Classic View: Attendance > Attendance Letters

Search Terms: Attendance Letters

The Letter Criteria page allows selection of the letter type (determines how attendance events are counted), types of attendance events (statuses/excuses), the time considered for the events (the whole year, a selected term, etc.), and which course sections are included.

Attendance Letter Criteria Selection

Attendance Letter Workflow

Step
1.	Create an Attendance Letter.
Letter Criteria Screen
2.	Name the attendance letter.
3.	Select the letter type, and determine if student can requalify for the letter.
4.	Select the type of attendance (status/excuse or attendance codes).
5.	Enter the status/excuse values or the attendance codes that trigger a letter.
6.	Enter a Weight value for each of the entered values or codes.
7.	Enter the number of events the student must have to receive a letter.
8.	Select the appropriate interval for the letter.
9.	Select which Teachers and Sections to include in the letter.
11.	If available, select which Sections to exclude from the letter (non-attendance taking courses, etc.).
Letter Format Screen
12.	Write the letter in the designated Default Language.
13.	Write the same letter in additional languages that can be sent to parent/guardians who prefer to receive communications in that language. Learn how to add preferred languages and create letters in another language.
Generate and Print Letters
14.	Select the letter to generate from the Saved Letters list.
15.	If desired, select a previously-saved Ad hoc Filter that includes the students who should be receiving the letter. Determine which operation to use when generating letters with an ad hoc filter.
16.	Preview and Print letters.
17.	Review the list of students that met the criteria of the letter, and remove their selection as needed.
18.	Preview the letters prior to sending.
19.	Print the letters.

Letter Type Selection

The type of letter selected determines how the attendance events are counted. There are six letter types, and it is up to the school to determine which one (or ones) fit their needs best.

Attendance Letter Type Options

See the following pages for guidance on creating a specific type of letter:

Letter Type Descriptions and Scenarios for Use

Letter Types	Description	When to Use
Period Marks	This option looks only at the existence of an attendance event in a period for the student and provides a total number of periods in which a student has an attendance event. Attendance taken in the selected courses is not used by the trigger calculation.	Choose this letter type to list the total number of periods in which there is an attendance event. Use the By Course/Term Interval to include the total number of periods in which there is an attendance event for a specific course (requires courses to be selected in the editor). This is best for Block Schedules and for Modified Block Schedules.
Course Marks	This option looks at the existence of an attendance event in a course/section for the student. This option can be used for skinnied courses and for courses scheduled over multiple period schedules.	Choose this letter type to list the total number of a particular course is missed. Use the By Term interval to include the total number of courses in which there is an attendance event for that term.
Whole/Half Day Absences	This option uses student attendance minutes that meet the entered weight to generate a letter. Whole Day and Half Day minute values are entered on the Calendar tab. If a student is absent for the entire day, a count of 1 is included in the letter; if a student is absent for less than the entire day, a count of .5 is included in the letter.	Choose this letter type to list attendance events by the whole or half day. Early Release events may alter the the totals for this letter. This type is best for elementary schedules that use an AM/PM period setup.
Exact Day Absences	This option uses student attendance minutes that meet the entered weight to generate a letter, using the entered Student Day minute values on the Calendar tab. If a student is absent for the entire day, a count of 1 is included in the letter.	Choose this letter type to list attendance events for the day. This type is best for schools that only report attendance for a specific period, or only have one period in their schedule.
Single Day Count	This option looks for any student attendance record matching the selected status/excuse combination either by Year or by Term. If a student has one or more periods with an attendance entry, the day counts towards the total number of qualifying events for a letter.	Choose this letter type to list attendance events for the selected day. This letter type includes attendance events with an excuse of unknown.
Absenteeism Level	This option uses the Attendance Aggregation Preference summary view options to determined whether a student is considered chronically absent. When selected, an Absenteeism Mode field also needs to be selected. Choose from one of the four aggregation types - Federal, Exact, Exact Minute and Approximate. For more information on these modes, see the Attendance Aggregation Preferences article.	Choose this letter type to list a student's percentage of being absent. It does not rely on weights or intervals.

