How to review (and edit) CALPADS attendance code mapping in Aeries?

Background

End of Year 3 CALPADS Certification contains Student Attendance data in the following categories:

• Expected Attendance Days
  • AKA days of membership or total days enrolled
• Days Attended In-Person
  • Days present, not calculating those days in Independent Study
• Days Absent Out-of-School Suspension
• Days in Attendance In-School Suspension
• Days Absent In-Person Excused Non-Suspension
• Days Absent In-Person Unexcused Non-Suspension
• Non-ADA Generating Independent Study Days
  • Incomplete Independent Study
• ADA Generating Independent Study Days
  • Complete Independent Study

Reviewing Aeries attendance codes and the mapping of those attendance codes will ensure that the data uploaded to CALPADS for certification is accurately reported.

How to Edit and/or Review Attendance Code Mapping

*NOTE: Updates made to the following screens may affect prior ADA reporting if managed after school begins.  Only make updates if:

1. You are certain that the updates are appropriate and
2. If your School or District Administrator has approved the change.

Login to Aeries (School or District Level depending upon your role and access) and navigate to the Update Absence Codes screen. 

Path: Attendance Accounting>Update Absence Codes

From the Update Absence Codes screen, you will be able to view a list of the currently configured absence codes, their descriptions, and their abbreviations.

Here are two examples of Attendance codes and their settings.

In School Suspension Attendance Code Example:

Independent Study Complete Attendance Code Example:

Attendance Code Options that align to CALPADS reporting are:

• Count for ADA
  • Absences in Aeries are set to not count for ADA. Examples include Excused, Unexcused or Unverified absences.
• Suspension
  • In School Suspension codes would be flagged with: Count for ADA and Suspension.
  • Out of School Suspension codes would be flagged with Suspension, will not Count for ADA option, and usually with Unexcused Absent Verified type of attendance.
• Independent Study
  • Options are Complete and Incomplete Independent Study
    • No checkbox or blank = NOT Independent Study attendance code
    • I – Incomplete Independent Study
      • Should not be flagged as Count for ADA, this is an absence code.
    • Complete Independent Study
      • Should be flagged as Count for ADA

The remaining options (show on letters, sent to dialer, etc.) are for ADA calculations and internal reporting, not for CALPADS End of Year Student Absence reporting on the STAS Extract. This article does not address the complexities of attendance reporting for those temporarily not enrolled.

Type of Attendance:

Type of Attendance flags are also important for proper CALPADS reporting. All absences codes should be aligned to an appropriate Type of Attendance flag that explains whether the absence is Excused or Unexcused.

Absence codes that Count for ADA, should be aligned to the Verified NOT ABSENT flag as shown in the two examples above for Complete Independent Study and In School Suspension.

Final Steps

To be sure Aeries is accurately mapping the attendance data for your students, it is recommended that you run the CALPADS Extract > EOY > STAS report.

Open the STAS extract and save into the CALPADS Student Absence template found on the CALPADS Batch File Templates Download screen.

Review the data for trouble spots. 

• Hint: Are there columns that contain zero days for all students but should have data?

Reviewing this data well in advance of the End of Year reporting is highly encouraged.