Attendance Code Explanations 2007

This morning we had one of our first ICT PD sessions, first it started off looking at a DVD from the SMS Roadshow, presented by Mark Tredwell, it was an interesting look at what he thinks will be happening in schools with the ability for inquiry learning, no more long nights cutting and pasting and photocopying articles and information from books, instead he should the group how we will just copy and paste information from creative commons (CC) on the Internet into our LMS and work that way.

I am sorry, but for four hours I spent getting the inquiry learning ready for my students on gaming addiction was not just done like that. And someone says to me after this comment, "you will have it all prepared for next year!" I teach ICT, we move with the current technology, this will possibly be the only year I do this because the students I have next year, I don't know. Will the even be able to cope with what I am teaching now, possibly. But everything I do, I rework.

Next came the SMS(Student Management System) talk about the new changes especially in the attendance area, when a student is not marked now, it will be treated as a Truant, not a present, and instead of

*= Present,
A=Absent,
E=Explained Absence,
O=At school, but elsewhere,
S=School Trip, D=Doctor/Dentist,
P=Parent phoned in,
W=Wagging,
G=Guidance,
L=Late,
U=Suspended.

We now have 25 codes, listed below is what the Ministry of Education wants reported on, How quickly can we work out words to go in our absences, 6 periods a day = 6 characters we can play with.

One question however, what happened to Z?

Ministry of Education 25 character attendance code reasons and explanations
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/web/downloadable/dl11245_v1/absencecodesexplanations.pdf

T Unexplained/Truant (This will usually be a temporary code in which case it will be updated, but it could remain Truant)
This is the initial entry for a student not in class and the reason is unknown. It will be edited as relevant information becomes available about the reason for the non attendance. Depending on school policy the code remains T when no written or phone explanations are received, or the explanations are like the following:
• …I don't like my Maths teacher so I took the period off
• …I had an assignment to be handed in the next period so I took this one off to finish it
• …I was hot so went down to the river
• …we had a test and I wasn't ready for it
• …I was at the shops
P Present Student is in his/her regular class
L Student Late for class School policy (or teacher policy) will determine when this entry is made.
eg. School may decide that more than 5 minutes late is considered 'L' and more than 15 minutes late is considered 'T' truant
S Sickbay Student is known to be in the school Sickbay
D Doctor/Dentist Appointment Under existing legislation this type of absence is deemed to be Present when calculating ½ day summaries, provided there is documentation verifying it.
I Internal school appointment – Dean, DP, counsellor etc
This includes students who are out of class on an administration activity such as messenger, collecting attendance etc It should not include a student sent out of class (during the period) to the administration area for disciplinary reasons, they would be coded P in the class and possibly changed to R by the senior staff member attending to them
E Student is absent with an Explained, but unjustified reason
This is for an explained absence where the explanation is accepted by the school as the reason for the absence but is still not a justifiable reason to take the student off school. (Even though the parents may think it justified)
e.g. “Molly had to stay home to look after her younger brother” or “we went for a two week family holiday in the South Island”
M Student absent due to short term illness/Medical reasons.
Student is at home, with an illness or medical reason. The school should request a medical certificate for prolonged illness. eg 3 days or as school policy requires.
V Study Period This code is for supervised (and possibly unsupervised study periods). A school’s process should include the means by which the codes are collected and entered for non supervised study.
N On a school based activity The intent of this code is for a school-based (on-site) activity. However code N and the codes for Q (school trip) and C (camp) may be seen to overlap and some schools may choose to use one of them only, for activities such as the bulleted points below. (They all map to the same audit, truancy and ½ day summary codes)
• cultural/sporting presentation/practice
• one to one tuition either as tutor as tutored
• [school trip (sporting, cultural or academic) or camp]
Q Attending a School trip Off-site excursion. Schools may choose to not use this code and use code N instead.
W Work experience Student is working for a recognised employer as part of their course (eg. Gateway)
R Removed (temporarily) from class
This code is for students who for a number of periods had an arrangement for alternative supervision, which may be in the admin corridor or in another teacher’s class, instead of the regularly scheduled class
C Attending a School Camp Off-site camp. Schools may choose to not use this code and use code N instead
X On Exam leave Under existing legislation, a student on Exam Leave from school is deemed absent in calculating ½ day summaries.
O Student is on Overseas holiday Under existing legislation overseas holidays and New Zealand holidays are treated differently
B Family circumstances / Bereavement
This code covers exceptional family circumstances or bereavement. (Note the change in order of the words circumstances and bereavement). It is likely that in 2008 the letter of the code will change and it will then also include the bulleted reasons below. (Some schools may like to apply this now)
• The code will also cover a range of what mostly will be unintentional absences such as a bus breakdown, accident, road closure etc
• It may also include non attendance which is pre-arranged and justified such as national/local representation in a sporting or cultural event
K Attending a Teen Parent Unit The student is not in class, is on the school roll but funded elsewhere
A Attending Alternative Education The student is not in class, is on the school roll but funded elsewhere
Y Attending an Activity centre The student is not in class but in an approved environment for which the school is entitled to be funded
F Attending an off site course/class The student is not in class but is on a legitimate school-based activity
H Attending a Health camp/Regional Health School/Residential School
The student is not in class but in an approved environment for which the school is entitled to be funded
J Student is attending Justice court proceedings
Under existing legislation this type of absence is deemed to be Present when calculating ½ day summaries
U Student is temporarily withdrawn/Stood Down
This code (U) overlaps with the next code (G) and schools may prefer to use one or the other, although the ideal would be not to have to use either!
G Student is Suspended This code (G) overlaps with the previous code (U) and schools may prefer to use one or the other, although the ideal would be not to have to use either!

Rules for Audit Codes

S = that the student is not in class but on a legitimate school-based activity
J = that the student is not in class - absence justified (Ref 1998/48 Circular)
F = that the student is not in class but in an approved environment in which the school is entitled to be funded with the required supporting documentation
U = that the student is not in class - absence unjustified
P = that the student is present for tuition in class
N = On School Roll but funded somewhere else

Rules for Truancy Codes

J = Justified Absence
U = Unjustified Absence
P = Present
O = Overseas Holiday

Lets see what happens later on...