Overview: 

This checklist of Aeries procedures is designed to assist California schools who need to close down In-Person instruction and shift everyone to Independent Study mid-year. This checklist should be used when students are remaining attached to their In-Person school and just shifting the attendance program to Independent Study. They are generally staying with their existing teachers/sections. Differences between Elementary and Secondary will be noted where necessary. These procedures help districts track Independent Study attendance separately from in-person attendance. Districts are responsible for meeting current state Independent Study requirements.


NOTE: If your district is already using a Virtual school for a subset of Independent Study students, no changes should be made to those students, just the ones that had been on In-Person attendance. 



Areas To Be Addressed: 

  • Attendance Program - Independent Study Absence and Code Configurations 

    • Create an Independent Study Special Program code for STU.SP on the Update Code Table page if it does not already exist. Having the students in this special program will separate out those days of attendance from in-person attendance for P1/P2. Make sure to communicate with your Fiscal office so they are aware of this special code. 

      • For example, I - Independent Study. Needed to shift from recording ADA via In-person instruction (Negative Attendance) to recording it via Independent Study (I/S Complete/Incomplete)

    • Use Mass Update Attendance Enrollment (Attendance Accounting > Mass Update Attendance Enrollment, at the school, with Mass Update permission) to switch students from regular attendance to Independent Study. Select the students, set Special Program to the Independent Study code, and enter the Leave Date and Enter Date. The process runs in the background and sends a confirmation email when it finishes. See the documentation for examples switching from in-person to Independent Study.

      • Note, this process can NOT be used to remove students completely from enrollment in a school, just to switch them from one type of attendance program to another. 

    • Every student should have their regular enrollment ended on one day and I/S started the next day.

      • If the Leave Date and Enter Date match, the Attendance Enter/Leave field is updated with a B code.

      • Students whose existing attendance enrollment overlaps the selected dates are not updated; they are listed in the confirmation email.

    • If/when students switch back from Independent Study to In-Person instruction, run the process again and set Special Program to the regular in-person code. (A blank value can only be applied if a blank code is defined in the code table.)

  • Absence Codes - Independent Study Absence and Code Configurations 

    • Create two absence codes on Update Absence Codes (if they do not already exist): one with Independent Study: set to I (Incomplete) and one set to C (Complete).

      • First mark every anticipated school day with a code that means I/S Incomplete

      • As students complete work, teachers will change appropriate number of days to I/S Complete to record ADA for those days. 

    • No absences are recorded while in Independent Study, just I/S Incomplete or I/S Complete

  • Attendance Notes - Attendance Note documentation 

    • Optional - can be used to track engagement with online meetings, etc. 

  • Independent Study Contracts

  • Teacher Portal Attendance - Portal Options Attendance documentation 

    • On Portal Options, Attendance tab, add the I/S Incomplete and I/S Complete codes as Additional Att Codes so teachers can post them. 

    • Set # Days Teachers Can Back Post Attendance and # Days Teachers Can Forward Post Attendance so teachers can post these codes ahead and behind. 

    • Set up Attendance Note Codes to track engagement (optional)

  • Attendance Rulesets - Secondary Only Attendance Ruleset documentation (rulesets are assigned per section in the Attendance Ruleset field on the Master Schedule) 

    • This process is not necessary in cases where ALL sections are moving to I/S. All that is necessary would be to change the existing portal options above to allow teachers access to the proper I/S absence codes and the ability to forward/backward post. However, for districts that desire to lock down more options, this can be utilized.