PowerSchool Custom Report: Attendance Tracking Report

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Are you tired of running 5 different reports and manually adding up numbers just to get the attendance totals you need? I am! There are children who need our attention and we're using our precious time scribbling down addition problems.  

We need a quick method to see group attendance data on one page that is already totaled and categorized by excused vs. unexcused. I decided to take on this task today with the inspirational background noise of Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview playing on Netflix. By the way, it is a very interesting interview and he shared some wisdom that I think applies to our plight:

Humans are tool builders and we build tools that can dramatically amplify our human abilities." 

-Steve Jobs

PowerSchool, like any piece of technology, is a tool that we can implement to multiply our efforts. Lets put down our calculators and let PowerSchool do the work for us. I'm pretty excited about how this turned out and hope it is helpful for you as well!  

What Do I do Next?

You may need to first import this report into your Powerschool system in order to use it. There are resources at the end of this post that will walk you through how to do this. 

Currently I am aware that this report is available in the following counties in NC:
Wake
Johnson

Continue reading for instructions on how to use this report, a downloadable guide, and the code to import this report into Powerschool for your county if you don't already have access to it. 

Creating Custom Reports

Recently I have become interested in learning some computer coding, so this was the perfect excuse to get some practice.  PowerSchool actually has a lot of flexibility in creating custom reports for all kinds of information and you can even decide how you want the report to appear when it is finished.  You can find all of these options under System Reports and then Setup.  I created the report I am sharing with you today using Object Reports.  If you'd like to learn more about creating reports with these functions let me know. Also, if you have a report idea that you're not sure how to create or if you have any suggestions to improve this one i'd love to collaborate with you.  

My intention for this report is that it will help you be able to get the information you need quickly for not only PLT projects, but also for monthly attendance committee meetings at your schools, and any other time you need to get a quick (but detailed) attendance summary for a group of students.

Attendance Tracking Report

I have saved this report under the name Attendance Tracking Report and it should be available to all schools in Wake County.  You'll find it within the Print Reports function that I talked about in a previous post.  To run this report you will follow the same procedure described in that guide: Powerschool Tutorial: Print Reports.  I will assume that you have read these instructions and so will abbreviate them here:

     1. Choose the year or term you want to work with by choosing from the       

         drop-down box in the top right corner. 

     2. Select the group of students you want to work with.  This can be done by 

         many methods, here are a few to consider:

• Create a group and select it. Here's more on working with a group. This could be your PLT group or any other customized group of students.

• Select all students for a particular school (choose All at the end of the alphabet list on the start page).  Make sure you choose the right school in the top right drop-down menu.

• Use the Search by Grades/Attendance function under attendance to first select a subset of students that meet a certain criteria (Ex. > 6 unexcused absences) and then run this Attendance Tracking Report to get a detailed list of that group's attendance data.

• Any other method of selecting students.

     3. With the group selected, go to the Print Reports menu.
     

     4. On the drop down list choose Attendance Tracking Report.

     5. Click Submit.

     6. Wait for report to finish and then click View to see your report.

Here's what your report should look like: 

Result: You should get a print out with each child's name (Last, First) on a new row with their data following in this order: 

• Excused absences
• Unexcused absences 
• Suspensions
• Total absences 
• Excused tardies
• Unexcused tardies
• Total tardies
• Teacher
• Grade
• Track
• Student ID number (Powerschool number)

The report will also print the current date (when the report was run) in the top left corner along with the school year or term for which the data was generated. All data that is output will be current to when the report is run and include totals from the beginning of the selected term up to that day.  If there are more children than will fit on one page (46) then they will run onto additional pages. 

You can then right click to save or print the report to use for whatever you need.

Until next time I'll leave you with a few more words from Steve:

"I don't think that most of the really best people that I've worked with have worked with computers for the sake of working with computers.  They work with computers because they are the medium that is best capable of transmitting some feeling that you have that you want to share with other people." 

-Steve Jobs 

I really like this sentiment and hope that it inspires you as well to use technology to improve your life and those around you. Here's hoping that this report leaves you with a feeling of calm because you work so hard for our students and families every day! 

Downloads: Guide and Report Export

If you are a School Social Worker in a county other than Wake this report may not yet be available in Powerschool for you. Don't worry, you can fix that! You may need assistance from your school's data manager or other staff in your County as School Social Workers don't always have the access needed to import a report. If you have tried that and don't know who to ask for help, reference this list of Powerschool coordinators to find the contact for your county or LEA.

Start by downloading the Attendance Tracking Report (Export) below and then follow the import directions in the second file, Sharing Object Reports, in order to load this report into your Powerschool system. Finally, the Attendance Tracking Report (Guide) gives you step-by-step instructions for how to use this report. It contains the same information you just read in this walkthrough, but in a simpler format perfect for printing. 

Powerschool | Attendance Tracking Report (Export) Source: Carly Price | WCPSS School Social Worker This custom object report is great for tracking attendance. It was first created for Wake County Schools, but you can import the file into Powerschools for your county with these instructions. Download

Powerschool | Sharing Object Reports Author: Carly Price | WCPSS School Social Worker These instructions detail how to import an object report for your own use that someone else created or to export one you created for others to use. This is how you can import the Attendance Tracking Report into your system to use. Download

Powerschool | Attendance Tracking Report (Guide) Source: Carly Price | WCPSS School Social Worker This report gives tons of great data for a list of students to quickly scan their attendance. This walkthrough gives you step-by-step directions on several uses. Download