CA: Attendance - Basic Troubleshooting

Step 1:

• Run the ADA Checker report (Attendance > (ADA 3.0 Reports) ADA Checker) to confirm the list of students missing ADA
  • This will show which students and how many days of ADA the student(s) is not counting
  • Make note of the student IDs to review

Step 2:

• Run the Cumulative Attendance Report (Attendance > (ADA 3.0 Reports) Cumulative Attendance) for the same school and reporting period
  • Navigate to the student(s) in question
  • Find the trend of the day(s) the student is showing as "Not Enrolled" (usually shows with an X to identify this)
  • Make note of the dates the student(s) show(s) as "Not Enrolled"

Step 3:

• Check the student's enrollment history (Students > (General) Enrollment History)
  • Is the student enrolled during the day(s) in question?
    • If No, fix enrollment. See Modify Enrollment document
    • If Yes, the student is enrolled during the day(s) in question, go to Step 4

Step 4:

• Check the student's schedule (Students > (General) Schedule 2.0)
  • Is the student scheduled for the day(s) in question?
    • If No, fix the schedule. If the entry/leave dates are incorrect, go to Student Schedule History in top menu to edit the date(s). If there is no schedule, you'll need to schedule the student into a section(s). See Edit and Delete a Student Schedule/Class for reference.
    • If Yes, the student is scheduled for the day(s) in question, go to Step 5

Step 5:

• Check to see if the student was given an attendance mark for the day(s) in question by going to Attendance > (Take Attendance) By Student. See Take Attendance by Student help document for reference.
  • If you see - (-), this means no attendance was taken for this student. To fix, enter the appropriate attendance mark(s) and save. Then run ADA refresh
  • If you see NE, this means that either:
    • A. student was not rosted to a section in that timeblock on that date. Review the Student Schedule History to ensure the correct entry/leave dates for a student (Step 4). Then run ADA refresh
    • OR
    • B. there is no timeblock occurrence for the timeblock(s) tied to the section(s). Go to Admin Gear > (School) Timeblock Management and click on the Calendar/Grid icon next to the timeblock in question and add an occurrence for the timeblock with the start and end dates appropriate for the Day Type on that Day of the Week. See Create and Edit Timeblocks and Occurrences for reference. Then run ADA refresh
  • If you see Closed, this means the day type on that date is set to Not In Session. Go to the Admin Gear > (Calendar) Calendar to review the Day Type set on that date. Is the Day Type correct?
    • Warning: Making edits to the Calendar or Day Type impacts all students in the entire school for the date(s) in question. If the issue is not affecting the entire site, do NOT edit the Calendar/Day Type.
    • If No, the Day Type is not correct, edit the Calendar to reflect the appropriate Day Type. See Calendar Setup for reference. Then run ADA refresh
    • If Yes, the Day Type is correct, review the setup of the Day Type to see if it is set as In Session or Not In Session. Go to Admin Gear > (Calendar) Day Types and look at the column header In Session to see if the Day Type is set to Y or N. See Create, Edit, Delete Day Types for reference. Then run ADA refresh
  • If the student has the correct attendance flag and correct schedule, go to Step 6

Step 6:

• Check to see if the student is meeting the minimum minutes to count towards the appropriate attendance program. Go to Attendance > (Administration) Programs > click on the Edit icon for the attendance program you are expecting the student to count towards. Review and make note of the minimum minutes for a student to count towards this attendance program. See Complete Attendance Setup for reference.
• Review the student's schedule (Step 4), and make note of the timeblock(s) the student is scheduled to.
• Review the number of minutes for the date in question. To do this, go to Admin Gear > (School) Timeblock Management > click on Bell Schedule in the top Menu and then click on List. Enter the Start Date and End Date for the date(s) in question and click "Load Date Range." Add up the minutes for the timeblock(s) the student is scheduled to. Does the total of minutes the student is scheduled to meet or exceed the minimum minutes expected for the student to count towards the attendance program?
  • If No, according to the basic setup in Illuminate, the system will see this as correct, that the student is not scheduled to enough minutes to count for ADA and the ADA Checker report is accurate.
  • If this is not supposed to be the case, review with your district's business office to verify how the student is expected to report.
    • Contact Illuminate Support for assistance if the setup of the attendance program is incorrect or if the student(s) is an exception to the basic setup in Illuminate.

