Illuminate Education designed the attendance module with flexibility and accommodation of needs in mind. Please verify with your business office or the administration over funding categories prior during set-up; we encourage you to complete these precautionary steps prior to the attendance taken on the first day of school. Attendance funding categories and Average Daily Attendance (ADA) are tied to student attendance based on the student's scheduled courses/sections.
Proper setup of Calendars, Day Types, Timeblocks, and Timeblock occurrences are critical for accurate attendance reporting.
The software ties ADA to scheduling. It defaults funding categories to Regular Education (K-12). Sessions, course or sections which do not fall under the Regular Education funding category will need to be managed as an exception.
Funding Categories
By default, the system is set up to use the most common funding categories. This includes Regular Ed, Special Ed, Home Hospital, and Long Term Independent Study.
Attendance Programs and Attendance Program Sets
By default, the system is set with the most common Attendance Programs and Attendance Programs Sets. Some examples of Attendance Programs would be Regular Education grades 1-3, Regular Education grades 4-12, and Regular Education Grade K. They are separated into different Attendance Programs because each grade level requires a different number of minutes. An example of an Attendance Program Set would be Regular Education K-12 which would bundle all of the example Attendance Programs, mentioned earlier, into one manageable bundle.
Note: Regular Education K-12 is the default program for all sessions, departments, courses, sections, and students until they are manually edited by the the site/district.
Attendance Flags
The Attendance Flag is a mark assigned by a teacher or front office. The Attendance Flags award the ADA funding categories scheduled to the student. When a teacher or front office assigns an Attendance Flag, the student attendance will determine the ADA funding based on the students' schedules. Districts can create and manage their own custom Attendance Flags and determine which user roles can use each flag. For example, the teacher role in most districts may see a limited Attendance Flags such as Absent and Tardy while the front office sees a wider range of Attendance Flags, such as Excused, Unexcused, and Suspended.
Enrollment Programs
A student's Attendance Enrollment Program does not determine ADA. However, it is still important for Class Size Reduction (CSR) Reporting and identifying discrepancies by verifying attendance numbers. This program is entered in conjunction with grade level when enrolling students at a site.
Reports
The big picture is shown in either the Daily ADA Report or the Hourly ADA Report, depending on the attendance program. The Cumulative Attendance Report shows student detail. Other available reports help verify student numbers.
Next Steps
See the Attendance Setup Checklist for next steps.