Processing Mass Add Attendance by Class

The Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature enables you to enter the same attendance record for multiple students at once. You can create the record for students in a specific Section of a course. You can choose to create an attendance record for one or multiple Periods. For example, this would be useful if a class is taking a field trip where they will miss periods one through four. You can choose to create the record for all four attendance periods so all students have an attendance record for the periods they will be on the trip.

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

Before you begin

Audio Transcript

You can update attendance en masse for a class, activity, or range to ensure you attendance records are always kept up to date. By mass adding attendance for a certain class and grade level you can easily adjust attendance for a group of students. First, let’s navigate to the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature, which is located within the Attendance module. From here, we’ll select the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range option to add a mass attendance entry for a group of students who are going on a field trip. Since we are entering a mass attendance entry for a class, we will choose By Class for Grade levels Selected as the Selection Method. This group of students are in the Art 1 course, and section 0001. Since grade levels nine through twelve are already selected, we do not need to update the Grade Levels. The Start and End Dates default to the current date, and since we are entering attendance for the current date, we can leave these fields as is. Since this field trip isn’t all day, we will leave the All Day box unchecked. This field trip will take place from fifth to eighth period, so we will record those as the Start and End Periods. The Attendance Type for this field trip will be a School Function, and the Attendance Reason will be Field Trip. For this example, we will enter a Comment of “Museum Field Trip.” We will also check the Guardian Notified box to indicate that guardians were notified of this field trip. We do not need to check the Overwrite Existing Attendance box for this example, so we’ll click Next. This screen displays the students that will have their attendance taken through this process. We want to record that all students will attend this field trip, so we can leave this screen as is and click Next. This screen displays the attendance records that will be created by this process. These details can be left as is for this example, and we’ll click Run Process to finalize attendance for this class. Now that you know how to add attendance en masse by class, you can rest assured that you can properly use the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature.

You can update attendance en masse for a class, activity, or range to ensure you attendance records are always kept up to date. By mass adding attendance for a certain class and grade level you can easily adjust attendance for a group of students. First, let’s navigate to the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature, which is located within the Attendance module. From here, we’ll select the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range option to add a mass attendance entry for a group of students who are going on a field trip. Since we are entering a mass attendance entry for a class, we will choose By Class for Grade levels Selected as the Selection Method. This group of students are in the Art 1 course, and section 0001. Since grade levels nine through twelve are already selected, we do not need to update the Grade Levels. The Start and End Dates default to the current date, and since we are entering attendance for the current date, we can leave these fields as is. Since this field trip isn’t all day, we will leave the All Day box unchecked. This field trip will take place from fifth to eighth period, so we will record those as the Start and End Periods. The Attendance Type for this field trip will be a School Function, and the Attendance Reason will be Field Trip. For this example, we will enter a Comment of “Museum Field Trip.” We will also check the Guardian Notified box to indicate that guardians were notified of this field trip. We do not need to check the Overwrite Existing Attendance box for this example, so we’ll click Next. This screen displays the students that will have their attendance taken through this process. We want to record that all students will attend this field trip, so we can leave this screen as is and click Next. This screen displays the attendance records that will be created by this process. These details can be left as is for this example, and we’ll click Run Process to finalize attendance for this class. Now that you know how to add attendance en masse by class, you can rest assured that you can properly use the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature.



  1. Select Menu > Administrative Access > Attendance.
  2. Select Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range under Features.
    Expected Result

    You see the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range Run History List.

  3. Click Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range near the top right of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You see the Attendance Entry by Class / Activity / Range screen.

  4. Complete the appropriate fields.
    Step Information

    Required fields are identified with an asterisk. You must complete required fields before you can save your work.

    1. Under the Students to Select heading, select the By Class for Grade Levels Selected option from the Selection Method drop-down list.
      Expected Result

      The Course field displays.

