Dashboard Metric: Daily Attendance Rate

Background

Student Dashboard Metrics

Because of the value of attendance as a key leading indicator of student performance, virtually every performance management dashboard should include a measure of student attendance. This need was echoed in focus groups conducted with over 2,600 Texas educators, in which attendance was consistently named as one of the top three student data needs. Further, the Daily Attendance Rate metric, as presented in screen shots of the student dashboard, was considered useful by 99% of those surveyed.

Primary Metric

Daily Attendance Rate: the percent of days a student is in attendance during the last four weeks, last eight weeks and the entire year to date, with comparison to campus goals for each.

User Interface

Dashboard Example

Figure 1 shows the Daily Attendance Rate metric as seen on the student dashboard.

Figure 1 TSDS Daily Attendance Rate Metric

Status Definition

The Status Indicator is determined by campus-specific thresholds (campus goals) which are set at the district level. The default attendance threshold for each time frame is 90%.

Table 2 lists the status indicators and trend comparisons as seen on the student dashboard.

**Table 2 Metric Indicator for TSDS Daily Attendance Rate**
Metric Indicator			Trend Comparisons
Metric Name	Sub-metric Name	Metric Status Indicator (a)	Compares:	To:
Daily Attendance Rate	Last Four Weeks	Green (Percentage) = if Daily Attendance Rate is greater than or equal to campus goal Red (Percentage) = if Daily Attendance Rate is less than campus goal	Begins 40 days into school year. Last four weeks (20 instructional days) no overlap in dates	Prior four weeks (20 instructional days)
	Last Eight Weeks	Green (Percentage) = if Daily Attendance Rate is greater than or equal to campus goal Red (Percentage) = if Daily Attendance Rate is less than campus goal	Begins 80 days into school year. Last eight weeks (40 instructional days) no overlap in dates	Prior eight weeks (40 instructional days)
	Year to Date	Green (Percentage) = if Daily Attendance Rate is greater than or equal to campus goal Red (Percentage) = if Daily Attendance Rate is less than campus goal	Year to Date (after first 10 instructional days)	Prior year's year-to-date attendance.

(a) The Value column displays the percent of days the student is absent.

Trend Definition

Table 3 lists the trend indicators for the Daily Attendance Rate metric.

**Table 3 Trend Indicators for TSDS Daily Attendance Rate Metric**
Trend Indicators: Objective is to indicate Daily Attendance Rate
	Up green	If the value for the current time frame is more than 5 percentage points higher than the prior time frame.
	Unchanged	If the value for the current time frame is less than or equal to 5 percentage points higher or less than or equal to 5 percentage points lower than the prior time frame.
	Down red	If the value for the current time frame is more than 5 percentage points lower than the prior time frame.

The trend does not display for the first occurrence of a time frame since data is not available.

Delta Definition

Delta Indicators: Objective is to indicate Daily Attendance Rate
Metric Name	Sub-Metric Name	Campus Goal	Delta
Daily Attendance Rate	Last Four Weeks	Set Student Goal	Red (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is less than the campus goal Black (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is equal to or greater than the campus goal
	Last Eight Weeks	Set Student Goal	Red (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is less than the campus goal Black (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is equal to or greater than the campus goal
	Year to Date	Set Student Goal	Red (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is less than the campus goal Black (Percentage) = if the calculated delta is equal to or greater than the campus goal

Table 4 Recommended Load Characteristics for

TSDS Daily Attendance Rate


Recommended Load Characteristics
Calendar	Throughout the school year
Frequency of data load	Daily, Weekly, Monthly
Latency	4 weeks
Interchange schema	Interchange-StudentAttendance.xsd

Tooltips

The standard tool tips for the metric definition, column headers, and help functions display for this metric.

The following are tooltips specific to the Daily Attendance Rate metric:

Green metric status: OK
Red metric status: LOW
'More' indicates drill down view of the student's Attendance Rate Chart and Historical Chart
is ‘No change from the prior period'
is ‘Getting worse from the prior period’
is 'Getting better from the prior period'

Business Rules

The Daily Attendance Rate metric displays the percentage of instructional days a student is in attendance for the following time frames:

Last Four Weeks
Last Eight Weeks
Year to Date
Prior Year

Middle and high schools typically designate a specific marking period upon which to base daily attendance. This daily attendance metric is computed based upon that campus-specific business rule to interpret class (section) attendance data. This period is defined by the district.

Data Assumptions

Campus must record student absences at the classroom level for each time frame.
The class or period when daily attendance is counted must be specified.
Student absences are categorized (excused, unexcused).
Student excused absence reasons are recorded.
District sets the value that drives the campus and student status thresholds.

Computed Values

Table 5 defines how values are calculated for each subject. The result of the calculation displays in the Status column on the student dashboard.

