Excluding Students from Attendance Letters

You can exclude students from attendance thresholds that are configured for attendance letters, even if they have a qualifying number of attendance records. For example, if you have students who are working on a plan to attend school more regularly, you may choose to exclude them from the threshold for attendance letters since you are checking in frequently on their progress.

Scroll past the video to access the step-by-step instructions.

Before you begin

Audio Transcript

You can exclude students from attendance letters even if they have met the number of attendance thresholds configured. For example, you may have students that have plans to attend school more regularly and since you’re checking in frequently, they don’t need attendance letters. Let’s begin by navigating to the Entity Group Year Configuration setting within the Attendance module. We’ll select the Attendance Thresholds tab and open the attendance threshold we want to exclude students from. Let’s select the Excluded Students tab. If there are any existing students who are already being excluded, we’ll see them display here. We’ll continue by clicking on Select Students to Exclude. The Student Selection Type radio buttons allow us to determine if we want to exclude a range of students or individual students. Since we’re excluding specific students, we’ll select the Individual Students radio button. Within the Select Students field, we’ll choose the students that need to be excluded from this threshold. Let’s click Next. We see a list of the students that will be excluded from receiving attendance letters. We can uncheck any students here if they need to be included for one reason or another. Let’s click Run Process. The total successful and failed records display. We can click Close to complete the process. Now that you know how to exclude students from attendance letters, you can ensure that students who don’t need to receive attendance letters are correctly removed.

You can exclude students from attendance letters even if they have met the number of attendance thresholds configured. For example, you may have students that have plans to attend school more regularly and since you’re checking in frequently, they don’t need attendance letters. Let’s begin by navigating to the Entity Group Year Configuration setting within the Attendance module. We’ll select the Attendance Thresholds tab and open the attendance threshold we want to exclude students from. Let’s select the Excluded Students tab. If there are any existing students who are already being excluded, we’ll see them display here. We’ll continue by clicking on Select Students to Exclude. The Student Selection Type radio buttons allow us to determine if we want to exclude a range of students or individual students. Since we’re excluding specific students, we’ll select the Individual Students radio button. Within the Select Students field, we’ll choose the students that need to be excluded from this threshold. Let’s click Next. We see a list of the students that will be excluded from receiving attendance letters. We can uncheck any students here if they need to be included for one reason or another. Let’s click Run Process. The total successful and failed records display. We can click Close to complete the process. Now that you know how to exclude students from attendance letters, you can ensure that students who don’t need to receive attendance letters are correctly removed.


  1. Select Menu > Administrative Access > Attendance.
  2. Select Entity Group Year Configuration under Settings.
    Expected Result

    You see the General tab of the Entity Group Year Configuration Details screen.

  3. Select the Attendance Thresholds tab at the left of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You see existing attendance thresholds.

  4. Click the Open icon to the left of the attendance threshold you wish to exclude students from.
    Step Information

    You must select a threshold with a Type of Attendance Letter or Both.

    Expected Result

    You see the General tab of the Attendance Threshold screen.

  5. Select the Excluded Students tab at the left of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You see students who have been excluded from the threshold.

  6. Click Select Students to Exclude near the top right of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You see the Select Students to Exclude screen.

  7. Complete the appropriate fields.
    1. Choose the appropriate radio button for the Student Selection Type.
      Expected Result

      If you selected Range of Students, you see the Student Filters and Advanced Filter. Continue to the next sub-step.

      If you selected Individual Students, you see the Select Students field. Skip to sub-step c.

