The Secondary: Import First Period attendance mode is very similar to the self-contained mode in that it only imports a single class for each student’s daily attendance, but it’s different in that it allows attendance to be taken in other classes. It is often used at schools where students see different teachers throughout each day.
- Secondary: Import First Period Attendance Flow Chart
- Instructors Take Period Attendance
- Admins Import Period Attendance
- Admins Manage Daily Attendance
Secondary: Import First Period Attendance Flow Chart
Instructors Take Period Attendance
Under this attendance mode, students will be in one class which imports attendance but may have attendance taken in multiple classes. The import class is usually the first period of the day. Regardless of attendance mode, teachers take period attendance the same way:
How does an instructor take period attendance?
Admins Import Period Attendance
With this step, all period attendance which instructors have entered into the import class will be copied to become students’ daily attendance values. Although it’s possible to do multiple imports, importing is typically only done once per day and after all period attendance has been entered.
The best practice is to enforce a deadline for instructors to enter attendance. For example, attendance should be finished by 15 minutes after the start of the import period, at which point the administrator will import. Any changes the instructor makes to period attendance after attendance has been imported will not reflect in daily attendance.
- Go to Admin Main > Attendance > Period Attendance Console
- Select a Date
- Import Period Attendance
- Select which classes you would like to import by checking/unchecking them. All classes with data will be selected by default. Only uncheck if you’d like to omit them from the import.
- Import
It’s possible to re-import if a teacher forgot to take attendance. All other students’ values will remain the same unless you indicate during the process, with a checkbox, that you would like to overwrite existing attendance values.
Multiple Import Periods
It’s allowed to have multiple import periods and perform multiple imports throughout the day. However, this should typically only be used when there are multiple bell schedules. If a single student were in two importable attendance classes, then the most recently imported period would override the earlier attendance.
When multiple import periods exist, the import will need to be performed for each period:
- Go to Admin Main > Scheduling > Bell Schedules
- Select daily periods on a bell schedule
- Confirm your import period is marked True under the Import Period Attendance? Column. All periods marked True will be available for import.
Admins Manage Daily Attendance
Under this attendance mode, we do not expect that, for the majority of students, their daily attendance will change from their import value. For example, we expect that the majority of students who are present at the beginning of the day will be present for the whole day and likewise with absent students.
For students who arrive late, leave early, or were missing a value at import, admins should manually update their attendance in the Period Attendance Console page. How attendance is updated will vary depending on your attendance options. Please refer to Attendance > Options to familiarize yourself with your school’s settings.
Manually select attendance codes
With this setting, you may change a student’s attendance value to any other value without restriction. Optionally, you may enter in/out times and daily attendance notes to explain the update, but this will have no effect on the attendance code you choose.
Automatic selection based on time in attendance
With this setting, the attendance codes which are available to a student depend on their calculated instructional minutes. In this attendance mode, instructional minutes may only be calculated when at least one in/out time is entered. It’s important that schools using this setting ensure that the minimum/maximum minute ranges are correct in Attendance > Attendance Codes
To update daily attendance
- Go to Admin Main > Attendance > Period Attendance Console
- Select a Date
- Optional: Check Present to monitor/update these students' attendance as well
- Click the student's name you'd like to update
- Enter an in/out time for the student (optional if you use manual selection). Use the blue plus sign to add additional entries.
- Use the attendance code drop-down to select a new code for the student. If you do not see a code appear here, it’s likely because the calculated minutes do not allow for it.
- Save