Our district is implementing a not very effective or useful process for teachers to take attendance during the school closure crisis:
This is an ineffective technocratic response to a real problem. Expecting students or parents to complete a daily form will quickly result in no one taking it seriously. The right way would be to do it weekly. Maybe districts should ask teachers before they dictate policies https://t.co/GouVxjsuE0
โ Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) April 24, 2020
It prompted me to ask teachers on social media what they are required to do. I thought readers might be interested in some of their responses:
Karalee Smith:
I believe itโs more of a count of who is active in the class. Activity can be seen as attending zoom meetings, emailing the teacher, interacting with course content, and/or submitting assignments. For those who arenโt active, the school attempts to contact the family and make sure everything is okay and that they understand our learning is required now.
Tiffany Anne:
Ours is conducting an engagement survey. Home room teachers fill it out weekly based on level of work completed or type of contact made.
We are tracking attendance daily by them logging into googleclassroom and doing assignments. Less than 25% of work means absent.
— Amanda Gillooly (@agillooly37) April 24, 2020
We have a Google question of the day, non-academic. Attendance is based on them answering.
— ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ (@laurabct) April 24, 2020
We post daily attendance questions that are fun and simple. But we only have to report student contact weekly.
— Ms.Hanney (@mspiggy716) April 24, 2020
My charter we are taking and counting every day. Itโs a lot, responsibility falls on the teacher to input for each student for each class.
— Cameron Struyk (@CameronStruyk) April 24, 2020
Twice a week for participation. Any attempt at participation counts.
— Andrew (@mrandrewrodgers) April 24, 2020
We are using a shared spreadsheet in MS Teams with the master schedule for each week with students on there. Weโre a tiny school, itโs not cumbersome. Students are expected to treat class like work and communicate a valid reason for absence with teacher in advance.
— Sean McCormick (@themccorm) April 24, 2020
We are not. We just keep a record of who is participating by completing assignments, but we do not take daily attendance.
— Meagan Stott (@MStott_ESL) April 23, 2020
Weekly responses. If no contact made then marked absent for the week.
— Ryan Martinez (@Ryanm44) April 23, 2020
No, we are only asked to follow up with students who are not engaging in the learning to make sure they are ok. Our primary directive from our state has been: Do No Harm.
— Kimberly Osada (@MsOsadatweets) April 23, 2020
On Google classroom we create a โquestionโ labeled the date, Daily Attendance and students mark themselves by selecting and submitting the option โPresent.โ We then record other next day on our usual platform, eSchool.
— Christina Barquin (@MsBarquin) April 23, 2020
Yes, through our usual student management system during our virtual sessions (2x per week per class).
— Aubrie Rojee (@RojeeHistory) April 23, 2020
Only in our face to face meetings, which are once per week.
— Duane Fitzhugh (@MrDuaneFitzhugh) April 23, 2020
and teachers have to notify admin about students who are not logging in to G-Clsrm, not submitting work, or not attending live meetings
— Cassy (@CassyLL) April 23, 2020
Parents have to submit attendance on a Google form found on our district website.
— Cassy (@CassyLL) April 23, 2020
Not mine, per se. They're asking us to monitor "engagement". If students aren't signing on or submitting work, they're asking us to reach out for a wellness check.
— Holly Spinelli is tired but hopeful. (@HolSpinny) April 23, 2020
Not "official attendance" in Power School but we do have to document everything and turn in re: what we're doing for outreach and who shows up. If they don't show up we have to document what we're doing to remove any barriers.
— Kathy Evans (@Maestra_Kathy) April 23, 2020
Yes some districts I work with in Vermont are using a Google Form with a check-in Q for attendance, sent by homeroom or advisory teacher.
Others keep a list & when any teacher has contact they check a student off.
The state agency will count days with at least 51% attendance.
— Life LeGeros (@lifelegeros) April 23, 2020
We are just reporting in if a student hasn't participated in any class work/meetings/etc. during the week, and they follow up. I'm also personally calling/emailing any students who aren't visibly engaged.
— Martha Rush (@MarthaSRush) April 23, 2020
All students sign in to a separate attendance-only Google Classroom each morning
— Leah Smith (@mrssmith_ela7) April 23, 2020
We report only those who didn't show up to the video conferences. I don't think there is a consequence, unless it becomes a chronic issue.
— Suzanne (she,her,hers) (@MissShanksClass) April 23, 2020
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