Attendance: WISEdata
Attendance is contact between a student and a teacher during which district-supervised PK-12 educational services are provided.Contact can be either indicated by physical presence in a school building, or virtual presence, whether synchronous or asynchronous, as defined by school district policy.
Attendance policies are set by the school district, and the schools in the district must adhere to these attendance policies.
Actual Days of Attendance and Possible Days of Attendance must both be recorded. Report attendance data as designated by your district's policies. Each district may have a slightly different policy, which may differ further based on whether the learning takes place in the school building or a remote/virtual classroom.
Most students receive educational services in school buildings, and these services are typically provided by district teachers during full-day school sessions. Some students participate in district-supervised educational programs that operate on a partial-day or partial-week basis. Some district-supervised programs operate off-site and may be staffed by third parties through district contract or agreement.
Wisconsin school districts (ch.119 and ch.120, stats.) and non-district charter schools (§118.40(2r) and §118.40(2x)) are responsible for submitting actual and possible days of attendance for all students enrolled in all the above attendance situations consistent with the information provided below.
Attendance data is submitted on an ongoing basis through the WISEdata Attendance Collection and is certified for the prior year as part of the December snapshot.
**One-half day (0.5) is one-half the clock time of a standard full day at the district providing primary educational services.
USES: This data element is required for Choice and Public schools. Attendance is an important measure of student engagement and a predictor of student success. As such, attendance data is used for multiple reporting and accountability purposes, including, but not limited to:
- Public reporting via the WISEdash Public Portal (attendance and absenteeism rates)
- School Report Cards (attendance and absenteeism rates)
- District Report Cards (attendance and absenteeism rates)
- Federal reporting of Chronic Absenteeism to EDFacts and the Civil Rights Data Collection
FAQ, Details and Points to Note
Click the links below to visit the following FAQs and Use Cases:
Defining Absence and Uncommon Schedules: Use Cases
Absences: Attendance reporting to DPI does not differentiate between “excused” and “unexcused” absences. Any absence during a school day in which a student is expected to attend, including medical and dental appointments, should result in a decrease in the percent of the district-supervised educational services used to calculate ‘Actual Days of Attendance’.
Each district may have a slightly different policy, which may differ further based on whether the learning takes place in the school building or a virtual classroom. For instance, some schools may use negative attendance, minutes of instruction, period attendance, or other methods. Report Actual Days of Attendance and Possible Days of Attendance as defined in the Data Element and Description table./p>
Partial Day or Week Schedule: Very young students may receive limited educational services (such as speech and language) with possible attendance of less than one hour per day. In these situations, possible days should be counted as 0.5, and, if students are present for that time period, then actual days should be counted as 0.5. Additionally, students with IEPs may have a shortened school day. Visit the Shortened School Day data element page for more information.
Requirements for the Length of a School Day for Alternative Education: While the law does not require a full day of attendance for students in an alternative education program, it is important that pupils enrolled in alternative education programs be provided education and related experiences of sufficient duration to be given the opportunity to learn the information to be assessed and to graduate from high school. We recommend a minimum of 15 hours/week. Reference: §118.15 (1) (c)
Attendance Recording Interval: School districts continue to determine the interval that is best for recording attendance, such as hours or periods. For reporting attendance data to WISEdata, the district should report absent, present for a half day, and present for the whole day, 0, 0.5, 1.0, respectively, for each school day.
Virtual Online and Blended Learning Students: Students attending classes online through a virtual school, please follow your district's policies regarding attendance reporting. Please visit the Attendance and Testing section/a> of the Online and Blended Learning for Schools and Educators page for more information.
Attendance Reporting Recommendations
Under state and federal special education law, local educational agencies (LEAs) have a responsibility to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) so that each student with an individualized education program (IEP) can continue to make progress in the general education curriculum and toward their IEP annual goals.
Any time a student with a disability has a significant number of absences due to illness or any other reason, the IEP team must meet to determine how the absences are affecting the student’s receipt of FAPE and consider whether the student might need additional or different special education services and supports.
If remote/virtual synchronous or asynchronous instruction is provided, IEP teams must determine whether the student is able to receive FAPE through this learning modality, and if so, what special education services and supports might be required.
