Purpose: This guide supports school-level PowerSchool administrators in setting up, managing, and monitoring attendance in compliance with SCDE reporting requirements, including chronic absenteeism, ADA, and FTE tracking.
As a school-based administrator, your attendance setup directly impacts funding, reporting accuracy, and student support interventions. Here's what you need to understand:
ADA (Average Daily Attendance) – ADA is the aggregate number of pupil days present divided by the number of days the school is in session.
Absent – A pupil is counted absent if s/he is not present for greater than 50% of the instructional time in a school day. This includes excused absences, unexcused absences, and out of school suspensions.
Membership – Membership is defined as the number of pupils present plus the number of pupils absent. A pupil will be counted in membership on the first day of entrance in an instructional program as an original entry, a re-entry, or a transfer. (R43-172)
School Year – The regular 180-day academic year.
Daily Attendance – Administrative users with appropriate access may mark Daily Attendance to indicate student attendance for an entire school day.
Meeting Attendance – Attendance is taken in each class meeting to indicate absences and tardies in each class period during the school day.
Bridge Period – Attendance taken by teachers through PowerTeacher Pro is always meeting attendance. In order for teachers to take Daily Attendance, a Bridge Period must be set. PowerSchool is designed to convert Meeting Attendance taken in the Bridge Period to daily attendance, which accounts for the whole day. One Bridge Period can be defined in each bell schedule.
Two-way Bridge – To keep the corresponding Meeting Attendance record synchronized to a Daily Attendance record, select “Two-way bridge setting.” This ensures that Daily Attendance records create a corresponding Meeting Attendance record for the Bridge Period.
Time to Day Conversion – Converts the number of minutes present to an attendance value for the day.
Start here to build the structure for your school year:
Go to: School Management > Years and Terms
Set the correct start/end dates (contact district support if changes are needed).
Add quarters or semesters as needed (no overlapping dates).
Define A/B day cycles or other rotation patterns.
Set this within the “Years and Terms” section under the correct school year.
Add a period for each graded subject, including Homeroom.
Match your school’s schedule—especially for elementary schools.
Navigate to: School Management > Bell Schedules
Set start/end times for each period.
Select “Counts for ADA” for all instructional periods.
Set one Bridge Period if using Daily Attendance.
For further information please refer to Years, Terms, Periods, Day Cycle and Bell Schedules Scribe
Navigate to: School Management > Configure Calendar
Mark instructional days as “In Session” and set “Membership Value” to 1.
Attach the correct Bell Schedule and Cycle Day to each day.
Calendar setup drives when and how attendance is recorded—critical for compliance.
Calendar ConfigurationNavigate to: School Management > Attendance > Attendance Preferences
Key settings to confirm:
âś” Both Meeting and Daily Attendance methods checked.
✔ “Two-way bridge” selected (if using a Bridge Period).
✔ “Multiple character attendance codes” enabled.
âś” Default attendance view set correctly (Meeting = secondary / Daily = elementary).
âś” Round time, not truncate, for accuracy.
Navigate to:
Attendance Code Categories
Creating Attendance Code CategoriesAttendance Codes
Attendance CodesUse SCDE-approved codes only (e.g., SC-EX, SC-UNEX, SC-PA, SC-ETRD).
Be sure:
Present code is blank and listed first with sort order 1.
Codes like Dismissal or Early Dismissal reflect correct “Excused” or “Unexcused” settings based on your school policy.
Use “Teacher Can Assign” setting to control which codes teachers can see in PowerTeacher.
Please use the following chart (SCDE PowerSchool Attendance Setup Manual) for further guidance:
Code | Code Meaning | Day Attendance Value |
(Present) | 1 | |
SC-UNEX | Unexcused/Unverified | 0 |
SC-EX | Excused | 0 |
SC-PA | Principal Approved | 0 |
SC-MED | Medical | 0 |
SC-FLU | Flu- Influenza | 0 |
SC-PN | Parent Note | 0 |
SC-UEPN | Unexcused Parent Note | 0 |
SC-IMNZ | Immunization | 0 |
SC-AH | Administrative Hearing | 0 |
SC-ETRD | Excused Tardy | 1 |
SC-BTRD | Bus Tardy | 1 |
SC-UTRD | Unexcused Tardy | 1 |
SC-HMBD | Homebound | 1 |
SC-HBSD | Hombased Instruction | 1 |
SC-FT | Field Trip/School Activity | 1 |
SC-REL | Religious | 0 |
SC-OSS | Out of School Suspension (OSS) | 0 |
SC-WTHR | Weather | 0 |
SC-LEG | Legal/Court | 0 |
SC-COL | College Visit | 1 |
SC-REC | Attendance Recovery/Saturday Recovery | 0 |
SC-ONST | On Site Services | 1 |
SC-ISS | In School Suspension (ISS) | 1 |
SC-BRV | Bereavement/Death in Family | 0 |
SC-DSML | Dismissal | 0 |
SC-EDSM | Early Dismissal | 1 |
SC-UEDM | Unexcused Early Dismissal | 1 |
SC-CKIN | Check-In | 1 |
SC-SKIP | Skip Code | 0 |
SC-LATE | Late Arrival | 0 |
SC-NURS | Nurse | 0 |
SC-VTP | Virtual Present Code | 1 |
SC-COVD | Covid | 0 |
SC-KTST | Kindergarten Testing | 1 |
SC-VIRM | Virtual Makeup | 1 |
SC-MIL | Military compact | 0 |
SC-IMHB | Intermittent Medical Homebound | 1 |
SC-WBL | Work-Based Learning | 1 |
Navigate to: Attendance > Full-Time Equivalencies
Each student must have:
One FTE named “Full Time”.
Attendance mode set to Meeting (secondary) or Daily (elementary).
Attendance conversion set to Time to Day.
Note: For further information about Full-Time Equivalencies please review:
Full-Time Equivalency (FTE)Navigate to: Attendance > Attendance Conversions
Create an entry named SCDE Attendance.
Define the number of minutes = Present (1) vs. Absent (0).
Example: If the full day = 420 minutes, 50% = 210. So, 210+ minutes = Present.
Also:
Set period and code-based conversions (provided in SCDE guide).
Match conversions to the correct bell schedule.
Attendance ConversionsUse the Daily Attendance Page to:
Mark full-day absences.
Record Clock In/Out for partial days or early dismissals.
Tardies = SC-ETRD, SC-UTRD, etc.
Use Meeting Attendance Page to:
Mark attendance each period.
Teachers record attendance in PowerTeacher/Pro for each class.
Bridge Period not required unless taking daily attendance.
Students attending CATE or off-site courses must be enrolled in at least one class at the home school for attendance to write back.
Updating Mass Attendance
To ensure accurate funding reports, instructional days must be marked as In-Session and have a Membership Value of 1. The calendar must include 180 In-Session days. Section §59-1-425 of the South Carolina Code of Laws defines the start and duration of the school term, make-up days, waivers, and instructional days.
Mass Update AttendanceEnsure your attendance clerks or teachers have the correct permissions to:
Edit attendance (based on district guidelines).
Use correct codes and categories.
Access “Modify Page Permissions” if updates are needed.
Also:
Use the “Refresh Premier Attendance Views” to update data immediately.
Monitor for unmarked periods or inconsistent patterns.
âś… All students must be assigned an FTE.
âś… Only one Bridge Period allowed per day (if applicable).
âś… DO NOT use unapproved or custom attendance codes.
âś… Train attendance clerks on entering Clock In/Out for partial-day attendance.
âś… Attendance updates sync nightly, but can be refreshed manually.