Chapter 8A -  ENTERING ATTENDANCE

 

Before entering attendance you must have completed the preliminary procedures described in Chapter 8 - Attendance by Day.

8A.1 Attendance Input Screens

Daily absence data may be entered into the system through 5 different screens. All of these screens update the ABSE file.

·         ABSE - absence input by student

·         ATFE - attendance fast entry

·         ABIN - absence input by class

·         ABHR - absence input by homeroom

·         ABCA - attendance by calendar

 

ATFE and ABIN should only be used for the initial input of the daily attendance, i.e. entering attendance in the morning.

 

Any additions or changes should be made in ABSE rather than ATFE and ABIN. Failure to do so may result in incorrect or duplicate attendance records for a given day. ABHR can be used for initial entry and changes.

 

All absence dates are verified against P310-School Calendar and STUD/ADWD screen (admission/withdrawal dates).

 

Cumulative absence data may be manually entered into ABHI for each student at the end of the grading period, or if you have been keeping daily attendance, B115 may be used to cumulate the ABSE data into ABHI.  ABHI is absence type totals (only) for each term.

·ABHI - Student Cumulative Absence History

·B115 - Cumulative Absence History Update from ABSE

 

8A.2 ABSE - Absence Input by Student

ABSE can be accessed in ADD, CHANGE, DISPLAY or DELETE mode.

ABSE can be used to enter the daily attendance for each student. This screen may be accessed by student ID or by student name. To use the name access, press the DELETE key instead of entering an ID. You will then be prompted to enter the student's last name. You may enter all or only the first few characters of the name. The system will display the first student whose name contains the characters you entered. You may include the student's first name as part of the search, by separating the LAST and FIRST name with a single comma, no spaces. Ex. GIBSON,MEL.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

ABSE automatically displays the parent/guardian name and phone number from STUD for the HOME: information. You can optionally have 2 additional contact names and phone numbers displayed if you are using P113/CONT.  You may use P124 to bypass any fields on ABSE that are not used at your school and are not required by the system.  ALL corrections to daily attendance data should be made through ABSE.

Example 8A-1.

  Example 8A-1 ABSE - Student Absences

 

 

·         To ADD an absence, enter in the date the student was absent and an absence type from P126.

·         If you are entering an absence type with a full day qualifier (F), use the AM/PM field to indicate a half-day absence. Leave the AM/PM field blank if it is a full day absence
Enter an "A" or "P" into the AM/PM field for Kindergarten students to correctly calculate their absences.  If the AM/PM field is left blank for Kindergarten students, the system doesn't count this entry as an absence. If the KG student attends AM kindergarten, enter A in AM/PM field, and if they attend PM classes enter P for full day absences.
If you wish, you may also use the AM/PM field as an informational field for absences with a partial (P), which would include tardy and early dismissals, or not absent (N) qualifier. (Refer to P126 table)

·         PRDS and TIME are optional fields. You may enter this information if you wish.  The PRDS field is actually two fields so that you can enter a from/to range. If you are entering only one period, then just return on the other. If you enter the time field, it must be entered with four positions. For example 1:15 should be entered as 0115. (No punctuation)

 

You may enter the absence reasons and notes for all types of qualifiers. If you do not know them when entering the initial absence, you may come back later in CHANGE mode and put them in, if you so desire.

 

8A.3 ATFE - Attendance Fast Entry 

8A.3.1 P179 - Control Parameters for ATFE

P179 sets defaults for the ATFE (Attendance Fast Entry Screen).  Example 8A-2.

Example 8A-2 P179 - Control Parameters for ATFE

 

 

 

·         Define the ATTENDANCE METHOD as 1 - Half/Full Day (ABSE)

·         If UPDATE EXISTING ATTENDANCE is answered "Y", existing absence information will be overwritten by new absence information. Otherwise, a new entry will be created each time. 

NOTE: Absence Reason and Note will not be overwritten if updating attendance through ATFE.

·         If DISPLAY MESSAGE WHEN UPDATING/NOT UPDATING EXISTING DATA is answered "Y", a message will appear telling you if the attendance has been updated or not. You probably will want this set to "Y".

·         CONVERT HALF DAY TO FULL DAY - If this question is answered yes, absences for students who were entered in the morning with an AM absence and are later entered with a PM absence will be combined to form one single full day absence for that date. Otherwise 2 separate entries will be created on ABSE, one for the AM absence and one for the PM absence. This should be set to "Y".

 

ATFE can be accessed in ADD mode only and works in conjunction with P179. Like absence data can be entered for up to 20 students at a time.  Example 8A-3 shows a sample entry for ATFE - Attendance Fast Entry.

