percent of Day Absent (by period) with entries for % Half/Full Day Abs – Calculates if

absence is equal to or more than the percent of periods indicated as Half/Full Day absence (e.g.,

student absent 1 period is absent 14% of periods, so half day absence).



▪ By Percent of Day Absent (by minute) with entries for % Half/Full Day Abs -- Calculates if the

minutes of absence is equal to or more than the percent of scheduled minutes indicated as

Half/Full Day absence (e.g., student scheduled for 451 minutes is absent 50 minutes, more than

10%, so reports half day absence).

Publish the Default Calendar

All school attendance dates may be published in advance. Based on the settings selected, all Monday through Friday dates are created.

1. Click Edit to include a zero period, change the number of periods, start times, length of each

period, or A/B/C day settings.

2. Check the Day Start with zero Period box if you wish to include a zero hour. Zero hour is

typically a period that is before the start of period one.

3. Type the Max Number of Periods your building uses.

4. Select the appropriate A/B Day option and click Update Display. See the Quick Reference Sheet,

Example Bell Schedules, for further instructions on the various schedule types.

5. Check Use any A/B setting only for configuration of Alternating Method below if absences

and tardies occurring on different day types should be tallied together for the Attendance Step

System. Uncheck to tally different day types independently. If checked, period settings are still

pulled from the grid, but the A/B day type will always be Regular on the School Calendar screen.

For example: Suppose your A/B schedule is

A day: Periods 1, 3, 5, and 7

B day: Periods 2, 4, 6, and 7



If a student has accumulated 3 absences in period 7 on A days and 2 absences in period

7 on B days, check the Publish All Days as Regular box to give the student a count of 5

absences in period 7. This will accumulate only for classes marked as Regular in the Site

Sections screen. Uncheck the box to keep the A Day/B Day counts separate for all

sections.

6. In the Regular. A-Day, and B-Day columns enter the start time for each period in the Start column

and number of minutes for each period in the Length column. The Length refers to attendance

minutes for state reporting. If using the lunch shifts feature, include the lunch minutes in the

length; they are removed appropriately based on student Course Assignments. The Total is

updated as minutes are entered.

a. The Regular column is typically used for days when all classes meet.

b. Use the A-Day, B-Day, and C-Day columns to create additional bell schedules for those day

types.

c. Periods that do not meet on a particular day type may be left blank.

7. Enter the minimum number of minutes a student is absent before the student is designated as

missing a full day in the Length column of the Min. Full-Day Abs row.

8. Enter the minimum number of minutes a student is absent before the student is designated as

missing a half day in the Length column of the Min. Half-Day Abs row.

9. Repeat steps 7-8 for Kindergarten students in the Min K Full-Day Abs and Min. K Half-Day Abs

rows. This is required even if you do not have Kindergarten at your site.

10. Type the first day of school in the Starting date field and the last day of school in the Ending date

field, or use the calendar icons.

11. To the right of the screen, are the weekly settings. See the Quick Reference Sheet, Example Bell

Schedules, for further instructions on weekly settings.

12. Click Publish Calendar if you wish to publish all attendance dates for the school year in advance.

Once the calendar has been published, click Apply, then Maintain Daily Calendar to edit any school days with differing attendance minutes (e.g., half days). Dates may be added, removed, and edited in the Daily Calendar. You may also publish dates as your school days occur. Dates must be added to the calendar before Current Day Attendance may be taken. See the Quick Reference Sheet, Maintain Calendar, for more information on this topic.

Return to the Attendance configuration screen only for scheduling changes which require you to re-publish the calendar.

Adjusting A/B Days

When inclement weather, holidays, etc. require you to manually adjust the A/B days, return to the Attendance configuration to reset the alternating week in the calendar and re-publish it. Open dates may only be re-published if attendance does not yet exist for the date.

You may also manually reset each day in the calendar by clicking Maintain Daily Calendar, but this is a more time-consuming task if you have already published the school calendar in advance.



Publishing Special Calendars

Special Calendars are created for students who are part-time or otherwise do not follow the regular calendar or bell schedule.

1. Select Add New Calendar, then choose Special.

2. Enter the Description of the calendar and click Continue.

3. Select settings and publish the calendar.

4. Click Add Student to add students to this calendar.

The Special calendar is used for all attendance functions for these students. This includes expected attendance, ADA, and State Reporting.

Step System tab

The Attendance Step System may be used for multiple tracking groups. For example, you may create one to track attendance by period, one to track attendance by day, and one to track tardiness.

Step Letters

Before you create your tracking steps, you must create the letters that will be assigned to each step.

