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Download attendance record form in Microsoft Word format.
Measure Student Attendance with Attendance Record Forms
Are you a teacher or other school employee looking for an effective way to record and measure student attendance? Did you know that many attendance record forms are available as templates, saving you the time from creating one yourself? Tracking student attendance is not only a useful measurement rubric for teachers, in most cases, the practice is absolutely mandatory. In this article we will show you a few reasons why measuring student attendance is important, and introduce you to a couple of different attendance record forms currently available online as templates.
Tracking Attendance: Is It Really Important?
Some of the most useful templates available for teachers, college professors and other school employees are attendance record forms. There are several reasons for this, but some of the most important are indicated below:
• Attendance at School Is the Law. School attendance, unless otherwise excused by a child’s parent, is compulsory.
• Attendance Is Important to Performance. When teachers sit down with parents to talk about a particular child’s performance, one of the first subjects to be breached is student attendance. In other words, poor attendance often leads to poor performance.
• Child Safety. Parents are required to call school officials when a child is going to be absent. When that doesn’t happen (which is all too often the case) the school officials are required to call and notify the parents when a child does not show up at school. The practice of keeping attendance in cases such as these is a necessary safety precaution and a method for keeping parents informed.
• Money. Generally speaking, the amount of funding schools receive is based on average daily attendance. Therefore, it’s absolutely essential that each teacher keep accurate and detailed attendance records daily.
Attendance Record Forms: Two Types
There are essentially two types of attendance record forms for classroom teachers. The first is called a monthly record and the second a weekly record. Which of these forms you decide to use should be based not only on your individual preferences but also on the reporting requirements of your school and the school district.
Whether you decide to rely on the monthly or weekly record, you should check carefully to ensure the record contains a space for all of the following:
- Teacher’s Name
- Classroom Number or Building
- Students’ Names
- Attendance Code (Usually “P” for present; “A” for absent; “U” for unexcused absence; “T” for tardy).
- Teachers’ Notes
Most teachers would admit that taking daily attendance is an arduous and often frustrating chore, but they would no doubt also admit that it is one of the most important duties of the school day. Attendance record forms help keep children safe and parents informed, while allowing teachers to get a clear picture of individual student attendance trends and the effect those trends have on student performance.