 

Example 8A-3 ATFE - Attendance Fast Entry

 

 

 

·         Use ATTENDANCE METHOD # 1-Half/Full Day (ABSE). The system will default to the current date. If you are entering attendance for a date other than the current date, enter it in the format of MMDDYY. (No / between each)

·         Enter the absence information (type, AM/PM, reason, note, and periods, time). The cursor will only stop for PERIODS and TIME if the AM/PM indicator was used.

·          Enter the ID's of the students for which the absence information is applicable. Once you have entered all of the desired student ID's, press [PF4]. Verify the information and make any corrections to student ID's if necessary. If no corrections are necessary, press <enter> and then respond with ‘Y’ to the question of “Update The Attendance (Y/N)” and press <ENTER>. The default to this response is ‘N’ and can not be changed.

 

If the AM/PM field was used and a TIME was entered into that field, the system does not clear this out automatically when you change to another absence type. Because of this, it is possible for the TIME to be carried over to a full day absence entry.

Also remember that if ‘Absence Reason:’ or Absence Note:’ are used it will apply to all students input at that time.

Also note that you must use Student ID# to input attendance through ATFE.

 

8A.4 ABIN - Absence Input By Class

8A.4.1 P137 - Defaults for ABIN

ABIN can only be used if the same class meets in the first period of the day/afternoon everyday, i.e. if the scheduling is non-rotating.  The P137 sets defaults for the ABIN (absence input by class) screen. See Example 8A-4.

 

Example 8A-4 P137 – Defaults for ABIN

 

 

·         You may leave the "default" fields blank if you prefer to enter the absence type, reason and note each time.  If, when you initially add on absence record, you want to use "A" or "U", enter the code here. Once reasons are known, you can update the ABSE record as needed.

·         If ‘USE CLASS PERIODS’ is set to "Y", the system will automatically enter the period the course meets in. If no default values are entered, the first code defined on P126, P127 and P128 will be used as the default codes.

·         If ‘ALLOW CHANGE TO INDIVIDUAL DEFAULTS’ is set to "N", you may not change the absence type, reason, note or block, which defaults. If you wanted to enter something other than the default information, you would need to do so through ABSE.

·         If ‘ALLOW CHANGE TO INDIVIDUAL DEFAULTS’ is set to "Y", the system will allow you to enter something other than the defaults while in ABIN. Most people prefer to have this field answered "Y".

·         You should answer ‘UPDATE CLIS CUMULATIVE PERIODS ABSENT FOR THIS CLASS’ with an "N". ‘CLIS CUMULATIVE PERIODS ABSENT’ refers to course/class period attendance that may be printed on the report card as absence data by class. If using this option, you must be very accurate on all absence details, such as periods, for proper updating.

 

The ABIN screen works in ADD mode only.  This is absence input by Class List.

 

Example 8A-5 ABIN - Student Absence Input by Class

 

 

 

ABIN can be used to enter daily attendance by a specific course and section. See Example 8A-5. All students in the course will be displayed. To add an absence for someone, enter the line number corresponding to his or her name.

 

After you have entered the information on the line, you will be asked if you want to add the absence to ABSE. The default is Y. Continue changing line numbers and adding absences for any other students in the course.

 

The DATE: will default to the current date on the computer. If you are entering attendance for a date other than the current date, you must make sure that you enter the correct date in the format of MMDDYY, again using NO punctuation in the date input. 

Example 8A-6 shows a sample ABIN entry.

Example 8A-6 ABIN - Sample entry

 

8A.5 ABHR – Absence Input by Homeroom

The ABHR screen works in ADD and CHANGE mode.

ABHR may be used to input daily attendance by homeroom. See Example 8A-7. Students are displayed within their homeroom with any absence records corresponding to the specified date. The number of absence records for each student on that date is displayed at the end of the line. The PF1 and PF2 keys may be used to view multiple attendance records for a given date.

 

Example 8A-7 ABHR for input of Homeroom attendance

 

To add an absence, simply enter the line number of the student you wish to add an absence for.

 

Enter a valid absence type from P126. Use the AM/PM field to indicate a half-day absence for types with a qualifier of F. Enter any other information about the absence. The number field refers to the number of absence types for that specific day and will be automatically updated by the system.

 

Corrections to attendance data can be made through ABHR or ABSE.  If unable to access ABHR or ABSE in change mode, please contact MDECA.

 

When adding attendance records using ABHR, the first absence record found for the specified date for each student will be displayed. If no match is found, a new ABSE record is created from the information entered on ABHR.