Template Description –  This template should reflect the number of days absent of the teacher, one of the measures for NMTEACH Educator Effectiveness.  A STAFF file must be submitted along with the STAFF ATTENDANCE file.  Data must be finalized by July 15th for publishing Summative Teacher Evaluations in September.

Data Submission Schedule:

• End of year (EOY)

Grain:  One record per staff / district / location / school year

Load Sequence/Dependencies: 

1. STAFF

File Name Format:  DDD_STAFF_ATTENDANCE_YYYYMMDDHHMM.fff
File Name Format Example:  001_STAFF_ATTENDANCE_201807071201.csv

Business Rules:

• Submit 1 record per teacher per year as part of the EOY data collection
  • Even if number of days absent is 0
    • PED won’t assume missing data = 0 days absent
  • Even if teacher is no longer employed (but worked at some point during the year AND was loaded into STARS at some point during the year)
    • Teachers that left will still be evaluated
  • Include anyone who was reported in STARS as a teacher during the year
    • Exceptions:  Omit substitute teachers and dummy staff ids
    • Teachers are defined as people reported in a TEACHING Staff Assignment code with FTE who typically are reported in Course Instructor teaching classes
  • Applies to a year-long range which covers “beginning of the school year” through the “end of the school year”
  • Start Date
    • “Beginning of school year”
    • The Start Date must be July 1 of the current-year.  This value MUST be reported to STARS, even if your data-pull start-date is different and even if the beginning of your school year is not July.
      Note:  Data-pull start-date refers to the Start Date used to determine “Number of Days Absent.”  It may vary between districts and schools.
  • End Date
    • “End of the school year”
    • The End Date must be June 30 of the current-year.  This value MUST be reported to STARS even if your data-pull end-date is different and even if this is not your last day of school.  Note:  Data-pull end-date refers to the End Date used to determine “Number of Days Absent.”  It may vary between districts and schools.
  • Data must be finalized by July 15th for publishing Summative Teacher Evaluations in September.
  • The Staff Attendance Template is required to be submitted by ALL districts and charters beginning 2016-17 regardless of whether Teacher Attendance was chosen as one of the measures in your Teacher Evaluation Plan.

Additional Business Rules:

• Because there is no School Year available in this table, the Start Date (key field) as well as End Date will be used to determine the school year in which to apply Teacher Attendance.
• Because the Start Date is a key field and End Date is not, please ensure there is only ONE record per teacher (per district and school) within the range July 1 through June 30.  The Number of Days Absent should be cumulative for the range.  If multiple “school” records are sent for a single teacher, ensure the SUM of their days absent is correct within the range specified.  PED recommends submitting only ONE record per teacher (for simplicity and reduction of errors), rather than one record per teacher for each school.  If attendance data is re-submitted and you intend to UPDATE an existing attendance record, ensure the START DATE, END DATE and LOCATION CODE for the teacher does not change.  PED also recommends the location code be the same as the observation’s school (school where teacher was observed), but is not a requirement.  The field NUMBER OF DAYS ABSENT is an updatable field.
• Because this table also defines LOCATION CODE as a key field, ensure LOCATION CODE has not changed on resubmittals.  If the location may have inadvertently changed, it’s best to request a DELETE of the districts data for START DATE=YYYY-07-01 before resubmitting to avoid duplicate attendance records from loading.
• Provide “Number of Days Absent” per teacher within this range:
  • Attendance Period Start Date must be reported as YYYY-07-01 (where YYYY equals the current school year and July 1st represents the beginning of the current school year in STARS).  For school year 2015-16 report as 2015-07-01.  eDM validation rules will be set to ONLY accept this date during the loading process.  July 1st is a placeholder representing the beginning of the current school year in STARS.  Even though this Start Date must be reported as YYYY-07-01, your district may use one of these start dates for calculating “Number of Days Absent: YYYY-07-01, first day of school of the current year, or the beginning of the current contract year.  Caution:  If a teacher’s contract start date is PRIOR to the “First day of School,” use the “First day of School” as the start date so “Number of Days Absent” won’t be inflated.
  • Attendance Period End Date must be reported as YYYY-06-30 (where YYYY equals the current school year and June 30th represents the last day of the current school year in STARS).  For school year 2015-16 report as 2016-06-30.  eDM validation rules will be set to ONLY accept this date during the loading process.  June 30th is a placeholder representing the last day of the current school year in STARS.  If your district or charter ends on a different day, you may use that day (instead of 6/30) in the calculation process as your data-pull end date.
  • Any teacher employed during this date range should have a STAFF_ATTENDANCE record if Teacher Attendance was chosen as one of the multiple measures for your district or charter for Teacher Effectiveness.

