Attendance gives your school built-in clock-hour tracking — replacing paper sign-in sheets and the legacy spreadsheets you've been patching together. It plugs directly into your enrollments and payments so your Title IV / regulatory reporting is one export instead of three.
What it does
Record attendance per cohort — daily, weekly, or via kiosk mode.
Track clock hours by student against their program requirement.
Handle make-up hours, absences, and excused absences with proper documentation.
Generate compliance reports (clock-hour totals by student, exportable to CSV / PDF).
Surface attendance to students in the Student Portal (read-only).
Feed into the Education tab of Student Portal V2.
1. Set up Attendance for a cohort
Go to Course Scheduling > [Cohort] > Attendance > Set Up.
You'll configure:
Tracking method — Daily clock hours, per-session, or both.
Expected hours per session — sets the denominator for attendance rate.
Required hours for the program — the graduation target.
Attendance check-in method — Manual (instructor enters), PIN-based (student enters their PIN at a kiosk), or biometric.
Late / make-up rules — how late counts as absent, how make-up hours apply, whether excused absences count toward the rate.
2. Record attendance
Daily entry (instructor)
Go to Attendance > [Cohort] > [Date]. You'll see the cohort roster. Mark Present / Absent / Excused / Late and enter clock hours.
Keyboard shortcuts: P Present, A Absent, E Excused, L Late, Tab to next student.
Kiosk mode (student PIN check-in)
Attendance > Kiosk Mode on a shared tablet or laptop. Students enter their Attendance PIN (visible in their Student Portal). The kiosk records check-in and check-out times automatically.
Bulk record
For full attendance days, use Mark all Present at the top of the roster.
3. Make-up hours and absences
To log a make-up hour:
Open the student's attendance record.
Click Add Make-Up.
Enter date, hours, and a note.
Make-up hours count toward totals but don't override the original absence record — the audit trail shows both.
Excused absences (illness, jury duty) need a documented reason. Upload the documentation under Documents on the student's profile and link it to the absence record.
4. Reports
Go to Attendance > Reports.
Clock-hour totals by student — every student, hours attended vs hours expected, attendance rate.
Cohort summary — average attendance across the cohort, students below threshold.
Compliance export — CSV in your accrediting body's format.
Absence reasons — breakdown by reason for institutional reporting.
All reports export to CSV and PDF.
5. SAP threshold warnings
If you've configured a Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) attendance threshold, students below it are flagged in the admin view. The student-facing warning on their portal is planned for Attendance V2.
6. Bulk import historical attendance
Attendance > Import.
Download the template CSV (columns: student email, date, hours, status, notes).
Fill it in and upload.
Review the import preview — we flag any records that don't match a student.
Confirm.
Imported records are tagged so you can tell historical data from live records.
FAQ
Can students see their own attendance?
Yes — in the Education tab of the Student Portal.
How does this affect Title IV / regulatory reporting?
The compliance export is designed to match common accrediting body formats.
Can I bulk import historical attendance?
Yes — see section 6.
Does Attendance work with my existing course scheduling?
Yes. Coupled (auto-generated from course offerings) and standalone sessions both supported.
What happens to attendance when a student withdraws?
The historical record stays on the student's profile. New sessions don't generate.
Can I edit attendance after the fact?
Yes, with a documented reason — every edit is audit-logged with the editor's name, the previous value, and the reason.
Who can record attendance?
Any user with the Record Attendance permission. By default that's instructors and admins.
Troubleshooting
Issue | Likely cause | Fix |
Student missing from roster | Not enrolled in this cohort | Check the student's enrollment record |
Hours don't match expected | Schedule changed mid-cohort | Verify expected hours under setup |
PIN not working at kiosk | Student hasn't viewed/set their PIN | Have them open Student Portal > Education > Attendance PIN |
Compliance export missing fields | Accreditor format not configured | Settings > Attendance > Compliance template |