Understanding Attendance Calculation for the (FM) Student Detailed Attendance Record

This page explains how attendance hours and classifications are calculated for the (FM) Student Detailed Attendance record. It adapts the established logic from the (FS) Student Standing Record – Hours to the FM record’s per-entry detail format.

Override priority: FS attendance hour override fields take precedence over calculated FM attendance values. When [S_OH_STU_FS_X]Hrs_Present, Hrs_Excused, or Hrs_Unexcused, or the corresponding historical fields in [S_OH_STU_FS_HISTORY_C], are populated, those override values are used instead of the standard attendance-entry calculation for the applicable FM present, excused absence, or unexcused absence hours.

Overview

The FM record reports detailed attendance entries for the Student (S) reporting period. Like the FS Hours record, FM uses:

Effective date ranges and in-session days derived from the student’s calendar and attendance pattern
Attendance codes and the attendance code classification logic to classify time as present, excused absence, or unexcused absence (see FM070 – Attendance Type below for details)
Percent of Time when applicable to scale full-day potential and full-day absences (not applied to partial-day minutes)

Unlike FS, which summarizes totals per FS record, FM outputs attendance detail lines that reflect the same core calculations but at a more granular level (for a day or portion of a day). FM groups time by Attendance Type and Attendance Detail for each reported entry.

Key Inputs and Data Sources

Student Enrollment and Effective Dates: define the time window to be evaluated for attendance.
Attendance Pattern (Grade Schedule): determines the standard length of the school day and shortened-day adjustments via calendar DN records.
Calendar In-Session/Shortened Day Flags: provide the count of days in session and any reductions to potential hours on shortened days.
Attendance Codes and Classification Logic: drive the classification as present (AT), excused (EX), or unexcused (UN) and support day/period/minute-level detail. See FM070 – Attendance Type for the specific fields involved.
Percent of Time: applied to potential hours and full-day absences when less than 100%; not applied to partial-day minutes.
Attendance Tables: FM leverages student attendance entries and, for legacy parity, the same underlying sources used by FS (attendance table entries and any truancy-minute aggregates where applicable).

FM Classifications and Fields

FM070 – Attendance Type

Calculated from the attendance code classification logic. This is not stored directly in a single PowerSchool field but is derived by evaluating multiple code-level attributes — including [Code_Entity]att_category_code, [Attendance_Code]presence_status_CD, and [Attendance_Code.S_OH_ATC_TRUANCY_X]considered_present — in conjunction with the student's [S_OH_STU_FD_X]local_attend_pattern and the corresponding [S_OH_Grade_Sch_S] alignment.
- AT – In Attendance (mirrors FS320 present classification)
- EX – Excused Absence (mirrors FS330)
- UN – Unexcused Absence (mirrors FS340)

FM080 – Attendance Detail

AT maps to AT (in attendance)
EX and UN map to AB (absent)

FM100 – Attendance Hours

Calculated hours or minutes associated with the FM070/FM080 classification for the reported entry.
- Potential time is based on in-session days and the attendance pattern’s day length, minus shortened-day reductions.
- Excused and unexcused time is accumulated from attendance entries and subtracted from potential time; remaining time is present (AT).
- Percent of Time multiplies potential hours and full-day absences; partial-day minutes are not scaled.

How FM Applies FS Hour Logic

FM mirrors the FS approach but outputs detail lines instead of rollups per FS record. The core steps are:

Determine the applicable date(s) for the FM entry and obtain the student’s attendance pattern for those dates.
Establish potential time for the day using the attendance pattern length and any shortened-day adjustments from the calendar.
- Full-day entries use the day length (adjusted for shortened days). If Percent of Time is less than 100%, multiply full-day potential and full-day absences by Percent of Time.
- Partial-day entries use the recorded minutes/hours from the attendance entry; Percent of Time is not applied to these partial minutes.
Report the hours for FM100 with the matching FM070/FM080 classification.

Ensure the student’s local attendance pattern aligns with a valid Grade Schedule configuration. If patterns and calendars are not aligned, potential time and shortened-day logic cannot be evaluated correctly.

Special Conditions

Shortened Days: If the calendar indicates a shortened day, potential time for that day is reduced accordingly before present/absence is computed.
College Credit Plus (Off-site): If daily attendance indicates Off-site CCP time (e.g., the off-site indicator is checked), that time is considered present when applicable.
Overrides: FS attendance hour override fields also override FM attendance values. When [S_OH_STU_FS_X]Hrs_Present, Hrs_Excused, or Hrs_Unexcused, or the corresponding historical fields in [S_OH_STU_FS_HISTORY_C], are populated, those values take precedence over the calculated FM present, excused absence, or unexcused absence hours.
Summer Withdrawn / Did Not Attend (WD Reason 81): For students who were summer withdrawn or did not attend at all (withdrawal reason 81), the FM will produce 1 record with Attendance Type AT (FM070), Attendance Detail AT (FM080), and Attendance Hours of 0 (FM100 = 0.00).

Examples

Example 1: Full-day present on a standard day

Day length: 6.50 hours; no shortened flag. No absence entries are recorded. FM reports an AT/AT entry with FM100 = 6.50 hours for that day. If Percent of Time is 80%, the present time for a full-day present is 6.50 × 0.80 = 5.20 hours.

Example 2: Excused full-day absence on a shortened day

Shortened day length: 4.00 hours. An excused absence code is entered for the day. FM classifies the entry as EX/AB and reports FM100 = 4.00 hours. If Percent of Time is 60%, FM100 = 4.00 × 0.60 = 2.40 hours.

Example 3: Unexcused partial-day events

Standard day length: 6.50 hours. The student has an unexcused tardy of 45 minutes and an unexcused absence of 1.25 hours on the same day. FM outputs UN/AB entries totaling 2.00 hours. Percent of Time is not applied to these partial minutes.

Example 4: Summer withdrawn student (WD Reason 81)

A student was summer withdrawn or did not attend at all (withdrawal reason 81). The FM produces 1 record: AT/AT with FM100 = 0.00 hours.

Best Practices

Configure attendance code classification settings consistently — including att_category_code, presence_status_CD, and considered_present — so present, excused, and unexcused entries classify correctly. See FM070 – Attendance Type for the full list of fields involved.
Maintain accurate calendars (DN records) for in-session and shortened-day indicators.
Verify attendance patterns for each grade schedule to ensure day lengths and off-site indicators are honored.
When using Percent of Time less than 100%, expect scaling for full-day present/absent time but not for partial-day minutes.

Notes and Limitations

FM does not rely on ADA/ADM views; calculations originate from attendance entries, consistent with FS Hour logic.
FS attendance hour overrides directly affect FM attendance values for the applicable categories. If override totals are populated, those values take precedence over the standard calculated FM hours for present, excused absence, or unexcused absence.

Source

The FM calculation model adapts the published logic for FS Hours: https://ps-compliance.powerschool-docs.com/pssis-oh/latest/understanding-attendance-calculation-for-the-fs-st