ATTENDANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE
WEBCAST TRAINING
MARCH 20, 2008
School Operations is dedicated to improving student achievement through the collaboration of the various sites under our umbrella.
Agenda
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Overview of Student Attendance Policy
Attendance Review Committee Responsibilities
Risk Factors Associated with Poor Attendance
Strategies for Increasing Attendance
What Works
Attendance Tools
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Principal Viewer of the Electronic Gradebook
Instructional Planning System (IPS)
Student Portfolio
Other Monitoring Reports
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
Best Practices
Other Resources
Attendance Review District Support Contacts
ATTENDANCE POLICY OVERVIEW
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The attendance policies are designed with the expectancies that:
- School attendance will be taken daily.
- Attendance will be monitored with early intervention applied
- Students will be present at school each and every day
- Students will attend class(es) as scheduled
- Students will arrive at school and class(es) on time
- Students will demonstrate appropriate behavior and a
-readiness to lean
- The school will provide a rigorous course of study
Board Rule – 6Gx13-5A-1.041
Student Attendance Reporting Procedures Grades PK-12 Handbook 2007-08
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ATTENDANCE POLICY OVERVIEW
(cont.)
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Official Daily School Attendance (ODSA) must be taken daily and reported
daily.
The reporting of attendance comes from the Electronic Gradebook.
Principals are reminded that attendance will be taken within the first hour of the
instructional day.
Elementary Schools – Period HR
K-8 Centers - PK (pre-kindergarten), HR Period (PK-5)
00 Period (advisement 6-8)
Middle Schools – 00 Period (advisement) (period 07 Mac School)
Senior High - Period 01 for straight schedules
- Periods 01 and 02 for block schedules (odd/even split with
periods 1,3,5 and 2, 4, 6)
Schools must create master schedules accordingly to avoid
attendance reporting problems and corrections.
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ATTENDANCE POLICY OVERVIEW
(cont.)
• Absences will initially be recorded as unexcused in the
Integrated Student Information System (ISIS). The
status of the absence will be changed, if appropriate,
based on the reason provided for the absence.
Documentation must be provided within three (3) days
upon the return of the child to school.
• Absences that are initially recorded as unexcused, if
appropriate, must be changed manually in the
Integrated Student Information System (ISIS) from
unexcused to excused.
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ATTENDANCE POLICY OVERVIEW
(cont.)
• A student accumulating ten (10) or more unexcused
absences in an annual course or five (5) or more
unexcused absences in a semester course will have
quarterly, semester and final grade(s) withheld pending
an administrative screening and completion of assigned
interventions by the Attendance Review Committee
(ARC).
• Grades will be reflected in ISIS and on report cards as
“NG – Grades withheld due to unresolved attendance”
until attendance review committee activities are
completed.
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ATTENDANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE
• The objective of the ARC is to intervene early and review the
circumstances surrounding student absences.
• The ARC is to be comprised of a minimum of a student services
representative and an administrator.
• The ARC must convene a minimum of six (6) designated times a
year
• The ARC is charged with the responsibility of prescribing activities
designed to mitigate the loss of instructional time and establish a
time for completion.
• The ARC has the authority to temporarily withhold grades.
• The ARC has the authority to recommend the release of grades.
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Risk Factors
Government
Assistance
Substance
Abuse
Child Abuse
& Neglect/
Abandonment
Domestic
Violence
Multiple
Siblings
POOR
ATTENDANCE
Mental
Illness
Parent
Unemployed
Single
Mother
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Criminal
Background
Parent is
a Dropout
Strategies for Increasing Attendance
 Sound and reasonable attendance policies with
consequences for missing school.
 Early interventions, especially with elementary students
and their families.
 Targeted interventions for students with chronic
attendance problems, such as truancy reduction
programs—both school and community based.
 School-wide attendance incentives.
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Strategies for Increasing Attendance (cont.)
 Strategies to increase engagement and personalization
with students and families that can affect attendance
rates:
 family involvement,
 culturally responsive culture,
 smaller learning community structures,
 mentoring, advisory programs,
 maximization and focus on learning time, and
 service learning
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What Works
• Provide a continuum of supports to students, including meaningful
incentives and consequences. Supports should include:
– academic (e.g., tutoring, after-school programs, creating smaller
learning communities),
– behavioral (e.g., school connections, i.e, mentoring, group or individual
counseling), family, and
– health (e.g., drug and alcohol rehabilitation).
• Meaningful incentives should be long, not short-term, and
consequences should not be punitive, but serve to keep students in,
not push them out (e.g., in-school suspensions rather than out-ofschool suspensions).
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What Works (cont.)
• Involve families in all program planning and
implementation. There must be mutual trust and
communication for families and schools to work together
to solve problems.
• Collaborate with local law enforcement, community
organizations, mentoring programs, and social services.
• Ensure building-level support and commitment to
keeping children in the educational mainstream.
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Attendance Tools
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Principal Viewer
of the Electronic Gradebook
The following functions and reports
are designed to assist in the
monitoring and reconciliation process
As appropriate, the principal may
authorize the access to other
administrators and staff
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Skipped Classes Report
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Compares 2
classes
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Absent vs.