FAQs

1. How to compute absences for part-time teachers?
   Absences for part-time teachers will be pro-rated based upon the percentage of time worked. The PED wants to be as accurate as possible as well as fair to the teachers.  We want the data in a way that aligns to how you are recording teacher attendance for payroll in your district.  If you have a full-time teacher (6.5 hours/day) who is absent 6.5 hours, that would be counted as a full day (6.5/6.5=1 day absent).  If she missed 3.25 hours, that would be considered a half-day absence (3.25/6.5=.5 days absent).  Be sure to convert HOURS into DAYS.  Similarly, if you have a part-time teacher who is working (3.25 hours/day) who is absent 3.25 hours, that constitutes the full day of work for that particular teacher.
2. Types of absences to exclude
   Leave that is excluded from the attendance calculation includes leave under:
   Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
   Bereavement
   Jury duty
   Military leave
   Religious leave
   Professional development
   Coaching
3. Types of teachers to exclude
   Staff Qualification Status Code = S – Long Term Substitute Teachers
   Staff Qualification Status Code = T – Short Term Substitute Teachers
   Staff Qualification Status Code = R – Special Ed contractors (also referred to as contracted related service providers)
   Staff ID = 888888888 – Dummy Staff IDs (Distance Learning/Computer-based/IDEAL-NM)
   Staff ID = 777777777 – Dual Credit/Concurrent Enrollment
   Staff ID = 555555555 – Religious Studies.
4. If the teacher is no longer employed at the district or charter, should days absent still be reported?
   Yes.  If the teacher was employed at your district or charter anytime during the school year (or anytime between the start and end dates of the Staff Attendance data collection), then their “Number of Days Absent” should be reported.
5. If the teacher was absent 0 days, does this still need to be reported?
   Yes.  The PED will not assume 0 days absent for non-reported teacher’s attendance.  Please report 0 for Number of Days Absent.
6. Should general sick leave, personal leave and vacation days be included as absences?
   Yes.
7. We have a teacher who is on Workers Comp, and Workers Comp is not on the list of absences to exclude.  We have them marked as Sick Leave. I would hate for this to be counted against him. What should we do?
   In situations such as these when medical issues are involved, schools have the flexibility to use their discretion in reporting the absences.  This same answer applies to teachers who are on extended medical leave due to a long term illness.
8. Three new staff members are kicking out of the Staff Attendance submission in STARS because they have not yet been through a reporting period.    What should I do with them?
   An eDM business rule is requiring they exist in the STAFF table first.  Please include these new Staff ID’s in the STAFF file and then your STAFF ATTENDANCE file will pass validation and load.
9. If a teacher has multiple locations at a district, is it okay to lump their absences under one location?
   Yes.  You may lump absences under one location (school).  If possible, please select the same location where their “observation” was this school year.
10. The EOY “Number of Days Absent” for teachers is to be submitted at EOY, which for us is 5/29, but the Last Day of School reported in STARS is 6/30.  Should we include “Summer” school teachers in this number?
    No.  You will only report teacher’s absences that pertain to their normal contract term, which won’t include summer.  If this person’s contract ended 5/29 (presumably the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL), then you’ll only include their “Number of Days Absent” found between the date-range of the first day of school for the district /charter through 5/29 of the current year.  The SUMMER snapshot is separate from the EOY snapshot, and since not all teachers teach Summer School, please do not include summer school absences in your EOY submissions (or the numbers could be inflated).
11. What start date should I use for determining “Number of Days Absent?”  Should I use the start of the teacher’s contract or the “First day of School?”
    It’s best for schools to use the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL and the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL as your date range for determining “Number of Days Absent.”  The reason is because if the teacher’s contract start date is PRIOR to the FIRST day of school, you could inflate the number of days absent. In addition, if this is a SUMMER school teacher, and their contract ends AFTER the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, again you wouldn’t include summer school or your “Number of Days Absent” could be inflated.  STARS is a collection system whose data covers the period of time when schools are in session and Teacher Attendance only refers to classes taught at 40D, 80D, 120D & EOY.  Start Date YYYY-07-01 and End Date YYYY-06-30 are only required in the Staff Attendance template when submitting data to STARS because it defines a school year in STARS.