    2. Enter the Course or click the Down Arrow icon to choose from the drop-down list.
      Step Information

      If you need to add attendance for multiple classes and sections, you must run this process individually for each combination of class and section.

      Expected Result

      Entering a Course displays the Section field.

    3. Enter the Section or click the Down Arrow icon to choose from the drop-down list.
    4. Optional: Verify the Grade Levels or enter the correct grade levels.
      Step Information

      This field defaults based on the school's Grade Level Low and Grade Level High values, but can be modified if necessary.

      You can click outside of the selection box once you have made your selections. The only students who display on the subsequent screens are those in the grade levels you select.

    5. Under the Attendance Details heading, verify the Start Date or enter the correct date.
      Step Information

      This defaults to the current date, but can be modified as needed.

    6. Verify the End Date or enter the correct date.
      Step Information

      This defaults to the current date, but can be modified as needed. You can modify this field if the absence should span multiple days.

    7. Optional: Verify the box for All Day is checked or unchecked.
      Expected Result

      When checked, the Start Period and End Period fields are disabled. Skip to sub-step j.

      If you did not check the box, continue to the next sub-step.

    8. Enter the Start Period
      Step Information

      This indicates the period when the attendance record should start.

    9. Enter the End Period.
      Step Information

      This indicates the period when the attendance record should end.

    10. Enter the Attendance Type.
      Step Information

      For example, you could enter School Function.

    11. Optional: Enter the Attendance Reason.
      Step Information

      For example, you could enter Field Trip.

    12. Optional: Enter a Comment for the attendance record if you wish to track additional information about the attendance record.
      Step Information

      For example, you could enter, "Museum Field Trip."

    13. Optional: Verify the box for Guardian Notified is checked or unchecked.
      Step Information

      For example, since typically a guardian would have to return a permission slip for a field trip, you would check this box. This field can be used as a filter on reports to only print records where the Guardian Notified box was not checked, so that office personnel can generate a list of guardians to call to confirm student absences.

    14. Optional: Verify the box for Overwrite Existing Attendance is checked or unchecked.
      Step Information

      When checked, any attendance records for the selected students and dates are changed. For example, if you previously entered an absence record for the cheer team to be gone during periods seven and eight for a competition, but now the biology class will be missing the whole day for a field trip, you would check the box to overwrite existing attendance if the cheerleaders in the class will actually be absent for the field trip.

      When unchecked, any existing attendance records for the selected dates are not modified. For example, if a student was previously marked as absent for an illness, and you are creating a record for the biology class to be absent for period eight, checking this box will mistakenly mark this student as absent due to a field trip, even if the student was actually home sick.

      Expected Result

      In the image below, the class attendance record details display an AP Biology field trip for the first four periods of the day.





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

      You see a list of students who fit the selection criteria from the previous screen.

    16. Uncheck the box to the left of each student you do not wish to add attendance for.
      Step Information

      For example, you might uncheck the box for a student who will be on a family vacation this day. You can check the box at the top of the Select column to uncheck all students. You can then select individual students to include by checking the box to the left of their name.

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

      You see the student records to be created or updated, which includes details about any previous attendance records as well as the new details. This allows you to determine whether to overwrite the attendance records that currently exist for the students.

    18. Uncheck the box to the left of each student you do not wish to create or update attendance records for.
      Step Information

      You can uncheck the box at the top of the Select column to uncheck all students. You can then select individual students you wish to include by checking the box to the left of their name.

  5. Click Run Process near the top left of the screen.
    Step Information

    The system creates a run history record each time you process the Attendance Entry by Class/Activity/Range feature. If one or more errors exist after processing the feature, you can run the undo mass add attendance run process to revert all attendance records that were originally created with this process.

    Expected Result

    You see the number of student attendance records successfully created or updated, as well as any attendance records that failed to be created.

  6. Click Done near the top left of the screen.
    Expected Result

    You return to the screen you were previously on.

Result(s)

You have successfully recorded attendance for multiple students by class.