Summary
Review Average Daily Attendance (ADA) to identify students whose attendance results require additional review.
Use the ADA Summary to review individual student attendance for the selected School Month. Confirm that the reported present and absent days are reasonable based on the student's attendance.
Use Student Day Detail when an unexpected attendance result cannot be explained by the information available in the ADA Summary.
Note: An unexpected ADA does not necessarily indicate an error. Review the student's reported attendance and source data before making a correction.
Understand ADA
Average Daily Attendance represents student attendance during the PMR reporting interval.
The School Attendance and Student Accounting (SASA) Manual calculates ADA using the days MST1 and MED1 students were present during the School Month, including days associated with applicable present attendance codes. The total is divided by the number of days in the PMR School Month.
The applicable present codes identified in the current SASA include:
- 1H - Teacher-in-Treatment
- 1M - Medically Fragile
- 1Q - School-Sponsored Activity
- 1R - Present Off Site/Remote
- 1S - Hospital/Homebound Instruction
These days contribute to Days Present when used appropriately.
Important: Refer to the SASA Manual for the authoritative requirements and definitions for attendance codes. Do not change accurate attendance information solely to produce an expected ADA.
Review the ADA Summary
- Open Reporting > NC State Reporting > NC PMR Collection.
- Select ADA Summary as the Extract Type.
- Select the applicable School Month Sequence.
- Select CSV as the report format.
- Select Review.
- Open the completed report from the report queue.
Refer to NC Principal's Monthly Report Extract | Infinite Campus for detailed information about report options and technical report requirements.
Tip: Date fields in a CSV file may open as text instead of a date. Before sorting, filtering, or comparing dates, confirm that the applicable columns are formatted as Date in the spreadsheet application.
Review Present and Absent Days
Begin by reviewing the student's reported attendance days.
Review the applicable fields for:
- Days Present
- Days Absent
- ADA
Consider whether the student's reported attendance is reasonable based on the number of days the student was enrolled and in membership during the School Month.
Review the individual student ADA values in addition to present and absent days. After student level attendance has been verified, these values will be totaled and compared to the ADA reported on the PMR Summary.
Tip: Review students with unexpected present or absent days before focusing only on the final ADA value. The underlying attendance days provide more useful information for identifying what requires investigation.
Identify Students Requiring Additional Review
A student can appropriately have an ADA below 1 simply because the student was absent. The purpose of the review is not to identify every student who missed school.
Instead, identify students whose attendance results are unexpected based on known attendance information.
Examples include:
- Days Present are lower than expected.
- Days Absent are higher or lower than expected.
- ADA does not appear reasonable based on the reported present and absent days.
- A student known to have full attendance does not show the expected present days.
- A student with known absences does not show the expected absent days.
- Attendance information differs from locally reviewed or reconciled attendance information.
Note: An absence does not need to be corrected simply because it reduces ADA. Attendance should reflect the student's actual attendance.
Consider Enrollment and Membership
Before investigating attendance source data, consider whether the student was in membership for the entire School Month.
A student who:
- Enrolled after the School Month began,
- Withdrew before the School Month ended, or
- Had membership affected during the School Month
may have attendance totals that differ from a student who was in membership for the full month.
Use the enrollment and ADM review already completed to determine whether the student's membership explains the reported attendance totals.
If the result is explained by accurate membership information, no additional attendance correction is needed.
What Can Cause Unexpected Attendance Results?
If membership does not explain the result, several source-data conditions may affect the student's reported attendance.
| Area | What May Affect Attendance |
|---|---|
| Attendance Code | An incorrect or missing attendance code may cause the day to be evaluated differently than expected. |
| Present Minutes | Missing or inaccurate present time for a tardy, early checkout, or other partial day attendance entry may affect the daily attendance result. |
| Attendance Reconciliation | Unreconciled attendance may not accurately reflect the student's final attendance for the day. |
| Student Schedule | Missing sections or inaccurate roster dates may affect the instructional periods used to evaluate attendance. |
| Attendance Taking Setup | Applicable sections may not be configured to collect attendance as expected. |
| Period Schedule | An alternate or abbreviated Period Schedule may change the instructional minutes used to evaluate the student's attendance. |
| Calendar Information | Student Day and applicable absence minute settings may affect how partial day attendance is evaluated. |
Review Partial Day Attendance
Pay particular attention to students with tardy or early checkout attendance.
The SASA requires the amount of time the student was present to be recorded for the applicable partial day attendance codes.
When a student's attendance result is unexpected:
- Review the applicable attendance code.
- Review the student's recorded present time or minutes.
- Confirm that the information accurately reflects when the student was present.
- Confirm that the attendance code accurately reflects the reason for the partial day absence.
Do not adjust present minutes only to change the PMR attendance calculation.
Investigate Unexpected ADA
If the student's attendance result cannot be explained by membership information or the summary level attendance information, use Student Day Detail to identify the instructional day or days requiring additional review.
