March 25, 2025 Attendance Update

Stephanie Ames

I do not like the new attendance update! The spreadsheet-like Student attendance view is not as easy to see as the old view. Is there a way to view it as it used to show?!?!?!

Ellen Goens

@Stephanie Ames I DO NOT like it either!!

Veronica Feig

@Stephanie Ames

Veronica Feig

@Veronica Feig

Does anyone know how to print the attendance list ?

Michael Clark 2

@Veronica Feig
We primarily use the “Absence History - By Date” report, which can be found under Reports.

Not sure why they removed it from the “Student Attendance” page though!

Dana Saraniero

I hate the update as well… Please revert to previous system ASAP!!!!

Veronica Feig

@Michael Clark

Yes I just did that and found it. I dont know why they removed it ! Thank you so much .

Dana Saraniero

@Stephanie Ames the update is awful - change it back!

Dana Saraniero

@Stephanie Ames Does anyone know how to submit attendance for a group? It is not populating the names and I can't enter attendance It looks like they have to be entered individually now!!! This update is terrible

Juana Weinreb

@Stephanie Ames
I do not like this update, please change back. update is not user friendly.

Michael Clark 2

@Dana Saraniero It will, although it is definitely different. Our attendance managers (who, incidentally, are also definitely not fans of the update ?) told me that you can still record by group by going to the same screen but filtering by Athletic team rather than the student view it defaults to.

Lee Anne Gilmore

@Stephanie Ames
Really not a fan of this update-- too difficult to decipher whether a student missed several classes in a row or not and also REALLY DO NOT LIKE that it defaults to their grade instead of alphabetical order.

Jill Frantti

@Stephanie Ames
Be aware that our Record Method changed with this update to “per period." If you use the “daily” method, I would recommend you check your settings.

Is anyone aware of where I can find documentation on these dashboard changes?

Lauren Henderson 3

@Jill Frantti I highly recommend subscribing to the Blackbaud K-12 Solutions Blog for information about weekly updates:

Brendan Krom

@Stephanie Ames
Our attendance staff has informed me that the new system for taking attendance requires more clicks to complete the process for a group of students. Previously, to record an absence, you could simply search for a student's name, click the checkbox, and then quickly move on to the next student. In the new view, however, the process has changed. You now need to click on “Students to include," select "Specific students," search for the student’s name, click on that student, click "Add," and then finally click the checkbox in the list and then repeat the process for another student.

Jacqueline Koca

Good morning all!

Thank you for sharing your initial reactions to the Student Attendance page update.

While we all know updates to pages take time to adjust to (I know I get upset whenever other companies change product pages or websites I use often even if I like it better eventually!), I also want to make sure we make adjustments and changes to the experience to ensure it meets your (or your attendance manager's) needs as a daily workflow page. Below is a link where I encourage you, or your attendance manager if that is not you, to schedule a call with us to provide feedback on what is working, what isn't working, and what additional changes could make recording or adjusting attendance on this page simpler.

https://calendly.com/jacqueline-koca/student-attendance-update-discovery

@Jill Frantti Your record method should not have changed as part of this update and so far I have not seen any other reports of this. If you'd like us to dig in, feel free to start a case with Support and they can help gather the information for the team to review.

Thank you so much!
Jacqueline Koca
SIS Senior Product Manager

Christine Zaremba 2

@Stephanie Ames
I have to wonder if any attendance managers were consulted before this design was rolled out. Universally, our attendance team hates it and as yet, haven't found a single feature that works better than it did yesterday. They now have to work from two screens to manage cuts and to be able to see the previous day. They can't click from student to student. This dramatically impacted their workflow and not in a good way. It looks cleaner, but from their remarks today, much of the functionality has been reduced.

Kirsten Hadzicki

@Stephanie Ames
UGH!!! I hate it too! The print is too small and it is not “eye-friendly." The worst thing is I can rearrange the columns to sort of make it easier to use, but there is no way to save my set up--I have to move the columns every single time I refresh the page. Please bring back the old view!! This is a change that no one asked for and does not improve any functional capabilities!

Kirsten Hadzicki

@Lee Anne Gilmore
Exactly! I want to see quickly who has missed several classes in a row-it needs to sort by alphabetical order!!

Kathy Hannon 2

Sorry guys - my attendance people like the new layout - they like that 1 click you can see all the information you need to see. It was a bit shocking at first, but while using it, they do like it.

Lee Anne Gilmore

@Jacqueline Koca scheduled for tomorrow!

Cons:

Alphabetical order is gone, now listed by block and have to restructure every time I refresh

Attended Class is no longer highlighted or in green

Pros:

When I click on a name their contact information came up

Kirsten Hadzicki

@Kathy Hannon
Except that the one click isn't even all that useful. For example, schedule doesn't include instructor or room number (it requires an additional click), although it's nice to have the contact information populate. The one click that would really be useful isn't here. I would love to click on a name and have the screen pop up to take that student's attendance for the entire day.

Shannon Krise

@Kathy Hannon Our front office likes the new layout as well, and particularly the flyout. Love the contact info there. I am always wishing for the ability to save my view, or at least sticky settings, but double clicking the header of the student name column to get it in alpha order is a lot easier than some of the views I need to replicate in other areas.

Angie Pochuski

@Stephanie Ames I'm with you, Stephanie. Can we at least get the Absence History by Date option added back to the main student attendance page?

Grace Strumpfer

@Lee Anne Gilmore
Yes! Please change it back to sorting by student alphabetically, I don't know why you would default to anything else!

Lori Boarts

@Jacqueline Koca This attendance update is horrible. Why do you make changes in the middle of a school year and not notify the people that it effects? Today was a heavy attendance day for me and now I have to try and find what I need on top of all of it. I want to see right away if a student has missed more than one class. This takes a lot more time to change all the categories to get what I need everytime I go to the student page. I also don't like that the attendance history by date is no longer on the student page. All the changes seems to make our jobs harder, not easier.

Dana Saraniero

@Stephanie Ames Attendance is not saving after you make the change n the main page. Nevermind the 6 extra steps to record group attendance that is such a waste of time. It was so quick and intuitive prior to the update.

Nicole Scott

@Dana Saraniero We first had the same thought but found that if you select “Student Specific” you can enter the names you are looking for and select them to add to the list below. Only to have to select them in that new list you built. You can also show by grade level if you have a whole group that is in the same grade. I will add it is a lot more clicks.

Nicole Scott

@Kathy Hannon Mine are a little more excited about it today as well. I think it was the initial shock of where are all the things I need and use. There are some positives but still having an issue with the number of clicks it takes to get to certain things now.

Dana Saraniero

@Nicole Scott Yes but then you have to type to populate every name and add it to the list, then click each box on the list you just populated and then save it. Instead of 4 steps, it is now 7 steps and lot of extra typing and clicking and adding and checking boxes that was not needed before.

Nicole Scott

@Jacqueline Koca I totally get that all changes cannot all happen at the same time during a very small window of down time for schools. With that being said, I think having more than just the statement that came out in the What's New Blog would have helped me better prepare my team for the changes that were coming. When I read it I thought the changes would be minimal, which lead to the shock on Tuesday morning. Having a better understanding of what was changing would have helped. The updates to athletic schedules included a screenshot of the new radio button for TBA. I would have loved to see a screenshot of what the page would look like for Attendance to talk through with my attendance managers.

With that being said, I am very hopeful that these changes are the start to some functionality changes that we have been hoping for with attendance.