System and method for student attendance management

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

installing a site-resident data collection module in a legacy site location, the legacy site-resident data collection module including instructions executing within an executable environment of the legacy site location, the site-resident data collection module further including a first data interface enabling data communication between the site-resident data collection module and a legacy data processing system of the legacy site location, the site-resident data collection module being configured to dynamically determine database record structures and record attributes being used by the legacy system, the site-resident data collection module being configured to interface with and collect data from a plurality of different legacy data processing systems;

using the site-resident data collection module to collect site-specific information including student attendance data, and other site data from the legacy site location;

transferring the site-specific information to a host location via a data network;

performing, by a data processor, data transformation and normalization operations on the site-specific information to convert the site-specific information to a common format, the data transformation and normalization operations including district-specific data transformation rules;

performing, by the data processor, district configuration operations to configure rules specifying how and when alerts can be sent to recipients based on the site-specific information;

performing, by the data processor, scheduling and reporting operations to generate and distribute alerts, including attendance letters, to recipients based on the site-specific information and the configured rules;

linking, by the data processor, student level course schedule information to the student attendance data;

generating, by the data processor, a chronic student absence letter triggered by a chronic student absence trigger indicative of when a student has been absent a pre-defined percentage or more of school days enrolled, the chronic student absence trigger being configurable based on a specific district, site, and grade, the chronic student absence trigger being further configurable based on an attendance time window, the attendance time window corresponding to whether the pre-defined percentage of absences occur within a specific set of school days enrolled; and

configuring, by the data processor, a student age letter suppression trigger causing suppression of letter generation for students of an age outside of a pre-determined age range, the student age letter suppression trigger being configurable based on a specific district, state, and user.

2. The method of claim 1 including presenting the student level course schedule information with the student attendance data in a user interface.

3. The method of claim 1 including presenting the student attendance data in a calendar view in a user interface.

4. The method of claim 1 including enabling a user to close an associated conference for a particular student and document a meeting at the same time.

5. The method of claim 1 including providing a user interface dashboard to enable a user to generate custom reports using the student attendance data.

6. The method of claim 1 including providing a filter to allow a user to view attendance trends by year, fiscal year, month, or an attendance through date.

7. A system comprising:

a data processor;

a network interface, in data communication with the data processor, for communication on a data network; and

a student attendance management system, executable by the data processor, to:

cause installation of a site-resident data collection module in a legacy site location, the legacy site-resident data collection module including instructions executing within an executable environment of the legacy site location, the site-resident data collection module further including a first data interface enabling data communication between the site-resident data collection module and a legacy data processing system of the legacy site location, the site-resident data collection module being configured to dynamically determine database record structures and record attributes being used by the legacy system, the site-resident data collection module being configured to interface with and collect data from a plurality of different legacy data processing systems;

interface with the site-resident data collection module to collect site-specific information including student attendance data, and other site data from the legacy site location;

cause transfer of the site-specific information to a host location via a data network;

perform data transformation and normalization operations on the site-specific information to convert the site-specific information to a common format, the data transformation and normalization operations including district-specific data transformation rules;

perform district configuration operations to configure rules specifying how and when alerts can be sent to recipients based on the site-specific information;

perform scheduling and reporting operations to generate and distribute alerts, including attendance letters, to recipients based on the site-specific information and the configured rules;

link student level course schedule information to the student attendance data;

generate a chronic student absence letter triggered by a chronic student absence trigger indicative of when a student has been absent a pre-defined percentage or more of school days enrolled, the chronic student absence trigger being configurable based on a specific district, site, and grade, the chronic student absence trigger being further configurable based on an attendance time window, the attendance time window corresponding to whether the pre-defined percentage of absences occur within a specific set of school days enrolled; and

configure a student age letter suppression trigger causing suppression of letter generation for students of an age outside of a pre-determined age range, the student age letter suppression trigger being configurable based on a specific district, state, and user.

8. The system of claim 7 being further configured to present the student level course schedule information with the student attendance data in a user interface.

9. The system of claim 7 being further configured to present the student attendance data in a calendar view in a user interface.

10. The system of claim 7 being further configured to enable a user to close an associated conference for a particular student and document a meeting at the same time.

11. The system of claim 7 being further configured to provide a user interface dashboard to enable a user to generate custom reports using the student attendance data.

12. The system of claim 7 being further configured to provide a filter to allow a user to view attendance trends by year, fiscal year, month, or an attendance through date.

13. A non-transitory machine-useable storage medium embodying instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

cause installation of a site-resident data collection module in a legacy site location, the legacy site-resident data collection module including instructions executing within an executable environment of the legacy site location, the site-resident data collection module further including a first data interface enabling data communication between the site-resident data collection module and a legacy data processing system of the legacy site location, the site-resident data collection module being configured to dynamically determine database record structures and record attributes being used by the legacy system, the site-resident data collection module being configured to interface with and collect data from a plurality of different legacy data processing systems;

interface with the site-resident data collection module to collect site-specific information including student attendance data, and other site data from the legacy site location;

cause transfer of the site-specific information to a host location via a data network;

perform data transformation and normalization operations on the site-specific information to convert the site-specific information to a common format, the data transformation and normalization operations including district-specific data transformation rules;

perform district configuration operations to configure rules specifying how and when alerts can be sent to recipients based on the site-specific information;

perform scheduling and reporting operations to generate and distribute alerts, including attendance letters, to recipients based on the site-specific information and the configured rules;

link student level course schedule information to the student attendance data;

generate a chronic student absence letter triggered by a chronic student absence trigger indicative of when a student has been absent a pre-defined percentage or more of school days enrolled, the chronic student absence trigger being configurable based on a specific district, site, and grade, the chronic student absence trigger being further configurable based on an attendance time window, the attendance time window corresponding to whether the pre-defined percentage of absences occur within a specific set of school days enrolled; and

configure a student age letter suppression trigger causing suppression of letter generation for students of an age outside of a pre-determined age range, the student age letter suppression trigger being configurable based on a specific district, state, and user.

14. The machine-useable storage medium of claim 13 being further configured to present the student level course schedule information with the student attendance data in a user interface.