Attendance Type

In addition to selecting the Letter Type, also select the Attendance Type, using either an Attendance Code or the Attendance Status and Excuse.

When generating Period Marks, Course Marks, or Single Day Count letter types, determine whether to look at Attendance Codes or Status/Excuse values. Attendance Codes are assigned a status and excuse value, while Attendance Statuses and Excuses keep the values separate.

The Attendance Type field is not used in the Whole/Half Day Absences, Exact Day Absences or the Absenteeism Level types.

Whole/Half Day Absence and Exact Day Absences Letter Types use the Stats/Excuse options and an entered weight value,
Absenteeism Level Letter Types require the selection of an Absenteeism Mode, plus other entered values noted below.

See the Table of Attendance Letter Options at the bottom of this page for details.

Letter Criteria by Attendance Code or Status/Excuse

When using the Status/Excuse Attendance Type, a value must be entered in the Status and Weight fields in order to generate the attendance letter.

The Letter Trigger does not affect data displayed in the sub-report. If there is a trigger for a specific attendance code, the sub-report does not display data for only the trigger code.

Requalification

When the Allow Letter Requalification checkbox is marked, a letter can be sent to students who meet the criteria of the letter more than once.

Allow Letter Requalification

For example, a 3-day letter by Term is marked for two terms and the checkbox for total across all checked terms is marked. A student meets the criteria for the letter in Term 1, and a letter is sent. The student meets the criteria for the same 3-day letter by Term for Term 2. If the Allow Letter Requalification checkbox is marked for this letter, the student receives the letter a second time. If it is not marked for requalification, the student does not receive the letter a second time.

When the checkbox is marked, and a student has a letter printed for the first qualification event, only events AFTER the last qualification date are evaluated when determining if the student meets the letter criteria a second (or third, or fourth) time.

Previously considered attendance events are never used to requalify the student for receiving a second letter. The first qualification date for a letter is stored in the database. However, if a student qualifies for a letter and receives the first letter, and an additional event is added that is before the qualification date of the first letter, that event is NOT considered in the new letter qualification.

A Previously Qualified column is included on the Print/Preview screen. This lists the date on which the student received the first letter (or, qualified to receive the first letter).

Previously Qualified Date

This option is available for all letter types except the Absenteeism Level letter.

Weight Values

In order for a student to be reported in an attendance letter, that student's attendance entries must cross the Trigger total. This is done by adding the selected Status and Excuse counts that are multiplied by the entered weight, or the Attendance Code counts by the entered weight.

Consider the following example for a letter using Status/Excuse Attendance Type:

Absent Unexcused attendance events have a weight of 1.0
Tardies, either excused or unexcused, have a weight of .34, or a third of an unexcused absence.
The letter has a trigger of 5.

Using the Period Marks letter type, a student receiving 4 unexcused absences and 3 tardies would receive a letter because the student exceeded the trigger value of 5 on the effective date (4*1.0+3*.34 = 5.02). A student with 5 unexcused absences before the effective date would not receive a letter because the student exceeded the trigger before the effective date.

Letter Weights and Student Attendance Tab Using Status/Excuse

Consider the following example for a letter using the Attendance Code Attendance type:

Absent Unexcused attendance events have a weight of 1.0
Tardies, either excused or unexcused, have a weight of .5
The letter has a trigger of 5.

A student receiving 4 unexcused absences and 3 tardies would receive a letter because the student exceeded the trigger value of 5 on the effective date (4*1.0+3*.5 = 5.5). A student with 5 unexcused absences before the effective date would not receive a letter because the student exceeded the trigger before the effective date.

Letter Weights and Student Attendance Tab Using Attendance Codes

Qualification Criteria for Letter

The value entered in this field is the total number of attendance entries the student must have that meet the previously entered Attendance Code or Status/Excuse values. This is a required entry. Letters generate for those students who meet or exceed the entered value for the selected interval.

In the example below, a letter generates for the student when there is a total of five attendance entries that are either Absence/Unverified or Truant, or a combination of both of those codes for the entire year. If the student has only four qualifying attendance entries, a letter does not generate.