More information about special education requirements in the context of the pandemic may be found on the Special Education department’s Updates and Resources webpage.
In-Person
| Learning Environment: In-Person | ||
|---|---|---|
| What Counts | How to Report | When to Report |
| Student is present in the building | Standard/historical reporting practices apply | Daily |
Suspensions and Expulsions
This section of the attendance page discusses the effect that suspensions and expulsions have on actual days of attendance. Absences related to school suspensions or expulsions are described in Wis. Stats. § 118.16(1m). Students who are not attending school due to suspension or expulsion may accrue days of absence towards their actual days of attendance.
Wis.Stats. §118.16(4)(b) states, “No public school may deny a pupil credit in a course or subject solely because of the pupil’s unexcused absences or suspensions from school. The attendance policy under par Wis.Stats. §118.16(4)(a) shall specify the conditions under which a pupil may be permitted to take examinations missed during absences, other than suspensions, and the conditions under which a pupil shall be permitted to take any quarterly, semester or grading period examinations and complete any course work missed during a period of suspension.”
Attendance is made up of two counts: possible days of attendance and actual days of attendance.
- Possible Days of Attendance is the total number of days (reported to the one-half day) that could occur within a school term.
- Actual Days of Attendance is the number of days (reported to the half-day) that a student actually attends school during a term. The actual days of attendance can equal to or less than the possible days of attendance. Attending every single school day results in ‘perfect’ attendance. Each day of school that is not attended reduces the number of days attended.
For information on WISEdata discipline reporting for expulsions and suspension, visit the Discipline: Info, Help and FAQ webpage.
Suspensions and Attendance
Suspensions have the potential to change a student’s attendance in a school/district.
- In-School Suspensions (ISS) and Attendance
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This occurs when the student is removed from the regular classroom to another room in the same school. In-school suspensions (ISS) can be reported as half days (i.e., 0.5) when the student is removed from the regular classroom for more than a half day to another room in the same school.
- Actual Days of Attendance: ISS days count towards a student’s actual attendance days.
- If the students show up to school and is present for instruction in the ISS room, the student is marked present for actual days of attendance.
- If the student does not show up to school and is not present for instruction in the ISS room, mark the student as absent.
- Possible Days of Attendance: ISS days are included within the total possible days of attendance (e.g., included in the 180 possible days of school)
- Actual Days of Attendance: ISS days count towards a student’s actual attendance days.
- Out-of-School Suspensions (OSS) and Attendance: Students without IEPs
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Out-of-School (OSS) suspensions occurs when the student is removed from the regular classroom/school for a half day or more to another site, a site off school grounds, or is sent home.
Out-of-School suspensions are defined in WI State Performance Plan, Indicator 4 as absences from school imposed by the school administration for noncompliance with school district policies or rules; for threatening to destroy school property; or for endangering the property, health, or safety of those at school (see §120.13(1)(b), Wis. Stats.).
- Actual Days of Attendance: OOS days require the student to be marked absent, reducing their actual days of attendance.
- Possible Days of Attendance: OOS days are included within the Possible Days of Attendance. (e.g., included in the 180 possible days of school).
Suspensions and Expulsions for Students Receiving Special Education Services
It is very important for LEAs to maintain accurate attendance for students with disabilities during both suspensions and expulsions. For students with IEPs who are expelled, the LEA should have some way of recording and monitoring a student’s participation in their program of the services provided (i.e., attendance should be taken as expected.)
Districts must keep careful count of the days of disciplinary removal for students with disabilities in order to fulfill the requirements of federal law regarding disciplinary protections. Days of disciplinary removal must be tracked and counted (e.g., Those days appear on the student’s attendance as “suspended” or a similar code used by the LEA).
- Out-of-School Suspensions (OSS) and Attendance: Students with IEPs
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OSS for Special Education Student Receiving Services Off School Grounds:
If a student with an out-of-school suspension receives district-supervised special educational services, these OOS days, when special education services are offered or scheduled, are included within Possible Days of Attendance. Examples of off school grounds include but are not limited to a library, hospital, county correctional facility, college, home, etc.