- Open Reporting > NC State Reporting > NC PMR Collection.
- Select Student Day Detail as the Extract Type.
- Select the same School Month Sequence used for the ADA review.
- Select CSV as the report format.
- Select Review.
- Open the completed report from the report queue.
- Filter the report for the student requiring additional review.
- Review the D# columns to identify the instructional day or days with an unexpected attendance result.
Refer to the Review PMR Student Day Detail for definitions of the D# values and guidance on reviewing the applicable attendance, schedule, enrollment, or calendar information.
Tip: The ADA Summary identifies which student has an attendance result requiring additional review. Student Day Detail helps identify which instructional day requires investigation.
Confirm the ADA Total
After reviewing unexpected individual attendance results, use the ADA Summary to confirm the grade level ADA reported on the PMR Summary.
The PMR Summary reports ADA as whole numbers by State Grade. Each State Grade ADA is rounded to the nearest whole number:
- A value less than 0.5 rounds down.
- A value 0.5 or greater rounds up.
The applicable Group Total or School ADA is then calculated by summing the rounded State Grade ADA values.
Important: Do not sum all student ADA values and round only the final school total. PMR Summary rounding occurs at the State Grade level before the applicable grade level values are summed for the Group Total.
Review ADA by State Grade
- Open the reviewed ADA Summary CSV file.
- Locate the StateGrade and ADA columns.
- Filter StateGrade for an applicable grade level.
- Use the spreadsheet SUM function to total the ADA values for the filtered grade.
- Round the grade level total to the nearest whole number.
- Review the PMR Summary for the same School Month Sequence.
- Compare the rounded grade level ADA with the ADA reported for the same State Grade.
- Repeat the process for each applicable State Grade.
- Sum the applicable rounded State Grade ADA values.
- Compare the result with the applicable rounded State Grade ADA values.
- Compare the result with the applicable Group total or School ADA on the PMR Summary.
- Investigate an unexpected difference before completing the ADA review.
Tip: Filtering the ADA Summary by StateGrade provides a more accurate reconciliation with the PMR Summary than summing all student ADA values and rounding the final total.
For example:
| State Grade | ADA Summary Total | Rounded PMR ADA |
|---|---|---|
| 09 | 57.64 | 58 |
| 10 | 51.32 | 51 |
| 11 | 47.71 | 48 |
| 12 | 50.58 | 51 |
| Group Total |
|
208 |
The Group Total is calculated using the rounded State Grade values: 58 + 51 + 48 + 51 = 208.
Determine Whether Additional Review Is Needed
| Review Result | Recommended Action |
|---|---|
| Present and absent days accurately reflect the student's attendance | No correction is needed. |
| Membership explains the attendance totals | No additional attendance correction is needed when the source data is accurate. |
| Attendance Code is incorrect | Correct the applicable attendance record according to the SASA requirements. |
| Present minutes are incorrect | Correct the present time to accurately reflect the student's attendance. |
| Attendance has not been reconciled | Complete the applicable attendance reconciliation process. |
| Schedule information is incorrect | Correct the applicable schedule or roster information. |
| Result remains unexplained | Use Student Day Detail to identify the instructional day requiring review. |
| Student Day Detail identifies an unexpected result | Review the applicable source data using Review PMR Student Day Detail |
| Source data is accurate | No correction is needed solely to increase ADA. |
| Rounded State Grade ADA aligns with the corresponding PMR Summary ADA | No additional ADA reconciliation is needed for the State Grade. |
| Rounded State Grade ADA does not align with the corresponding PMR Summary ADA | Confirm the StateGrade filter and student level ADA values for the grade. Investigate the difference before continuing. |
| Sum of the applicable rounded State Grade ADA values aligns with the PMR Summary Group Total | ADA reconciliation is complete. |
| PMR Summary Group Total does not equal the sum of the applicable rounded State Grade ADA values | Review each State Grade ADA reconciliation and investigate the difference before completing the ADA review. |
Verify the Review or Correction
If a correction was made:
- Save the applicable source data changes.
- Select Review for Student Day Detail again when daily source data was corrected.
- Select Review for ADA Summary again.
- Confirm that the student's Days Present, Days Absent, and ADA reflect the corrected information.
- Repeat the applicable Confirm the ADA Totals steps when the correction affects the State Grade or Group Total.
If no correction was needed:
- Confirm the unexpected attendance results are explained by accurate source data.
- Confirm that the ADA Summary has been reconciled with the PMR Summary.
If an attendance or ADA result remains unexplained, continue to Review PMR Student Day Detail.
When student level attendance results are accurate and the ADA totals have been reconciled, continue with the Review PMR Data process.
NEXT: Continue to Review Membership Last Day.If an ADA result requires day level investigation, use Review PMR Student Day Detail.
