Creating a Campaign
to Encourage
Teachers to Track
Attendance More
Accurately
Challenge
Teachers are critical to ensuring
timely and accurate student attendance data. Poor data collection can
cost districts a significant amount of
money if attendance is under-reported. Or, open the district up to risk or
even fraud charges if attendance is
over-reported or haphazardly collected.
TASBO MEMBERS ARE CONS
SHARING IDEAS ON WHAT W
WHAT DOESN'T. THIS SERIE
PRACTICES HELPS FORMALI
With pressures on teachers and
campuses to do more with less time
and resources, it can be challenging
to convey how important attendance
recording is to the district - how it
drives funding and pay. Further,
there are basic guidelines each teacher must know in order to properly
record attendance and understand
their responsibilities. Compliance is a
big issue.
DISCUSSIONS MEMBERS HA
EVENTS, AFFILIATE & COMM
MEETINGS AND ONLINE AT
CONNECT.
Solution
Before crafting a message to teachers,
be sure to identify your key stakeholders at the campus level and the
available channels to communicate
your message. Your audience may go
beyond teachers, it may include principals, registrars, etc. Also, beyond
email, find out what communication
channels are available at your district. Is there a staff orientation event,
youtube channel, etc to be able to
reach teachers?
be combined with student attendance
campaigns, or upgrades to new paperless systems.
At the end of the day, schools should
be proactive in helping students stay
healthy, engaged and in class. However, if teachers aren’t properly documenting student attendance, the staff
and students may suffer the consequences of inadequate funding.
Results
When presenting the material, keep
it simple and concise. Austin ISD’s
“Attendance 101” document basically shares six pieces of information:
Point in Time, Who Takes Attendance,
Excused Absences, Final Exam Days
and State Assessment Days. A onesheet document is all that is needed
to be distributed and posted around.
While this information can get complicated, there’s no reason teachers need
to be aware of all details.
An active discussion is available on
TASBO Connect’s Open Forum called
“Attendance.” You’ll find presentations, brochures and even a video to
start your communications campaign.
All these efforts lead to more accurate
and adequate funding.
It is also vital to clearly communicate
how important attendance is to a
district. Some districts have provided
actual examples of funding impact to
the district due to Average Daily Attendance. Such a program could also
Special Thanks to Brenda Richmond,
RTSBA Data Systems Manager | Austin ISD; Donna Guterrez, RTSBA, Director of Student Information System
| Huntsville ISD & TASBO members
sharing ideas on TASBO Connect
14
Authored by
Tom Greer, CAE Director of Communications - TASBO
Using an Online
Portal for a
Paperless Audit
Challenge
Hutto ISD has been moving in the
paperless direction for two years
to streamline its records retrieval.
The process started with scanning
all accounts payable checks and
associated documentation into a
digital repository. This allows any
business office employee to look at
these items at any point in time.
Not only is it easier to find a journal
entry or deposit, but there is no
filing cabinet to dig through or risk
of paper cuts. Documents can be
retrieved by searching by keyword,
amount, check number, or journal
number. The scanned documents can
be saved, emailed or printed from the
repository, as needed.
Solution
Paper in the school business office
will always be a reality, but there are
TASBO REPORT | AUGUST 2016