Advancement · School Operations

Attendance: 94 percent.
Chronically absent: 1 in 5.

Average daily attendance hides the students who miss the most. Paste a roster by student code and see who has missed a tenth of school, who is two absences from it, and how many days each one can still miss and finish the year under 10 percent.

Open the monitorWhat you get
$19one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $19

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the School operations toolkit, $49 for 32 items.

The attendance monitor

The worked example is made up: 60 students in grades 6 to 8 on school day 60 of a 180-day year, with a snapshot from day 30 saved for comparison. Type over it, or start blank.

Loading the monitor. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Advancement · School Operations$19 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
The chronic absence rate beside average daily attendance; every student sorted into four bands by the share of days missed; one dot per student; the rate for each grade; the students within two absences of 10 percent; for each student, the days they can still miss and finish the year under 10 percent, or the best finish still possible; and, from snapshots saved through the year, the rate over time and the students who crossed the line in between. Prints a summary for the attendance team and downloads the list as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Principals and assistant principals, attendance clerks and registrars, counselors and social workers, and the attendance or student support team that meets on the numbers. Student numbers or codes only; the page refuses a name.
Format
Browser tool. Paste a roster and the results update as you type. Prints a team summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
$19 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the School operations toolkit ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The School Operations space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. From your student information system, export four columns for the group you are watching: student number, grade, days enrolled so far and days absent so far. Count every absence: excused, unexcused and suspensions.
  2. Paste the rows into the roster box. Set the school days so far and the days in your school year.
  3. Read the rate beside average daily attendance, then look at Students. The list opens on the students already at 10 percent or more; Near the line shows the ones who are still under it.
  4. For students already over, the line beside each one says how many days they can still miss, or what the best finish is. Use it to set a goal the family can see.
  5. Save a snapshot before each team meeting. Over time shows the rate from meeting to meeting and who crossed 10 percent since the last one.

Open the monitor

How the numbers are made

One rate for each student, two very different numbers for the school.

1 One studentStudent 8-098 ÷ 60 = 13.3%days absent ÷ days enrolledSatisfactoryAt riskModerateSevere5%10%20%2 The same roster, two numbersAverage daily attendance94.3%199 absences in 3,483 student daysChronic absence rate13 ÷ 59 = 22.0%at 10% or more ÷ all students countedThose 13 students account for 118 of the 199 absences (59%).3 Days a student can still missA 180-day year17 is the most18 absences would be 10% of 180Student 8-0917 − 8 = 9 morein the 120 school days left1 One studentStudent 8-098 ÷ 60 = 13.3%days absent ÷ days enrolledSatisfactoryAt riskModerateSevere5%10%20%2 The same roster, two numbersAverage daily attendance94.3%199 absences in 3,483 student daysChronic absence rate13 ÷ 59 = 22.0%at 10% or more ÷ all students counted3 Days a student can still missA 180-day year17 is the most18 absences would be 10% of 180Student 8-0917 − 8 = 9 morein the 120 school days left
The worked example on school day 60. Attendance averages 94.3%, yet 13 of 59 students have each missed a tenth of school or more.

The rate and the bands

A student’s absence rate is days absent divided by days enrolled, counting every absence whatever the reason. Chronic absence is a rate of 10 percent or more: about two days a month, or 18 days in a 180-day year. The page sorts students into the four bands Attendance Works uses in its tracking tools: under 5 percent, 5 to under 10, 10 to under 20, and 20 percent or more.

Students enrolled fewer than 10 days are listed but left out of the rate, as in federal reporting. Change that number if your team counts differently.

Why not average daily attendance

Average daily attendance adds up every student’s days present and divides by days enrolled. A few students who miss a great deal barely move it, so a school can post a figure in the low to mid nineties while a fifth of its students are chronically absent. The chronic absence rate counts students, not days, which is why the two are shown side by side.

Days a student can still miss

A student finishes the year under 10 percent if total absences stay below a tenth of the days enrolled by the last day. The page takes the days enrolled so far plus the school days left, finds the largest whole number of absences under a tenth of that, and subtracts the absences so far. When a student has already missed more than that, the page says so and gives the rate they would finish with if they attended every remaining day.

It assumes the student stays enrolled to the end of the year. It is arithmetic for setting goals, not a prediction and not a judgment of a family.

Sources

  1. Attendance Works. Chronic Absence and the attendance tracking tools (attendanceworks.org): chronic absence as missing 10 percent or more of school days for any reason, excused, unexcused or suspension, and the bands used on this page.
  2. Chang, H. N., & Romero, M. (2008). Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades. National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University.
  3. Balfanz, R., & Byrnes, V. (2012). The Importance of Being in School: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools. Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Organization of Schools. On how average daily attendance can mask chronic absence.
  4. U.S. Department of Education, EDFacts chronic absenteeism data (file specification 195): students enrolled at least 10 school days who were absent 10 percent or more of the days enrolled.

The worked example is made up, including every code and count. States define a day of attendance and chronic absence for official reporting in their own ways; use your state’s rules for anything you submit. This page counts and sorts; decisions about a student stay with the school team and the family. Rosters stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.