Best Practice for Recording Attendance on Exam Days

[Yaminiu]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about taking attendance on exam days in PowerSchool SIS. On a regular day, we take attendance for all blocks, but how should attendance be recorded when exams are scheduled?

For example, if Monday has a Block 1 exam, what attendance should be entered for Blocks 2 and 3 on that day? Should they be marked as "Absent," "Excused," or left blank?

Additionally, how can teachers for Blocks 2 and 3 see what attendance was recorded for students in Block 1? Is there a recommended way to ensure consistency in reporting and communication among teachers?

Looking forward to your insights!

Thanks

[ItsOnlyDoug]

So we track daily attendance through a homeroom period and our exam days are half days where 2 periods take an exam... 1 & 8, 2 & 7, etc. I build out a bell schedule for that week with the necessary periods and I sandwich the labs with the homeroom period in between...So, Monday it would be Period 1 Exam - Homeroom - Period 8 exam.

Teachers take their normal attendance each period and it is reconciled with the daily homeroom counts.

[ErinR]

We take a similar approach here.  Our schools run a four period day normally, and during exams, only one class writes.  For example, on day 1 of exams, period 1 classes write...on day 2, period 2 writes.

We adjust our bell schedules and calendars so that each day only one period runs and can have attendance taken against it.

Educators for the other periods aren't looking to see who was absent/present in our situation.

[Yaminiu]

Hello

Thanks for your response. Can i ask how to adjust the bell schedule and calendar? 

[ItsOnlyDoug]

You can create new Bell Schedules by going to School Management > Scheduling > Bell Schedules

From here you can set what periods run when...Then in the Calendar you add that bell schedule to the specific day you want it to run. That is School Management > Scheduling > Calendar 

[Yaminiu]

Thanks @ItsOnlyDoug. I think i am all set for the three exam days. What about the Recovery Day which is day 4?

[ItsOnlyDoug]

You can make as many bell schedules as you need.

[ErinR]

In our situation, when we don't need to offer exams on the last day (which I assume is like your 'recovery' day...), we put the tumble on that day back to a regular four period day, and no attendance is taken for any students.

In Ontario we need to be conscious of changing the tumble back to a four period day especially around month end.  Our provincial reporting items, like enrolment registers, use the number of minutes students were enrolled on the last day of the month.  So if we leave it as a one period day, we don't claim enough funding for each student.  Just something to be conscious of in case yours have a similar function.