How to take attendance lesson by lesson

A daily register tells you a student came to school. It does not tell you they were in Chemistry after lunch. Colleges often have a rule per course, such as 75 percent of lectures attended, and many schools want to know who leaves after the first few periods. SkoolBro can now keep a register for each lesson on the timetable, next to the daily one.

What you need first

Lesson registers come from the class timetable. If you have not set it up yet, add the bell schedule (periods and breaks) for the campus and the lessons for each class under Timetable. Each lesson has a subject and a teacher, and that is what decides who takes the register. Breaks never have a register.

Step 1: open the day's lessons

Go to Attendance, open a class and select By lesson. The page lists the class's lessons for the day in period order: the period and its times, the subject, the teacher and the room, and whether the register is taken. Pick an earlier date to see or correct a past day.

Step 2: take the register

Select Take on a lesson. The class list opens, and each student starts from their mark in the morning register. A student marked absent this morning starts as absent, and everyone else starts as present. The teacher changes only the students who differ in this lesson, for example a student who left at break, or one who came in late. Then Save lesson attendance.

Present, absent, late and excused work as in the daily register. Late counts as attended in the rates.

Here is an example from Riverside College, a fictional college. On Wednesday, Group B has Chemistry in period 1 and Physics in period 2. Mr Okafor takes the Chemistry register at 8:05: 38 present, 2 absent, matching the morning register. In period 2, Ms Chen notices that Bilal, marked present in the morning, is not there, and marks him absent for Physics. The morning register still shows Bilal as present for the day.

Who can take which register

• The teacher on the timetable for that lesson, including a substitute you put there.
• The teacher of the subject for the class.
• The class teacher.
• Office staff who manage attendance, for any lesson and any day.

Teachers can take or correct a lesson for today and the last few days. Older days go through the office, as with the daily register.

Step 3: read attendance by subject

On the lesson page, By subject opens a table with one row per student and one column per subject. Each cell shows the share of lessons attended this year, such as 86 percent, and the count, such as 31 of 36. Rates below 75 percent show in red, so a head of department can spot who to talk to before exams. The table prints for a meeting.

Families see the same rates in the family portal, on the child's Attendance tab under the month calendar. The section only appears once the school has taken lesson registers.

Tips for a routine that lasts

• Ask teachers to take the register in the first five minutes of the lesson. When only a few students differ from the morning, there is little to change.
• Keep the timetable up to date. A substitute added to the timetable can take the register for that lesson.
• If you change the timetable during the year, registers taken earlier keep the subject they were taken for.
• Look at the subject table every few weeks, not only before exams, so a student who misses one subject can be helped early.

What is not built yet

Lesson registers need a connection; only the daily register saves offline. Families get a message for a daily absence but not for a missed lesson. SkoolBro does not block exams for low attendance; it shows the figures and the decision stays with you. For the daily register and the rest of attendance, see attendance and exams in one place and college attendance and fees.

Questions

Do we have to stop taking the daily register?

No. The daily register stays the day's attendance, and absence messages, reports and report cards still come from it. Lesson registers sit next to it, and taking them does not change the daily mark.

Who can take a lesson's register?

The teacher of that lesson on the timetable, the subject's teacher, the class teacher, or anyone in the office who manages attendance. Teachers can take or correct today and the last few days, like the daily register.

Does it work without a connection?

Not yet. The daily register saves on the phone when the connection drops, but a lesson register needs a connection to save.

Can SkoolBro stop a student with low attendance from sitting an exam?

No. It shows each student's rate per subject, with rates below 75 percent in red, and your office or eligibility committee makes the decision.