**Table 5 Computed Values for Daily Attendance Rate Metric**
Metric Values
Daily Attendance Rate	Last Four Weeks	Days in Attendance = (total number of instructional days in 20 academic days) - (total number of student excused absences + total number of student unexcused absences) Percentage Last Four Weeks = (Days in Attendance / total number of instructional days in last 20 academic days) * 100
	Last Eight Weeks	Days in Attendance = (total number of instruction days in 40 academic days) - (total number of student excused absences + total number of student unexcused absences) Percentage Last Eight Weeks = (Days in Attendance / total number of instruction days in last 40 academic days) * 100
	Year to Date	Days in Attendance = (total number of instructional days for the entire school year) - (total number of student excused absences + total number of student unexcused absences) Percentage Year to Date = (Days in Attendance / total number of instructional days in entire school year) * 100

Calculation Notes

For students not enrolled for some number of days, subtract those days from the “Total Number of Instructional Days” in both the numerator and the denominator.
A day of attendance is computed from attendance in a specified class (section), homeroom, or period.
Both excused and unexcused absences are subtracted from total instructional days.
A tardy or early release (if captured) is not counted as an absence.

Data Anomalies

Metrics are sensitive to when and how often the data is loaded.
The granular time periods (daily, weekly) do not necessarily appear to align with the four and eight week metric level data. This is because the more granular periods are calculating a smaller sample size.
Late enrollees are likely to be missing attendance data, but the calculation for daily attendance rate is not dynamic. Students are assumed to have been present all the days prior to enrollment.
Similarly, if a student withdraws and re-enrolls, there is no way to account for this in the daily attendance rate container view. The attendance metrics account for their attendance from the most recent enrollment date however their detail views of Daily Attendance, Tardy and Class Period Absence rate will show the full history.
Infants and toddlers most likely do not have data to support this metric.
Early education and Pre-Kindergarten students with attendance data will display student daily attendance rate on the student page; these students will also be included in the campus and district rollup of daily attendance rate.
If the school calendar changes, adjust the denominator to reflect eligible days.

Best practice is to use footnotes to address these anomalies.

Footnotes

Footnotes are used to provide additional data information concerning the metric. Footnotes are sequential for the entire page. Therefore, a metric's footnote may not begin with the number 1.

Date of Refresh

Best practice is for the date of last data refresh to appear next the metric in the following format:

(Through April 22, 2010)

Implementation Considerations

Designation of Homeroom Period

Campuses typically designate a specific class (e.g., homeroom), or a time or class period on which to base daily attendance. The studentGPS® Dashboards use student attendance in this designated class period to calculate this attendance metric. If this period is not designated, the metrics will not appear.

Attendance and Grade Metrics for Elementary Students

TSDS uses a student's assignment to formal class periods to determine both attendance and grades. Most elementary schools do not have a standard methodology for capturing attendance data. A teacher may take attendance in the classroom, but not formally record it. The same is true for grades, especially in kindergarten and first grade. In most cases, TSDS metrics will not display attendance data for these grade levels and grades may not display in the metrics until the end of the year, if at all.

Late Enrollment

The Dashboards do not currently adjust attendance rate metrics for late enrollment students. Attendance metrics may appear artificially low for these students.

Classification of Days as Non-Instructional Days

The number of instructional days in a designated period is derived from the campus calendar.

Frequency of Uploading Data

The metric computation implementation may vary depending on the periodicity of loading the data. For example, a daily refresh requires that you load data for only a single day (i.e., the last instructional day). Less frequent uploads require that you load data for each day since the date of the last load.

Length of Time Frames

The decision to show attendance metric values for specific time frames (e.g., Last Four Weeks) was based on educator input. However, these time frames are currently set at the system level and not configurable by a district.

Thresholds

The default student goal for this metric is 90%. It is not configurable through the Goal Setting tab.

Drill Downs

Drill Down Views

The dashboards include the option to drill down and see more detail that is associated with a metric. Table 6 lists the drill down views that are recommended for this metric.

**Table 6 Daily Attendance Rate Drill Down View**
	Daily Attendance Rate by Grading Period	Daily Attendance Rate by Grading Period(s) this School Year
	Historical Chart	Graph of metric values compared across daily, weekly, grading period, semester, and yearly timeframes.

Description

This Daily Attendance Rates drill down shows the percentage of time a student was in attendance, out with an excused absence, and out with an unexcused absence.

User Interface Notes

Dashboard Example

Figure 2 shows the Daily Attendance Rates Detail by Grading Period this School Year.

Figure 2 TSDS Daily Attendance Rate Detail by Grading Period

Business Rules

Percentage of time 'In Attendance' displays in green, 'Unexcused Absences' display in red, and 'Excused' absences display in blue.

Description

The Historical graph displays a student's attendance daily, weekly, by grading period, by semester, and by year.

Dashboard Example

Figure 3 shows the Historical Chart drill down.

Figure 3 TSDS Historical Daily Attendance Rate Chart

Business Rules

The Historical Graph allows the user to see historical data across multiple timeframes. As time passes, there are many bars to be displayed; therefore, the slider on the bottom allows the user to adjust the number of bars displayed as well as the time period shown. The timeframes for this metric were chosen based on educator feedback.