Present
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Good start to
look for
discrepancies
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Reconcile them
in Daily Reason
and ISIS
Attendance List
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Identifies students
based on various
attendance
criteria.
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Best to search 1
hour (period) at a
time.
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Ameliorates the
group creation
process.
Daily Student Attendance Report by Period
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Compares Daily
Reason to Class
Attendance.
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Look for
students
marked Absent
in DR but
Present or
Tardy in other
classes.
Daily Student Attendance Report by Period
Student was marked as
ABSENT in Daily Reason
(and therefore ISIS), but
was recorded as TARDY
in a class later in the day.
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Attendance Tracking
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Tracks teachers who have
taken or not taken attendance
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Adds validity to the previously
mentioned reports
Attendance Tracking
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Instructional Planning System (IPS)
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• Scroll
down the
page and
click on
COGNOS
in the
bottom
right
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Common Attendance Interventions
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Student Portfolio
• 2-3 page student summary of critical indicators including:
– Student Demographics
– Attendance Information
– Home Language Information
– Latest FCAT and NRT Scores
– Special Programs
– Current and Last Three Years Grades
– Prior School Information
• Accessible through COGNOS reports (portfolio folder or
certain reports such as attendance and suspensions)
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School Operations is dedicated to improving student achievement through the collaboration of the various sites under our umbrella.
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SSW Student Background Screening (FM-7075)
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OTHER REPORTS
NG Report – Grades withheld due to unresolved absences
COGNOS
COGNOS CONNECT
PRINCIPALS
REPORTS FOR SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
SCHOOL
ACADEMIC PROGRESS
ACADEMIC GRADE MONITORING REPORT
SCHOOL LOCATION
GRADING PERIOD
SELECT NG
ON-LINE REPORT SYSTEM IN ISIS
Grade Audit Report
Grade Proof List
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
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Who needs to be involved in the ARC meeting?
– The team needs to be comprised of at least an administrator
and a student services team member, although each school
may include additional faculty members.
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What other members of the school’s faculty or
community stakeholders could be involved in an
ARC meeting?
– The school’s athletic director, school resource officer (SRO),
teacher, FDCF, local law enforcement, probation officer, school
nurse, or staff that might have information related to the
student’s absences and/or could be part of the intervention plan.
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FAQ’s (cont.)
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Can a school release one of the unexcused
absences as resolved, and maintain the other
unexcused absences as unresolved?
– Yes, each absence is independent of the other absences.
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In a block schedule school, will students who
accrue 10 or more unexcused absences by only
missing one particular block be penalized for all
classes?
– Yes, students who accrue 10 or more unexcused absences will
receive NG’s for all of their classes regardless of which series of
classes they were absent from.
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FAQ’s (cont.)
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Can a school resolve absences at the end of the
year in order to release the grades and allow the
school’s No Credit (NC) policies to apply?
– Yes, schools can release all of the grades by resolving them
and allowing the NC procedure to take place.
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How are NG’s calculated into a Grade Point Average
(GPA)?
– As with F’s, NG’s and NC’s count as an attempt but have no
point value.
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FAQ’s (cont.)
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Do schools need to meet every time a student
reaches 5 unexcused absences?
– No, the ARC team needs to meet a minimum of 6 times
throughout the school year.
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What is the role of student services staff on the
ARC?
– To be able to assist in the assessment of the issues contributing
to the student absences, collaborate with additional school
and/or community stakeholders in the development of student
interventions aimed at getting the child to attend school
regularly.
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FAQ’s (cont.)
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Are the interventions developed specifically for the student or
can they also require parental involvement?
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What if you have a parent that does not attend the scheduled
ARC for their child?
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The interventions are for the student but can require parental
involvement. Interventions that incorporate a parental involvement
component are more likely to be successful since they will be
reinforced both at school and at home.
If the parent does not attend the meeting, the meeting process should
still be followed; however, a school social worker could be asked to
conduct a home visit for the purposes of interviewing the parent and
completing a School Social Worker Truancy Screening.
FAQ’s (cont.)
• How could service data generated by ARC intervention be
utilized to improve the school’s overall attendance?
– The ARC would need to meet to review student trends related to
attendance issues and utilize pertinent data to plan school-wide
presentations aimed at improving attendance (e.g., competitions and
incentive programs).
• How do we ensure that once unexcused absences are resolved,
that grades are reconciled with EGB and ISIS?
– All schools must have a process in place to transmit changes in grade
status to the authorized data entry designee once prescribed
interventions or activities have been completed.
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FAQ’s (cont.)
• Can grades be programmatically transferred to ISIS once the
unexcused absences are resolved in the Attendance
Intervention Program?
– No. Grades will have to be manually entered into ISIS. All schools
must establish a process for the ARC to transmit recommended
release of grades and authorization for data entry into ISIS.
Note – The principal must approve input into ISIS.
• Will parents be able to view grades earned by students from the
Parent Information Viewer (PIV)?