- Actual Days of Attendance: Days when a special education student receives services off school grounds due to a suspension should be accurately counted and coded (e.g., the student showed up and participated, the student did not show up due to medical appointment).
- Possible Days of Attendance: Days when a special education student receives services off school grounds due to a suspension count towards the total possible days of attendance (e.g., included in the 180 possible days of school).
- Expelled, Still Receiving Special Education Services for Students with IEPs
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If a student with an IEP is expelled and only receiving district-supervised special education services off school grounds, then attendance should be counted and coded accurately.
- Possible Days of Attendance: All days expelled with special education services count as Possible Days of Attendance (e.g., included in the 180 possible days of school).
- One exception is if the expelled student transfers to a new school. In this case, once the new enrollment is confirmed, exit the student's enrollment record.
- Actual Days of Attendance: Days when an expelled student receives services off school grounds affect Actual Days of Attendance. Attendance should be accurately counted and coded as part of FAPE obligation. This means that if a student is absent from a district supervised service session (due to illness or an appointment, for example) that absence should be accurately counted and coded (e.g., full day absence or half-day absence).
- Number of Days Expelled: the Actual Discipline Action Length data element measures, in school days, the actual length of a student's disciplinary assignment which matches the end date of the expulsion order. This is part of the WISEdata Portal discipline data collection. For more information on discipline data, visit the Discipline: Info, Help and FAQ page.
- Possible Days of Attendance: All days expelled with special education services count as Possible Days of Attendance (e.g., included in the 180 possible days of school).
- Expelled Special Education Services who Meet Early Reinstatement Conditions
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Early Reinstatement Conditions: Condition(s) that a student is required to meet before or after being allowed to return to school (physically, to the school building) from an expulsion. These students are re-enrolled. The student must continue to meet these conditions until the end date of the expulsion order.
NOTE: A student who is expelled and allowed to attend school under early reinstatement conditions is still considered an expelled student until the end date of the expulsion order.
These conditions will be specified in the student's expulsion order under s.120.13(1)(c)3, or s. 120.13(1)(e)3, or s.119.25 Wis Stats. See also: s.120.13(1)(h)1. Wis Stats.
- Actual Days of Attendance: Days in school during an expulsion when early reinstatement conditions are met counts toward a student’s actual attendance days (i.e., present or absent).
- Possible Days of Attendance: Days expelled with special education services count as Possible Days of Attendance (e.g., included in the 180 possible days of school).
- FAPE obligation continues from the resident school district, and the IEP team adjusts to the district’s School Board decision for disciplinary removal. The student works towards earning credits.
- Special Education Services Offered During Expulsion but Refused
- When services are offered during expulsion but all education services and all Special Education services are refused by the student or family, then submit the student as ‘Expulsion with Services’ and exit the student (i.e., end the enrollment record). With an enrollment record ended, attendance data is no longer collected.
Expulsions and Attendance
Expulsions have the potential to change a student’s enrollment in a school/district. With an enrollment record ended, attendance data is no longer collected.
Expulsions are defined in WI State Performance Plan, Indicator 4 as absences from school for purposes of discipline as imposed by the school board for violation of school district rules; threats against school property; or conduct which endangers the property, health, or safety of those at school. Expulsion is a formal school board action defined in Wis. Stats., 120.13 (1)(c), and 119.25 (first-class city school district).
Wisconsin state statute does not specify that students have to be a student with a disability (SWD)/IDEA eligible to receive services after an expulsion.
- For special education students, FAPE obligation from the resident district has always permitted expelled students to maintain a continuous enrollment and continue earning credits, and work towards earning a high school diploma.
- Students without IEPs who get expelled can be offered continuous educational opportunities by their resident school district. Virtual learning options are widely available, and school districts are modifying what it means to be expelled. Students may be expelled from their school building without being expelled from educational opportunities. If you are offering virtual instruction to an expelled student who does not have an IEP, please follow your district's policies regarding attendance reporting. Please visit the Attendance and Testing section of the Online and Blended Learning for Schools and Educators page for more information. You can also visit the Uncommon WISEdata Situations page for Students Receiving Off-Site Services, Expelled Virtual Students.
- Duration of Expulsions
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A student may be expelled for any length of time per the school board as indicated on their expulsion order.
