Cyber Charter School Attendance Annual Benchmark Reporting How-To Guide

Background

Cyber charter schools are required under section 1327.2 of the School Code (24 P.S. § 13-1327.2) to report students’ attainment of attendance benchmarks for asynchronous instruction. In the Student Fact Template for Cyber Charter School Annual Attendance Benchmark Reporting, cyber charter schools will report in the annual data set for students who were enrolled at any time during the school year and categorized as asynchronous learners for one or more courses and are not truant.  For all students who become truant, cyber charter schools are also required to submit the Student Fact Template for Cyber Charter School Monthly Attendance Benchmark Reporting monthly.  

Definitions

Excused absence: an absence from school which is permitted under section 1329 of the School Code (24 P.S. § 13-1329).

Governing body: the board of school directors of a school district or any other governing body of a school entity.

Unexcused absence: an absence from school which is not permitted by the provisions of section 1329 of the School Code (24 P.S. § 13-1329) and for which an approved explanation has not been submitted within the time period and in the manner prescribed by the governing body. An out-of-school suspension may not be considered an unexcused absence.

Compulsory age: the period of a child's life from the time the child's parents elect to have the child enter school and which shall be no later than six (6) years of age until the child reaches eighteen (18) years of age. The term does not include a child who holds a certificate of graduation from a regularly accredited, licensed, registered, or approved high school.

Unlawful absence: any unexcused absence for a student of compulsory age.

School day: the length of time that a student is scheduled to be in school.

Weekly benchmarks for asynchronous instruction: Benchmarks to determine whether a child has an unexcused or excused absence or is present for asynchronous instruction, as defined by each cyber charter school and approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Charter School Office.

Truant: A student is considered truant when the student accumulates three days of unlawful absences. A student’s truancy status lasts for the entire school year, regardless of which entity they are enrolled in.

Annual PIMS Reporting of Attendance Benchmarks

Data is reported in the Cyber CS Annual Attendance Benchmark data set (C6 CCAB Annual) via the Student Fact template for Cyber Charter School Annual Benchmark Reporting. The template description and specification are found in the PIMS Manual, Volume 1.

For each student, report the number of weeks the student was enrolled during the school year, and the number of those weeks the student met the attendance benchmark.

For students who become truant (accumulate three days of unlawful absences), continue to report the student in the annual collection. Also report the student in the monthly collection for the remainder of their enrollment during that school year.

Weeks are defined in the PIMS Manual. Volume 2, Appendix AT. Weeks begin on Monday and end on Friday. Weeks in which the student is enrolled for three or more days should be included in this report.

When school is in session fewer than three days in a week, the week should not be included in the report for that reporting month.

For students who begin or end enrollment mid-week, weeks in which the student is enrolled fewer than three days are not included in the report for that reporting month.

Truancy Status of Transferred Students

When a student transfers, the student’s prior school has an obligation to send student records to the new school – including attendance records (which may include copies of the truancy notifications). A student’s truancy status lasts for the entire school year, regardless of which entity they are enrolled in.

• If a student was truant in their previous school during the school year, they transfer to the cyber charter school and they participate in asynchronous instruction in the cyber charter school, the student should be included in the monthly PIMS submission until the end of the school year.
• If a judge approves a habitually truant student's request to transfer to a cyber charter school and they participate in asynchronous instruction in the cyber charter school, this student should be included in the monthly PIMS submission until the end of the school year.  

Reports

Detail, Validation, and Summary reports will be available in the PIMSReportsV2 Application.     

Accuracy Certification Statement (ACS)

One ACS summarizes Annual and Monthly collections. The ACS is to be submitted according to the instructions on the signature page.