​

Administrator Attendance Guide

As an administrator, you oversee attendance across your entire school - monitoring patterns, managing alerts, and ensuring compliance. This guide covers your attendance management responsibilities and workflows.

​

Your Attendance Responsibilities

​

Daily (5 minutes)

• Review school-wide attendance dashboard
• Check chronic absence alerts
• Verify all centres have active marking
• Address any urgent issues

​

Weekly (15 minutes)

• Analyze attendance trends
• Compare centre performance
• Review and acknowledge alerts
• Generate weekly reports

​

Monthly (30 minutes)

• Generate monthly attendance report
• Analyze chronic absence patterns
• Review alert effectiveness
• Report to leadership

---

​

Administrator Dashboard

​

Access Your Dashboard

1. Log into Zion
2. Navigate to Attendance → Dashboard
3. View school-wide attendance metrics

​

Dashboard Sections

​

Today’s Snapshot

Summary Cards: Color Coding:

• Green: Attendance >90%
• Yellow: Attendance 75-90%
• Red: Attendance <75%

​

Absent Students List

Quick view of all absent students today:

• Student name and grade
• Learning centre
• Previous absences this week
• Click to view student details

​

Late Arrivals

Students who arrived late:

• Student name
• Arrival time
• Notes (if any)

​

Centre Breakdown

Chart showing each centre:

• Centre name
• Student count
• Attendance rate
• Visual comparison bar

Quick Actions:

• Click centre to drill down
• Identify struggling centres
• Compare performance

---

​

Attendance Alerts

​

Alert Dashboard

1. Navigate to Attendance → Alerts
2. View all active alerts

​

Understanding Alert Types

​

Alert Information

Each alert shows:

• Student name and details
• Alert type (Critical/Warning)
• Consecutive absence count
• 30-day absence rate
• List of absence dates
• Learning centre

​

Managing Alerts

​

Reviewing Alerts

1. Scan for Critical alerts first
2. Note students with multiple absences
3. Identify patterns (same centre, same grade)
4. Plan interventions

​

Acknowledging Alerts

When you’ve taken action:

1. Click Acknowledge on alert card
2. Enter intervention notes:
   • Parent contact made
   • Meeting scheduled
   • Letter sent
   • Referral made
3. Submit to acknowledge

​

Alert Settings

Configure thresholds for your school:

1. Click Settings icon on Alerts page
2. Adjust thresholds:
   • Consecutive days for warning (default: 3)
   • Consecutive days for critical (default: 5)
   • 30-day rate for critical (default: 20%)
3. Toggle email digest on/off
4. Save changes

​

Email Digest

When enabled, receive daily email:

• Sent at 8:00 AM
• Lists all unacknowledged alerts
• Includes quick summary
• Link to view in Zion

---

​

Attendance Reports

​

Generating Reports

1. Navigate to Attendance → Reports
2. Select report type:
   • Daily
   • Weekly
   • Monthly
   • Term
   • Custom range
3. Choose date range
4. Select centres (All or specific)
5. Optional: Include Goal Check correlation
6. Click Generate

​

Report Contents

Overview Section:

• Date range and centres included
• Total students analyzed
• Overall attendance rate

Detailed Metrics:

• Present/Absent/Late counts
• Day-of-week breakdown
• Centre comparison
• Chronic absence list
• Late arrival patterns

Optional Goal Check Integration:

• Attendance vs goal completion correlation
• Students with both attendance and goal issues

​

Using Reports

For Board Meetings:

• Generate monthly or term reports
• Export as PDF for presentation
• Highlight key metrics and trends

For Parent Communication:

• Generate student-specific attendance records
• Export for parent conferences
• Document interventions

For Compliance:

• Generate reports for required periods
• Keep export copies for audits
• Track chronic absence interventions

---

​

Trend Analysis

​

Viewing Trends

1. Navigate to Attendance → Trends
2. Select time range (7/30 days, term, custom)
3. View trend chart

​

Understanding Trends

Improving Trend:

• Line slopes upward
• Recent rates higher than earlier
• Positive momentum

Declining Trend:

• Line slopes downward
• Recent rates lower than earlier
• Requires investigation

Stable Trend:

• Relatively flat line
• Consistent performance
• Good if high, concerning if low

​

Centre Comparison

Compare attendance across centres:

1. View centre comparison chart
2. Identify outliers (above or below average)
3. Click centre for detailed view

High Performers:

• Document successful practices
• Share with struggling centres
• Consider mentor relationships

Struggling Centres:

• Investigate specific challenges
• Provide additional support
• Review supervisor practices

---

​

Marking Attendance (When Needed)

As administrator, you can mark attendance for any centre:

1. Navigate to Attendance (main page)
2. Select date and centre
3. Mark students as needed
4. Use bulk actions for efficiency

When to Mark:

• Covering for absent supervisor
• Correcting errors
• Emergency situations

---

​

Intervention Workflows

​

For Critical Alerts

​

For Warning Alerts

​

Escalation Path

If interventions don’t improve attendance:

1. Formal parent meeting
2. Principal involvement
3. Attendance improvement plan
4. External referral if needed

---

​

Best Practices

​

Daily Routine

1. Morning Check (5 min):
   • Review dashboard for overnight alerts
   • Check if all centres are marking
   • Note any urgent situations
2. Midday Review:
   • Quick check for new issues
   • Follow up on morning alerts
3. End of Day:
   • Verify all marking complete
   • Address any gaps

​

Weekly Reviews

• Monday: Review previous week’s trends
• Mid-week: Check alert resolution progress
• Friday: Generate weekly report

​

Documentation

• Always document parent contacts
• Use consistent intervention notes
• Keep copies of important communications
• Track intervention effectiveness

---

​

Troubleshooting

​

Centre Not Marking Attendance

Check:

• Is supervisor logged in?
• Are there access issues?
• Is supervisor aware of responsibility?

Action:

• Contact supervisor
• Mark attendance yourself if urgent
• Train supervisor if needed

​

High Absence Rate Suddenly

Investigate:

• Is there a school event?
• Weather or transport issues?
• Data entry errors?

Action:

• Verify data accuracy
• Communicate with supervisors
• Address root cause

​

Alert Not Generating

Check:

• Student meets threshold criteria
• Student is active (not deactivated)
• Alert generation has run today

Action:

• Manually generate alerts
• Check student status
• Verify settings

---

​

Related Guides