Not all expulsions result in a student losing the capacity to return to a school/district. Sometimes the expulsion is long enough to prevent the student from returning to school during the current school year (i.e., the student can return to school during the following school year).
- Refer to the Discipline page, or the Discipline Length/Actual Discipline Length data element pages for more information about length of expulsion.
- Expelled Students without Services
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For students without services who are expelled, and their enrollment record is ended, attendance data is no longer collected.
"Without services" means:
- The student is not receiving special education services, either because:
- they are not a special education student/do not have an IEP, or
- special education services were offered and refused, or,
- the school district is not offering virtual education opportunities that would allow the student to maintain their enrollment and their education. Visit the Uncommon WISEdata Situations, Students Receiving Off-Site Services webpage for more information about expelled students receiving off-site services.
Complete the following WISEdata submissions:
- Enrollment Exit Date (last day student received school services)
- Use the Exit Types data element page to select the most appropriate exit type (e.g., TC or TNC or ODO)
- If the student enrolls in another educational setting, this will affect the Exit Type.
- No further WISEdata reported is required.
- The student is not receiving special education services, either because:
- Uncommon Situations for Expelled Students without Services:
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Please visit the Uncommon WISEdata Situations, Students Receiving Off-Site Services webpage for more information.
Standard School Year
Third-Party Contracts: When services are provided pursuant to a contract or agreement, the contracting district is expected to collect attendance data from third-party contractors for students they serve and submit the data to DPI. Examples of third parties include: technical colleges, community-based organizations, nonprofit-nonsectarian agencies, universities, school-to-work program providers, cooperative educational service agencies, out-of-state school districts, private schools, residential care centers, etc.
Field Trips: Time spent on a district-supervised field trip is counted as actual attendance time.
Study Hall & Recess: Time during the regular school day for study hall or recess when the student is expected to be present is counted as actual attendance time. Athletic or academic clubs outside the regular school day are not counted as attendance time.
Summer Classes: Normally attendance during summer classes is not counted in Actual Days of Attendance or Possible Days of Attendance because these classes are operated after the end of the school term. There is no summer enrollment or attendance data sent to WISEdata. DPI only collects enrollment and attendance for the regular school year. However, summer classes may be operated during the school term of a year-round school, and attendance for these classes should be included in the counts of Actual and Possible Days.
Parentally Placed Private Students: For parentally placed private students, DPI does not collect attendance data. However, if it's submitted, it will be subject to validation rules. If you submit zero (0) for your attendance value, you should not see an error about attendance missing. If you don’t send anything by leaving that field blank, and WISEdata receives a null value, an error will trigger . Please send a value of zero (0).
Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Wisconsin School for the Deaf, and County Children with Disabilities Education Board schools: WCBVI, WSD, and CCDEB student attendance will be reported directly to WISEdata by those agencies.
Non-Attending Minor Students and Attendance Processes
On July 1, 2024, DPI released a revised edition of the Non-Attending Minor Students and Attendance Process FAQ. Access specifics about the changes, and the document itself, on the School Attendance Improvement and Truancy Prevention webpage. This document is intended to provide answers to frequently asked questions regarding the attendance process for situations where minor students stop attending school for long periods of time. It may be helpful in creating a local policy for no-show or non-attending students. The revisions include a more accessible format, reminders related to topics that must be covered as part of the district truancy plan, clarity around district withdrawal procedures, and considerations for non-attending students with IEPs.
The daily negative attendance is a new optional data collection starting in the 2024-25 school year. This supplementary data will be beneficial, as it allows for the issuance of exports in the WISEdata Portal when there are uncertainties or discrepancies in meeting membership attendance requirements.
Runaways: A student who has run away from home, is not attending school, and has an unknown location should have their enrollment managed according to school board policy. If the local policy does NOT withdraw the student from school, the days that the student was missing must be reported to DPI as included in the (added to) Possible Days of Attendance count and excluded from the Actual Days of Attendance count (subtracted from).
Students Who Cannot Attend Due to Transportation Issues: When a district does not have enough bus drivers and is unable to transport students and those students engage in learning from home, they should be considered present if they meet the criteria listed for students in quarantine.