Step 1:

• Find an example student that should be aligned to the attendance program

Step 2:

• Following the hierarchy of attendance, how are you expecting this student to count towards this attendance program?
  • Are you expecting all students rostered to a specific course to count towards this attendance program?
    • If Yes, set the Control Panel to the District level and go to Scheduling > (Course Management) Course Details. Search for the course(s) the student is scheduled to and click to Edit the course. Is the course aligned to the correct attendance program (Attendance Program Set (ADA 3.0))?
      • If the attendance program is incorrect, then click the drop down menu for the Attendance Program Set (ADA 3.0) field and align to the proper attendance program and run an ADA refresh
      • If the attendance program is blank, then check the next bullet
  • Are you expecting all students rostered to a specific section to count towards this attendance program?
    • If Yes, go to Scheduling > (Live Schedule) Live Sections and search for the section(s) the student is rostered to, is that section aligned to the correct attendance program (Att. Program Set column)?
      • If the attendance program is not correct, then check the box to the left of the section (not the Edit button) and click Actions > Mass Update Attendance Program to align to the proper attendance program. Then run ADA refresh
      • If you are not managing the attendance program at the section level, then check the next bullet to review for the student level
  • Are you expecting a specific student (or students), where it's not all students in a section/class, to count towards this attendance program?
    • If Yes, check if this student has a program override. Go to Attendance > (Administration) Student Program Overrides and search for the student (if you are not already viewing this student). Does this student have an override to count towards the expected attendance program?
      • If the student(s) does not have the override for the attendance program you are expecting, then add one that aligns to the correct attendance program and for the expected amount of days the student should count towards this program. Then run ADA refresh

Step 1:

• Following the hierarchy of attendance, how are you expecting this student to count towards this Independent Study?
  • Are you expecting all students rostered to a specific course to count towards Independent Study?
    • If Yes, set the Control Panel to the District level and go to Scheduling > (Course Management) Course Details. Search for the course(s) the student is scheduled to and click to Edit the course. Is the course aligned to Independent Study for the field: Attendance Program Set (ADA 3.0)?
      • If the attendance program is incorrect, then click the drop down menu for the Attendance Program Set (ADA 3.0) field and align to your Independent Study attendance program and run an ADA refresh
      • If the attendance program is blank, then check the next bullet
  • Are you expecting all students rostered to a specific section to count towards Independent Study?
    • If Yes, go to Scheduling > (Live Schedule) Live Sections and search for the section(s) the student is rostered to, is that section aligned to your Independent Study attendance program in the Att. Program Set column?
      • If the attendance program is not correct, then check the box to the left of the section (not the Edit button) and click Actions > Mass Update Attendance Program to align to the Independent Study attendance program. Then run ADA refresh
      • If you are not managing the attendance program at the section level, then check the next bullet to review for the student level
  • Are you expecting a specific student (or students), where it's not all students in a section/class, to count towards Independent Study?
    • If Yes, check if this student has a program override. Go to Attendance > (Administration) Student Program Overrides and search for the student (if you are not already viewing this student). Does this student have an override to count towards Independent Study?
      • If the student(s) does not have the override for Independent Study, then add one for the expected amount of days the student should count towards IS. Then run ADA refresh

Step 2:

• If you've checked everything in Step 1, have refreshed ADA, and have waited for an overnight refresh, and the student(s) is(are) still not showing as Independent Study, check the Take Attendance by Student page. Are the attendance flags tied to the student the Independent Study flags (Independent Study Complete, Independent Study Incomplete, Independent Study Pending)?
  • In addition to the attendance program alignment, Independent Study requires students to have the Independent Study flags. See the Set Up Attendance Flags help document for additional reference on flag setup for Independent Study.
  • If the IS flags were not saved, update the student(s) attendance to those flags and refresh ADA.

Step 1:

• Verify the Control Panel is set to today's date and to the correct site (attendance is managed at the site level and not a district level)

Step 2:

• What happens when you go to Attendance > (Take Attendance) By Class Roster?
  • If there is an error message, it should give some direction to the issue
    • "School is closed" points to the Day Type set on the Calendar
      • Go to Admin Gear > (Calendar) Calendar and check what the Day Type is for today. If the Day Type is incorrect, change it accordingly. See Calendar Setup for reference. If the Day Type is correct, go to Admin Gear > (Calendar) Day Types. Is the Day Type set to In Session: N?
        • If N, this means the Day Type is set to Not In Session. If this Day Type is supposed to be In Session, click to edit the Day Type and adjust that field to Y.
        • Warning: Making edits to the Calendar or Day Type impacts all students and all teachers in the entire school for the date(s) in question. If the issue is not affecting the entire site, do NOT edit the Calendar/Day Type.
    • "Section [...] is not in session on [...]" points to Timeblock Occurrences
      • Go to the Admin Gear > (Calendar) Calendar and make note of what the Day Type is for today. Then, go to Admin Gear > (School) Timeblock Management. Click on the calendar/grid icon next to the Timeblock in question. Is there an occurrence for this Timeblock for the Day Type on the calendar for today's day of the week (today's day of the week referring to is today Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday)?
        • If you do not have a timeblock occurrence, this means the system is showing that you are not expecting attendance for this period on this day. To resolve this, see Create and Edit Timeblocks and Occurrences (Periods and Bell Schedule)
    • "Attendance is disabled for this section" points to the section setup
      • Go to Scheduling > (Live Schedule) Live Sections. Find the section in question and click the Edit icon. If attendance is disabled, this means the Enable Attendance field is set to No for this section. If that is not supposed to be the case, change that value to Yes and click Save.