Student Attendance Summary

The student attendance summary is a comprehensive record detailing absence patterns, related interventions, and actions. It is a central tool for educators, administrators, and support staff to manage attendance issues and implement interventions.

Find the Student Summary

In Absence Response, you often see a magnifying glass next to a student’s name, usually in the student column. Click the magnifying glass to open the Student Attendance Summary.

The Student Summary displays the following tabs across the top:

Student Summary: This identifies the student’s Overall Days Absent for the school year, with calculations for Accumulated Absences, OSPI Absences, and Majority Day Absences. It shows the various required actions the student has triggered throughout their school year and the status of those actions. The page also shows if any agreements have been created, student attributes have been assigned, assessments have been completed, or documents have been printed.

Details: The data table displays attendance tracking data for every day of the school year by period, with an overall assignment of absence type. (Excused, Unexcused, or Other.) The attendance calculations break down the attendance into unique columns for the overall absence percentage and whether it is an OSPI full-day, OSPI half-day, or majority-day absent designation.
Trends: This displays a chart of the different calculations. OSPI, Majority, and Accumulated Days are represented on the chart. View or hide any lines that don't apply to the calculation you are monitoring.
Notes: This displays any notes and details. Click the Add Record button to add individual notes to the student summary.
Uploads: Clicking the Add Record button allows you to add third-party documents that would be helpful for this attendance summary.
Notifications (Connect): This will display notifications sent through absence response. For example, emailing letters to guardians will be tracked here.
Student Assessment (Connect): This is a survey the district can use to determine the student’s barrier to attendance.

Practical Uses of the Student Attendance Summary

Monitoring and Intervention: The summary allows educators to monitor a student’s attendance trends (e.g., excessive absences, unexcused absences), ensuring that interventions are implemented early.
Customizable Alerts: The system, with flags for dependent youth or students who may have disabilities not covered by formal plans, ensures that the appropriate actions are triggered for students who need additional attention or accommodations.
Documentation and Communication: The Documents and Conferences sections provide a transparent record of all steps to manage the student’s attendance, including letters, meeting notes, and intervention agreements. This ensures clear communication between all involved parties.
Supporting At-Risk Students: the WARNS tool helps identify secondary students at risk of academic failure or dropping out, prompting targeted interventions like counseling, mentoring, or academic support.
Efficient Action Tracking: The Absence Actions section consolidates all interventions taken, providing a historical overview that can be used for follow-ups, evaluations, and reporting.

Generating Reports

The Student Attendance Summary can be downloaded as a PDF report. This allows administrators, counselors, or parents to review the complete attendance history and interventions in a printable format. The report includes:

Attendance statistics (e.g., Accumulated Absences, OSPI Days)
All relevant documents, such as intervention plans and conference notes.
A complete log of Absence Actions taken throughout the year.

This is particularly useful for parent meetings, team reviews, or when preparing for educational planning meetings (such as IEP or 504 team discussions).

In V2, click the Gear icon in the top right corner and select Print Absence Response Student Summary Report.

In CONNECT, click the print icon in the top right corner.

Key Components of the Student Attendance Summary

Attendance Summary: This section provides a detailed breakdown of the student’s attendance, including the following key metrics: Accumulated Absences: This metric calculates the percentage of classes the student has missed relative to the total number of scheduled classes. It helps determine the overall absenteeism of the student over a period. Count of OSPI Days: As defined by Washington State Law (WAC 392-401A-015), an OSPI Day is a full day of absence calculated when a student misses 50% or more of their scheduled class periods. Understanding the extent of the student’s absence is important for meeting state reporting requirements. Count of Majority Days: A majority-absent day occurs when students are absent and unexcused for more than 50% of their scheduled school periods. This helps track unexcused absenteeism, which may require further intervention.
Student Intervention Plans: Based on the student's attendance data, data-informed steps or an attendance agreement may be triggered. These are created within the Intervention Plans application and can be accessed via Absence Response. The intervention plans typically include strategies for addressing attendance issues, such as scheduling meetings, providing additional support, or setting attendance goals for the student.
Student Attributes: Dependent Youth: Setting this flag to Yes identifies students who are considered dependent youth (e.g., students in foster care or other legal guardianship situations). These students may require specialized attention regarding attendance and intervention tracking. Disability Not Covered by a 504 or IEP: If a student is believed to have a disability not yet covered by a 504 plan or an IEP, this flag is set to Yes to ensure the student is flagged for review by the IEP/504 team. This allows the school to evaluate whether additional support or accommodations should be provided to the student.
WARNS: The Washington Assessment of Risks and Needs of Students (WARNS) applies only to secondary students (middle and high school students). It helps identify students at risk of academic failure or dropping out. The tool assesses multiple factors (e.g., attendance patterns and behavior) and informs intervention decisions for students needing additional support.
Documents: As required actions (e.g., intervention plans, attendance contracts, meeting records) are generated in the application, they will be logged in the documents section of the student summary. Documents are linked in this section as hyperlinks. Clicking the link will download the corresponding document, allowing you to review and share intervention plans, meeting notes, or communication with parents.
Conferences: If conferences are scheduled as part of an attendance intervention, the conference details will be logged in the conferences section. This section includes the conference date, scheduled time, and links to the conference details. Clicking the link will open the full details of the conference, such as participants, topics discussed, and any outcomes or next steps.
Notifications: In certain cases, such as when a student is expected to be absent for an extended period due to a known situation (e.g., medical issues or a family emergency), notifications may be suppressed to avoid unnecessary alerts. When the Suppress All Notifications flag is checked Yes, it will mark all triggered actions as Suppressed. However, no new actions will be marked suppressed.
Absence Actions: This section summarizes all absence-related actions taken for the student over the school year. These actions may include creating Intervention Plans, Scheduling Conferences, and taking Action such as WARNS assessments, attendance contracts, or parent notification. The absence Actions section ensures that all steps to address the student’s attendance are recorded and tracked for historical reference.