    2. Build the Student Filters if appropriate.
      Step Information
      This table is meant to be a reference for populating the Student standard filter. Any fields left blank populate all values. Entering information into the filter limits the results to those that match all of the criteria. If you wish to search for records that meet one set of criteria or a different set of criteria, you can add a new filter using the option at the bottom of the existing filter. This enables you to search for records that meet one of the filters' criteria. You can add up to 21 filters if needed.
      Field NameHow the Field WorksExample
      Student Processing ListsLimits the students who are included based on the selected processing lists.If you wish to include students from a processing list already filtered to only include the students on activity rosters for the spring and summer, you would enter that student processing list.
      Active Limits the students who are included in the filter based on their current enrollment status.If you wish to include students with an active enrollment status, select Yes from the drop-down list.
      Grad Year Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected Grad Years. If you wish to include students within a single grad year, you would enter that grad year.
      Grade Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected Grade Levels. If you wish to include students in grade 11 and grade 12, you would enter those grade levels.
      Student Type Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected Student Types. If you wish to include students with a designation of Regular, you would enter that student type.
      GenderLimits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected genders.If you wish to include only female students, check the box to the left of F - Female.
      Gender Identity Limits the students who are included in the filter to the records with a certain Gender Identity code. If you wish to only include students who are not male or female, you would enter the gender identity or identities.
      Cross Entity Course Scheduling Limits the students who are included in the filter based on whether they take Courses at other Entities in addition to their current entity. If you wish to include students who have enrolled in a course or courses at an entity other than the current entity, select Yes from the drop-down list.
      Graduated Limits the students who are included in the filter based on graduation status. If you wish to only include students who have not graduated, select No from the drop-down list.
      School Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected schools.If you wish to include students from a single school, you would enter that school.
      Homeroom Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected Homerooms. If you wish to include students in certain homerooms, you would enter those homerooms.
      AdvisorLimits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected advisors.If you wish to include students who have John Smith as an advisor, you would enter that name.
      CounselorLimits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected counselors.If you wish to include students who have John Smith as a counselor, you would enter that name.
      Activity Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected Activities. If you wish to include students who play tennis, you would enter that activity.
      Calendar Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected calendars.If you wish to include students attached to a particular calendar, you would enter that calendar.
      Graduation Requirement Year Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected Graduation Requirement Years. If you wish to include students within a particular range of graduation requirement years, enter the first year in the Low field and the last year in the High field.
      Default Entity Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected default Entity. If you wish to include students whose default entity is 101, you would enter entity 101.
      Student Number Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected student numbers.If you wish to include students with particular student numbers, you would enter those numbers.
      Last NameLimits the students who are included in the filter to the students whose last names fall between the low and high values entered. If you wish to only include students whose last names begin with the letter A through the letter F, enter A in the Low field and FZZZ in the High field.
      First NameLimits the students who are included in the filter to the students whose first names fall between the low and high values entered. If you wish to only include students whose first names begin with the letter G through the letter P, enter G in the Low field and PZZZ in the High field.
      Middle NameLimits the students who are included in the filter to the students whose middle names fall between the low and high values entered. If you wish to only include students whose middle names begin with the letter Q through the letter Z, enter Q in the Low field and ZZZZ in the High field.

      Method Of Instruction
      Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the selected Method of Instruction Offering codes.

      If you wish to include students attached to a particular method of instruction, you would enter that Method of Instruction Offering code.

      Primary Language

      Limits the students who are included in the filter based on their primary language of use.

      If you wish to view students with a particular primary language in order to provide translated messages, you would enter that language.

      Home Language

      Limits the students who are included in the filter based on the language used in their home.

      If you wish to view students with a particular home language in order to provide translated messages, you would enter that language.

      Students

      Limits the students who are included in the filter to the selected students.

      If you wish to include specific students, you would enter the appropriate student names.

      If you want to filter by other criteria, you can build the Advanced Filter.

      Skip to sub-step d.

    3. Enter one or more students in the Select Students field or click the Magnifying Glass icon to choose from the drop-down list.
      Step Information

      You can click outside of the selection box once you have made your selections.

    4. Click Next near the top left of the screen.
      Expected Result

      You see a preview of students to be excluded from the threshold.

    5. Uncheck the box for each student you do not wish to exclude from the threshold.
      Step Information

      All names default to checked, but can be modified if necessary. You can use the box at the top of the Select column to uncheck all boxes and then check the boxes for the students you wish to exclude.

  8. Click Run Process near the top left of the screen.
  9. Click Close near the top left of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You return to the Excluded Students tab of the Attendance Threshold screen, which displays the students you selected.

Result(s)

You have successfully excluded students from attendance letters.