Attendance and Truancy | Chicago Public Schools

Grade Level Tracking

Attendance is calculated as present days over membership days. This school year, in accordance with State requirements, all CPS students must meet or exceed 300 daily instructional minutes to maintain full day attendance.

Elementary students will have attendance taken once a day by their homeroom teacher.
High school students will have attendance taken each period.

Attendance Key Terms

A Full Day of Attendance results when a student receives 300 or more instructional minutes.
A Half Day of Attendance results when instructional minutes fall below 300.
A Full Day of Absence results when a student’s instructional minutes fall below 150.
Unexcused Absences are absences that do not meet the state criteria for valid reasons for absence.
Excused Absences are absences that are justified as they meet the state allowance for valid reasons for absence.

Attendance Coding

Attendance will be coded based on the following chart. Parents and students are encouraged to get familiar with these terms and to track the recording of this information in the ASPEN Parent Portal to ensure accuracy.

Aspen Attendence Code	Attendance Code Representation	Attendance Code Description
P	Remote Present	Student is PRESENT REMOTELY during instruction
T	Tardy	Student is late/TARDY (T) to the start of school and/or class period
A	Absent Unexcused	Student is absent from Remote Learning A student is marked ABSENT UNEXCUSED (A) if they have NOT met the required criteria outlined by the District and State Valid Reasons for Absence; see page 7.
AE	Absent Excused	A student is marked ABSENT EXCUSED (AE) if they have met the required criteria outlined by the District and State Valid Reasons for Absence; see page 7.
HH	Home Hospital	A student is marked HOME HOSPITAL (HH) if designated a part of the Home Hospital Program and approved, by ODLSS, to receive services.
SF	School Function	A student is marked with the School Function (SF) code when they are participating in an event managed by a certified CPS employee or with another CPS employee for education bearing purposes, and are not in their scheduled class/location. CPS personnel who work with a student during scheduled class time are to provide proper documentation of the event, and submit it to the attendance designee to add to the student record. An entry in the MEMO box should ALWAYS be provided. In HS, this is by period. In ES, this may not create absence status, but the MEMO BOX should still be utilized. Examples of when the School Function (SF) code should be applied: Student and Parent/Guardian meeting with the Administration Student and family are participating in an IEP meeting

Excused & Unexcused Absences

If your student must miss school for some reason, please refer to the following guide on the considerations for excused and unexcused absences.

In order for a student’s absence to qualify as excused, the following criteria must be adhered to:

Is a valid cause for absences based on the list provided above.
and
Is requested via a direct phone call/voicemail to the school that communicates the date of the absence, the reason for absence, the absent student’s name, and the name of the person calling and their relationship to the student.