How to handle Short Term Independent Study Students

Illuminate has default Attendance Flags that may or may not meet your district needs. For appropriate tracking and reporting of Independent study, you will need to at least two independent study flags, but typically you will need three.

• One flag usually indicates the independent study is pending.
• A second flag usually indicates that the independent study is complete.
• A third flag usually indicates that the independent study is incomplete.

This is most often the case for districts that need to track classroom based versus non classroom based ADA.

To avoid having to change a student's schedule from a regular section to a short term independent study section, users should use Student Attendance Program Overrides. This feature allows users to set, at the student level, which attendance program the student will count for on that ADA report. Additionally, this feature allows users to set a specific date range for which the student will count for the short term independent study, thus minimizing the amount of work needed to place students into short term independent study. Once the override has been created (with start and end date), no additional work is required. It is recommended that districts use the above created Independent Study Attendance flag to ensure accurate internal reporting.

To learn more about Student Program Overrides, please click here to view the help document.

This is most often the case for districts that need to track classroom based versus non classroom based ADA. In certain instances, a large enough number of students will go onto Independent Study contracts, this necessitating the need for Independent Study courses or sections. If this is the case, the courses and sections should be tied to the Independent Study funding category. Students will then need to be scheduled to the independent study courses/sections while on a short term independent study contract.

Please note, that the above setting is most often used for Long Term Independent Study and not short term.

For certain districts and charters report Short Independent study as Regular Education. If this is the case, no extra setup is required. When taking attendance for students out on a short term independent study contract, the previously setup attendance marks should be used.