7. A student receiving educational services at home (typically an EEE student) will be considered in attendance when those services are provided as expected. An absence is recorded if a scheduled meeting does not take place.
8. Students who are enrolled in your school but receiving educational services elsewhere are considered in attendance even on days when they are off campus. These students include but are not limited to a Page in legislature who does regular work assignments, a student in a work program that is part of the school day, students participating in off- site flexible pathways experiences under Act 77, a student spending required days in an evaluation program at the Baird Center, a student at a regional career technical center or a student in a hospital receiving tutoring.
9. A student officially enrolled elsewhere but taking courses at this school (e.g., a home study student taking academic classes) will be recorded in attendance on those days the student is expected to attend classes and absent on days that the student is expected but does not appear. Days that a part-time student is not expected in school are not counted as either an attendance or absence.
11. Each student’s attendance should be monitored so that a student is not absent for 10 or more consecutive school days without an investigation. The school must make a good faith effort to determine the reason for the absence or the student’s school status. A student who has been absent for 10 consecutive school days for an unknown reason must be reported as a dropout.
12. A student under an out-of-school suspension will remain on the enrollment record and absences recorded for each of the days the student is not attending classes.
13. A student who has been expelled from school will remain on the enrollment record and absences will be recorded for each of the days the student is not attending classes, except in the case where a school is providing educational services for the expelled student. In this case, the student will be recorded as in attendance but not in the building. If an expelled student enrolls in another school, he or she should be removed from the enrollment record with the appropriate exit code. If a previously expelled student does not return to school as expected and is absent for 10 consecutive school days the student is recorded as status unknown and counted as a dropout or summer dropout, whichever is most appropriate.
Suspension – Students who have been temporarily dismissed from school for up to ten days. These absences are considered excused, so the student isn’t counted as a truant.
Truancy Rate – For the purposes of reporting, VT AOE uses the federal definition of truancy rate for schools and districts. Truancy rate is calculated by dividing the number of students with 10 or more unexcused absences by the number of students enrolled on October 1.
Truant - A student enrolled in school, regardless of age, is considered truant for each school day the student is absent for the full day without an acceptable excuse. (see excused absences glossary entry) For federal reporting a truant is a student with 10 or more unexcused absences.
When are students considered absent?
The definition of absent from the U.S. Department of Education:
Students are absent when not physically on school grounds and were not participating in instruction or instruction-related activities at an approved off-grounds location for at least half the school day