Qualification Criteria

Intervals

Each letter also requires the selection of an Interval, which is the period of time across the school year for which the calculation applies. The Selected Type changes which interval options are available.

It is recommended that attendance letters be created for each specific term ("3 Unexcused Absences Term 1", "3 Unexcused Absences Term 2", and so on). This selection is not available with the Absenteeism Level Letter Types.

Attendance Letter Criteria - Intervals

Interval Option	Description	Additional Items to Select
Year	Attendance records are totaled for the entire school year.	N/A
Term	Attendance records are totaled for the selected term (Quarter 1, Semester 2, etc.). Choose the desired terms, and also choose if the number of attendance events should be totaled across the selected terms or within each term. When the Total Across All Checked Terms is marked, a letter generates for the student when they meet the letter criteria across any of the selected terms. When the Total Across All Checked Terms is not marked, a letter generates for the student when they meet the criteria within one of the selected terms. Example: Total Across All Checked Terms is marked A letter is marked for Q1 and Q2, and has Qualification Criteria of five unexcused absences. The Total Across All Checked Terms checkbox is marked. The student has three unexcused absences in Q1 and two unexcused absences in Q2. A letter generates for the student in Q2 after the fifth unexcused absence. Example: Total Across All Checked Terms is NOT marked A letter is marked for Q1 and Q2, and has Qualification Criteria of five unexcused absences. The Total Across All Checked Terms checkbox is NOT marked. The student has three unexcused absences in Q1 and two unexcused absences in Q2. A letter does NOT generate for the student, as a total of five unexcused absences in one term was not met.
Term	For districts that have many schools where the same letter can be used at those schools, use the Select terms for additional calendars section. Other schools in the district, dependent upon the user's calendar rights, are listed. Selected terms indicate the terms that are taken into account when generating the letter. To filter the list of calendars, type the name of the school into the search field provided. Matching calendar results are returned, reducing the list from all calendars in the district or all calendars to which the user has rights, to just those matching the entered text. This can be done for by Term and by Course/Term Intervals when creating letters for all types except Absenteeism Level. Note the following: Term schedules display in the order of Sequence set on the Calendar Terms editor, from left to right. Qualification criteria, Letter Type, Letter Name, Letter Format, and Interval remain the same from letter to letter. This means that if the qualification criteria value, for example, is changed from 3 to 5 in one letter, it is changed for all calendars. Interval options cannot be different for the same letter across multiple calendars; however, Term Selections may vary across calendars. For example, the selected terms for the High School are Q1 and Q2, but the selected terms for the Middle School are T1 and T3. When an attendance letter is previewed or printed, and a term interval option has been saved for that letter, only the term selections saved for that calendar are considered. Schedule Structures When creating a letter in a school that has multiple schedule structures, the terms available in the selected structure are listed. In the Campus toolbar, when the structure is set to All, terms for all of the schedule structures are listed; when a specific structure is selected (for example, Main), only the terms in the Main schedule structure are listed. If the letter should be available for all schedule structures, verify the All option is selected, and all of the terms are marked. Or, if it only needs to be available for the Main or Partial schedule, select that option from the toolbar. It is possible to have a different set of terms selected for a Main schedule structure vs. an All schedule structure. Mark the checkboxes for the calendars with a schedule structures saves the selection to the All structure. To change individual structure term selections, that structure must be selected in the toolbar.
Course	Attendance records are totaled for the selected course based on a distinct student:course combination.	N/A
Course/Term	Attendance records are totaled for the selected course in the current term based on a distinct student:course combination. When the Total Across All Checked Terms is marked, a letter generates for the student when they meet the letter criteria across any of the selected terms for any of the selected courses. When the Total Across All Checked Terms is not marked, a letter generates for the student when they meet the criteria within one of the selected terms. Example: Total Across All Checked Terms is marked A letter is marked for Q1 and Q2, and has Qualification Criteria of five unexcused absences. The Total Across All Checked Terms checkbox is marked. The student has three unexcused absences in Q1 for the selected course and two unexcused absences in Q2 for the selected course. A letter generates for the student in Q2 after the fifth unexcused absence. Example: Total Across All Checked Terms is NOT marked A letter is marked for Q1 and Q2, and has Qualification Criteria of five unexcused absences. The Total Across All Checked Terms checkbox is NOT marked. The student has three unexcused absences in Q1 for the selected course and two unexcused absences in Q2 for the selected course. A letter does NOT generate for the student, as a total of five unexcused absences in one term was not met.
Course/Term	For districts that have many schools and the same letter is needed at several school, use the Select terms for additional calendars section. Other school in the district, dependent upon the user's calendar rights, are listed. Selected terms indicate the terms that are taken into account when generating the letter. To filter the list of calendars, type the name of the school into the search field provided. Matching calendar results are returned, reducing the list from all calendars in the district or all calendars to which the user has rights, to just those matching the entered text. This can done for by Term and by Course/Term Intervals. Note the following: Term schedules display in the order of Sequence set on the Calendar Terms editor, from left to right. Qualification criteria, Letter Type, Letter Name, Letter Format, and Interval remain the same from letter to letter. This means that if the qualification criteria value, for example, is changed from 3 to 5 in one letter, it is changed for all calendars. Interval options cannot be different for the same letter across multiple calendars; however, Term Selections may vary across calendars. For example, the selected terms for the High School are Q1 and Q2, but the selected terms for the Middle School are T1 and T3. When an attendance letter is previewed or printed, and a term interval option has been saved for that letter, only the term selections saved for that calendar are considered. The Select terms for additional calendars section is available for this interval, as well.
Date Range	Attendance records are totaled across a number of days, determined by the user. These can be either Calendar Days or Attendance Days. The Number of Days to Review value is the total number of days, either calendar days or attendance days, the attendance letter will evaluate in determining if the student receives a letter. Actual date values do not need to be entered at the criteria level; instead, use the Campus Field options for Attendance Letter Criteria options on the Letter Format detail to print which dates were considered in the letter: startDate - prints the beginning date of the student's attendance events endDate - prints the ending date of the student's attendance events qualificationDate - prints the date on which the student's attendance events qualified (met the criteria of) to receive the letter qualifiedCourse - prints the name and number of the course in which the student qualified for the letter When a Date Range letter is selected for generation (first screen of the Attendance Letter), the duration in days automatically displays. The user does need to enter the End Date (last day considered for attendance events). QualificationDate and qualfiiedCourse can be used for any letter type, except Absenteeism Level letters.

