Frequently Asked Questions: Attendance in Student Success

Important: All information on attendance data integration is to the best of our current knowledge. This is new functionality that is still a work in progress and it’s a learning process. We’ll keep this document updated, as new information becomes available.

How does the attendance data get into Student Success? How frequently is it updated?

The last 90 days of period and/or daily attendance data (absences only) which are entered in your district’s student information system (SIS) are imported nightly into Student Success. If attendance entries more than 90 days old are edited in your SIS, the changes will not be transmitted to Student Success. In those circumstances, please submit a support ticket to request a full update.

Why can’t we can’t see any attendance data for some or all grades in Student Success?

The most likely causes are settings in your SIS or SIF. Start by checking that your SIF agent is set to send attendance data. If that is correct, check the settings in your SIS that define how and when the entry of period attendance generates a daily attendance record. You may need to reach out to your SIS vendor support team, if you’re uncertain about these settings.

For additional support, submit a support request in Student Success or email support_iowa@panoramaed.com. Please include the district, building, and give us a specific student example (first and last name), and dates of absences you expect to see.

The attendance data displayed in Student Success is incorrect, what should we do?

Keep in mind, this is new functionality and there are lots of quirks to work out in Student Success, in your SIS, etc., which may take time. Generally speaking, all of the data you see is based on what your SIS is sending to us but may be interpreted a little differently by Student Success and may not match your SIS data displays exactly. The target should be a fairly close match, but minor variations should be accepted. If you see consistent or major inaccuracies in the data across many students, check the attendance setup in your SIS. Your SIS has settings that define how/when period attendances generate a daily attendance record, so the cause of inaccuracies in counting partial vs full day absences is most frequently based on the way it’s defined there.

If you’re seeing a single or few instances of incorrect attendance for a student but the rest are correct, it may be the timing of an edit to the attendance record in your SIS. Only edits made within 90 days are automatically transmitted to Student Success. Submit a support ticket, if you think this may be the issue.

How is attendance calculated for display in Student Success?

The attendance information displayed is based on students’ average attendance. Schools calculate attendance in different ways, e.g., taking attendance during the first period for a daily attendance count or once per class period. Student Success aggregates this information to calculate an overall average attendance rate for each student.

For schools reporting daily attendance, that is used to calculate full day absences.
For schools reporting attendance per class period/section, and a student has 3+ absences in a day, it counts as a full day absence.

Important note: The system identifies which days are a school day for a school based on whether there is at least one student absence reported in the school. If no student absences are entered for a day, the system will interpret it as a ‘no school’ day.

What attendance data is displayed in Student Success?

Attendance data is available on the individual student’s profile and on the School tab on both the Overview and Attendance reports. On the student's individual profile, you can view more details about their attendance, such as:

total percentage of days present
how many times a student has missed or been tardy to a specific class period each term, plus the latest grade in the class (when available)
full day absences in a calendar view. Note: when you hover over days on the calendar, notes for additional context about what happened on that day may appear, such as “Excused Absence,” “Field Trip,” or “Doctor's Note.”

On the School tab, you can view the Attendance report. The line graph on the report shows cumulative trends in attendance data over various date ranges (year-to-date, month, week, etc.). By hovering on the graph, users can see daily attendance and compare trends against the goal (95% daily attendance) and 30-day averages. Below the graph, you can also view average daily attendance metrics for the previous school day by reason and grade level, as well as which students were absent, with details such as grade level, absence streak, and year-to-date absences and risk level.

The student’s attendance indicator on the Overview report on the Students tab, reflects the number of absences year-to-date and risk level.

What do the attendance risk level indicators On Track for College/Career Readiness, On Track for Graduation, At Risk, and Critical mean?

Below are the criteria for each indicator. Note that “On Track…” really means low risk of attendance causing problems, and does not actually evaluate graduation or career readiness.

On Track for College/Career Readiness - students attends 95% of school days or more
On Track for Graduation - student attends between 90% and 95% of school days
At Risk - students attends between 80% and 90% of school days
Critical- student attends less than 80% of school days in a given time period