Unable to Attend In-Person Due to Illness Recommendations
Homework: Under typical circumstances, homework sent home to a temporarily absent child, (i.e., on family vacation) is not counted as actual attendance time. However, in light of COVID-19, if a school provides homework and learning materials to a student receiving district-supervised services off school grounds, or unable to attend in person due to illness, the district could count this as actual attendance time as listed under Unable to Attend In-Person Due to Illness above.
Students in Quarantine, Isolation, or Unable to Attend In-Person Instruction Due to Illness: Districts can and should code student attendance as "present" if the student is quarantined due to possible exposure and is completing work while in quarantine while enrolled in an in-person learning environment. Districts are also able to code student attendance as present if the student is ill or in isolation and unable to attend in-person instruction and is completing work.
Local policy determines what and how much counts as completing work.
When local policy determines a student is absent due to not completing work in quarantine, isolation, or otherwise unable to attend, they would not be reported as present. Local policy may determine that students in this situation are excused. Though excused, their absence would negatively affect the overall attendance and absenteeism rate of the district. WISEdata does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absence.
Medical Excuse Documents: Districts are discouraged from requiring medical excuse notes to prove quarantine is necessary.
State statute (118.15(3)(a))does not require medical excuses for the district to code an absence as excused due to the student not being in proper physical or mental condition to attend a school program temporarily ; however, the statute allows for districts to require excuse notes.
DPI supports fair attendance policies for all students. A policy requiring excuse notes puts up barriers for families, especially those with low SES, from having their student absences coded as medically excused. For example, families may not be able to afford the co-pay to visit the doctor to obtain a note. This can contribute unnecessarily to the habitual truancy process and penalties.
When a district has concerns related to the number of a student’s absences or the student’s disengagement from learning, the district should follow a supportive, culturally responsive, trauma-sensitive approach to student and family engagement. Barriers should be identified and problem-solved with the student and family perspective directing the identification of needs and solutions.
Schools that provide packets of work should consider what information should accompany the work in order for students and parents to understand:
- What the assignment/s is/are; and
- When and how the school/educator will collect each assignment; and
- How much of the packet counts as a daily or weekly amount of work.
These decisions should translate into what counts as attendance and when attendance reporting is updated in local SIS.
| Learning Environment: Remote (Virtual) Synchronous | ||
|---|---|---|
| What Counts | How to Report | When to Report |
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Attendance may be reported in half- or full-day increments, depending upon local policy. This policy may differ by grade level or range.
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DPI recommends that a school enter daily attendance for students, correcting any entries at the end of the week if there are any updates to attendance records based upon assignment completion, check-ins, or LMS access. DPI will capture official attendance data for the current school from the previous school year in December as part of the Year End WISEdata snapshot. Refer to the Snapshot Preparation Guidance page for more details. |
| Learning Environment: Remote (Virtual) Asynchronous | ||
| What Counts | How to Report | When to Report |
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Work completed: On any given day, a student completing an assignment for a course may be considered to have attended that course for the day. If the student partially completes the assignment, the student would have partial attendance for the day. Schools that provide packets of work should consider what information should accompany the work in order for students and parents to understand 1) what the assignment/s is/are; 2) when and how the school/educator will collect each assignment; and 3) how much of the packet counts as a daily or weekly amount of work. These decisions should translate into what counts as attendance and when attendance reporting is updated in local SIS. Check-ins or other student-educator meetings: On any given day, a check-in or student-educator meeting may be used to confirm participation in an asynchronous event; participation in the event counts as attendance for that course for the day. |
DPI recommends that schools enter attendance daily, providing corrections as appropriate on a weekly basis. If a school or district elects to report attendance in different intervals (weekly or longer), understand that WISEdash for Districts reports data updated on a nightly basis and may not be accurate if local reporting differs from the daily updates. |
S-EBT Information
Please visit the Parent/Guardian data element page for details on how to access Summer EBT funds.
See also:
Compulsory School Attendance (Wis. Stats. § 118.15)
School Attendance Enforcement (Wis. Stats. § 118.16)
Wis. Stats. sections 119.25 and 120.13 provide more information about expulsions.
Medium of Instruction data element page
Attendance for Online Learning
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