Teacher and Sections to Include

Letters can be created to include a selected teacher and section, or multiple teachers and sections. All teachers and all sections can be chosen. Or, if a specific teacher is chosen, only the sections in which the teacher is the primary teacher are available. The list of available sections can be sorted by Number or Name.

Attendance Letter - Teacher and Section

When using the Period Marks or Course Marks Type and the Status/Excuse Attendance Type, sections can be excluded, if desired.

Exclude Sections from Attendance Letter

Table of Attendance Letter Options

Due to the different options available with each potential combination, the following lists which options display with other options.

Type	Attendance Type	Interval	Requalification	Teacher/Section Include	Section Exclude
Period Marks	Attendance Code	by Year by Term by Course by Course/Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	No
Period Marks	Status/Excuse	by Year by Term by Course by Course/Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	Yes
Course Marks	Attendance Code	by Year by Term by Course by Course/Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	No
Course Marks	Status/Excuse	by Year by Term by Course by Course/Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	Yes
Whole/Half Day Absences	Status/Excuse	by Year by Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	No
Exact Day Absences	Status/Excuse	by Year by Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	No
Single Day Count	Attendance Code	by Year by Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	No
Single Day Count	Status/Excuse	by Year by Term by Date Range	Yes	Yes	No
Absenteeism Level	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes	No
Absenteeism Level	This pertains to all attendance codes with the following Status/Excuse options: Absent, Excused Absent, Unexcused Absent, Unknown

Letter Criteria Selection