Attendance

Using the GPA Administrator application, you can both view and add attendance records for students. Begin by clicking on the Attendance icon from the Navigation Bar at the top of your window.Attendance records are shown for the current day. From the panel on the right-hand side of your window, you can select another date via the Date Picker calendar. Click on a day of the month or the < and > links to go to previous or future months. You may also click on the Yesterday and Today links in the Options section to go directly to yesterday's or today's date.Also within the Options section, you may click on Add Record to add a new attendance record, Current View to return to the current attendance view (which remembers your previous period or student selections), View Selected Student to view attendance records for the most recently selected student, or Browse Records to browse all attendance records (the default view).Further, you may view or edit the attendance codes by clicking on the Attendance Codes link. At the bottom of the right-hand panel, you will find all attendance codes. Each one is clickable. By clicking on one, attendance records matching that code are shown (e.g. click on Absent to view all attendance records regarding absences).Available Periods are also shown in the right-hand panel, allowing you to click on a period to view attendance records specifically for that period.Finally, at the top of the right-hand panel, a search box enables you to search for students by Name (first or last) or by Student ID. Partial searches are also allowed, so you need only enter part of the name of the student you are looking for. Further, search keywords are case insensitive, meaning it does not matter if you enter upper or lowercase letters (e.g. searching for "williams" will find "Williams"). After entering your search keywords, press "Enter" or click the > link to perform your search.Note that if you selected a student from another module (e.g. Students, Discipline), you will automatically be viewing his or her attendance records.

Adding or Editing Attendance Codes

Clicking on the Attendance Codes link in the right-hand panel shows all available attendance codes (e.g. "AB") and their corresponding names (e.g. "Absent"). Click on the Add link at the top of the view to add a new attendance code.For each code, click on the Details link to view details about the attendance code, including whether the student is excused and if teachers can update the attendance record. To edit such details, click on the Edit link.Adding a new attendance code and updating an existing one are both very similar.After clicking on the Add or Edit link, you are required to enter the Code Name (e.g. "Absent") and the abbreviated Short Code (e.g. "AB"). Optional parameters include the attendance code's Type, whether a student is considered Excused or not, and whether Teachers are allowed to change an attendance record with such a code.Be sure to click on the Add Code or Update Code button at the bottom of your window to add a new attendance code or update an existing one.

Adding an Attendance Record

To add an attendance record for a student, you may opt to first select the student using the Search functionality available at the top of the right-hand side panel. Note that this first step is not necessary.Click on the Add Record link in the right-hand side panel. Specify the Date, the Code, the Period, and the Student (each of which are required fields). If desired, select "All" from the Periods dropdown menu (instead of adding a separate attendance record for each period). You may also enter a Note, if desired.Be sure to click on the Add Attendance Record to add the new attendance record.

Best Practices

To help facilitate the use of the GPA Administrator application, this section describes selected best practices regarding the Attendance module.

Best Practices in Elementary Schools

In most Elementary Schools, period 0 is used to keep track of attendance. By using this approach, you do not need to add an attendance record for each period, which makes sense when students stay in the same classroom for the entire school day. So, when adding an attendance record, it is advised not to select the "All" option from the Period dropdown menu, and instead use period 0.

Best Practices in Middle and High Schools

Unlike Elementary Schools, students in higher grades typically have classes in different classrooms with different teachers. Therefore, when adding an attendance record for a student, it is advised to add such a record to each period or class the student will miss.In other words, if the student is out for the entire day, add an attendance record for each class he or she will miss. If only one period will be missed (e.g. due to tardiness or a doctor's appointment), add an attendance record only for each of the affected classes.