1. Click Reports > Student > Setup System Letters and Free-Style Reports.

2. Select Attendance Step System from the Area drop-down list. The screen refreshes, displaying

all existing letters for that area.



3. To edit an existing letter, click the edit icon ( ). To create a new letter, click Add. The Maintain

Letter screen displays.

4. In the General section, type a Name and Description for the letter and verify the Area.

5. Select whether the letter will be available to only you, all users at your site, or all users district-

wide from the Usage Permission drop-down list.

6. Select the appropriate Print Options. The default settings are as follows:

• The page orientation is portrait.

• Tyler SIS prints the school’s name, address, and telephone information on the top center of

the letter.

• District logo is included.

• The student’s name is printed as first last.

• The home address is printed lower, to be seen through an envelope’s address window when

the letter is tri-folded.

• Letters are sent to primary parents only, using the proper mailing name in all caps (email is

not sent).

• The body of the letter begins with “Dear XXXX” using the proper mailing name.



7. Click the Letter Body 1 tab to type the portion of the letter that displays above the attendance

summary data that is included.



8. To include a Student Data Field, click Actions > List Student Data Fields. Double-click the field

to be included (inserted between @@ and @@). Remove the data field list by again clicking

Actions > List Student Data Fields.

9. Click the Letter Body 2 tab to type the portion of the letter that displays below the attendance

summary data that is included.

10. Click Apply to save and continue or Done to save and exit.

11. Repeat this process for each distinct letter that is to be assigned to a step.



Create an Attendance Step System

1. Click Management > Site Level > Site Settings - Attendance > Step System tab.

2. Click Add New Tracking Group. The screen refreshes.

3. Type a description of the group in the Tracking Group field.



4. Tracking Options:

o Select by Days to tally the number of full and half days recorded in attendance history. The

screen refreshes. On the right side of the screen, check the codes that will not be tracked for

this group. For dual-enrolled students to be counted at all sites in which they are enrolled,

check the box Include Attendance for All Site.

o Select by Individual Periods to tally the absence codes for each period in the day. You may

choose to Ignore Repeated Steps, which will create a letter for the student only the first time

a step is reached in any period. On the right side of the screen, check the codes that will be

tracked for this group and assign a point value to each code. For example, if you would like

three E’s to be the equivalent of one point, mark E with a three in the “=1 Point” column. Once

a student has received three E’s in a single period, they will receive one point toward the

Attendance Steps. Note that Include Attendance for All Sites is not available for this option.

o Select by Totals for All Periods if the steps are not to be tracked by individual periods, but a

total of occurrences during the time frame specified. On the right side of the screen, check the

codes that will be tracked for this group and assign a point value to each code (see example

above). Include Attendance for All Sites is available for the Totals for All Periods option.

5. Consider Consecutive Counts Only – When checked, this option applies to the Tracking

Options like this:

o Withdrawal from school always restarts the consecutive count.

o Skip days (holidays, Fridays in a Monday-Thursday school) do not restart the consecutive

count.

o For the by Days tracking method, must be full-day absent to maintain the consecutive count.

o For the by Individual Periods tracking method, the student simply needs to be absent that

many days in a row (in the same period) to satisfy the step letter's requirements.

o Doesn't allow the combination of by Totals for All Periods tracking method and Consider

Consecutive Counts = True since they don't make sense together.

6. The Run Start Date defaults to the first day of school but may be changed.

Note: Return to this screen and change the Run Start Date if your step system restarts at

second semester. All students will restart at step 0.

7. Include Attendance for All Sites allows students who are dual enrolled to be tracked under one

Attendance Step System.

8. Assign points to the first step by clicking in the Points cell and using the spin box or typing the

number of points that generate the first step letter.

9. Double-click the Letter to Use cell to select a letter from the drop-down list. This is a list of all

letters that have been assigned to the Attendance Step System Area.

10. Click Add New Step and repeat steps 9-10 for as many steps as necessary. Letters are

generated for a student each time the student reaches a new step.

11. To delete a step, click the trash can icon . A confirmation prompt displays.

12. Click Apply to save and continue. A warning message displays. Click Apply again to save and

continue or Done to save and exit.

Note: Done or Apply changes this step definition reflect changes to the previous batch

runs.

13. To create another tracking group, follow steps 2-13.



Edit or Disable a Tracking Group

1. Select the Tracking Group from the drop-down list.

2. Click Edit.

3. Make the desired changes. To disable the tracking group, uncheck the Active box.

4. Click Apply to save and continue. A warning message displays. Click Apply again to save and

continue or Done to save and exit.

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