– Yes. The report card will reflect “NG’ for students with 5
unexcused absences for a semester course and 10 unexcused
absences for an annual course. A disclaimer has been added that
indicates student grades may be withheld due to unexcused
absences.
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FAQ’s (cont.)
• Once unexcused absences have been resolved, does the “NG”
reappear in the following grading periods.
– No. After absences are noted in the Instructional Planning Tool as
“resolved” the attendance intervention starts at zero again.
• When a student transfers from another school, which school is
responsible for resolution of unexcused absences?
– Receiving school. The receiving school should have a conference
with student and parent. Establish an “Attendance Contract” at
the point of registration and treat as an ARC, and as appropriate,
resolve absences.
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BEST PRACTICES
 Combine the Attendance Review Committee (ARC) and the
Truancy Child Study Teams (TCST) when conducting
meetings. All relevant paperwork is brought to meetings such
as COGNOS and Instructional Planning System attendance
reports.
 Request that a School Social Worker Truancy Screening
Form be completed.
 Run a period by period attendance discrepancy reports from
the electronic gradebook to identify and update students who
are present, but missed homeroom for daily attendance.
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BEST PRACTICES (cont.)
 Include any other support personnel that are deemed appropriate
in the ARC/TCST process such as the cafeteria manager,
athletic coaches, school social worker, community involvement
specialist, athletic director, activities director, and/or team
leader(s).
 Establish a set schedule of meeting dates and times for
ARC/TCST committee meetings either weekly, bimonthly or
monthly, but must be completed prior to the end of each grading
period.
 Prepare all documentation prior to the actual meeting, the
attendance intervention letter automatically inputs all the
directory information.
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BEST PRACTICES (cont.)
 Motivate students to come to school through school-wide
recognition activities.
 Involve the community and ask for donations.
 Ensure that parents receive letters as soon as 3 absences
(certified mail) occur.
 Involve the Community Involvement Specialist and/or School
Social Worker.
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BEST PRACTICES (cont.)
 Conduct periodic meetings with students that have poor
attendance, include the TRUST Specialist/Guidance
Counselor and/or Occupational/Career Specialist.
 Create an attendance contract with meeting dates, goals and
objectives.
 Designate or assign personnel to call parents daily for
ARC/TCST concerns. Personal contact really works.
 Monitor the attendance bulletin and stress the importance of
good attendance.
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BEST PRACTICES (cont.)
 Schools should prioritize students for ARC reviews initially
based on number of absences, risk factors,
graduation/promotion requirements/activities.
 Schools should prioritize students for ARC reviews initially
based on number of absences, risk factors,
graduation/promotion requirements/activities.
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OTHER RESOURCES
Attendance Review Committee Toolkit
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Attendance Review Committee (ARC) Training PowerPoint (includes
Best Practices & FAQ’s)
Handbooks and User Guides
Superintendent’s Attendance Letters
Superintendent’s Notification to Parents/New Board Policy
Attendance Review Committee Notification Letters to Parents
Automated Connect-ED Sample Scripts (for 3, 5, 8, 10 unexcused and
5 consecutive student absences)
Attendance and ARC Related Weekly Briefings
There are additional categories that will be added to the Attendance
Review Committee “Toolkit” as the materials are developed including:
Frequently Asked Questions, Best Practices and Contact Numbers.
ATTENDANCE REVIEW DISTRICT
SUPPORT CONTACTS
Louis J. Algaze
Principal
Hialeah Gardens Senior High
Pr7191@dadeschools.net
Linda Amica-Roberts
Principal
Coconut Palm K- Academy
LAmica@dadeschools.net
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ATTENDANCE REVIEW DISTRICT
SUPPORT CONTACTS continued
Edward Bernard
Director, Technology Solutions
EBernard@dadeschools.net
Manuel Garcia
Principal
G. Holmes Braddock
MSgarcia@dadeschools.net
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ATTENDANCE REVIEW DISTRICT
SUPPORT CONTACTS continued
Faye Lamonte Haynes
Executive Director,
School Operations
fhaynes@dadeschools.net
Arnold Montgomery
Principal
Andover Middle School
amontgomery@dadeschools.net
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ATTENDANCE REVIEW DISTRICT
SUPPORT CONTACTS continued
Daniel Ore
Director, School Social Work
Dore@dadeschools.net
Jorge Rivas
Staff Specialist
JRivas@dadeschools.net
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ATTENDANCE REVIEW DISTRICT
SUPPORT CONTACTS continued
Yvette Senior-Stewart
Attendance Services Coordinator
YStewart@dadeschools.net
Michael Slakman
School Application Support Analyst
Agrigator89@dadeschools.net
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ATTENDANCE REVIEW DISTRICT
SUPPORT CONTACTS continued
Mary Snipes
Administrative Director
Attendance Services
msnipes@dadeschools.net
Felix Zabala
Assistant Principal
G. Holmes Braddock
FelixZ@dadeschools.net
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Mark Zaher
Director, Juvenile Justice
MZaher@dadeschools.net
Technical Assistance
Support Services
305-995-3705
Option Zero
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Discussion
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