Attendance Certification: Questions and Answers

MyACC Instructions:

Student attendance certification is submitted using the MyACC / Course Management / Attendance Certification system.

• Navigate to the main ACC web page > Faculty & Staff > MyACC > Course Management > Attendance Certification
  • Then select the desired Term and Course and,
  • Select the Certify Attendance Roster from the View box options.

Note: All entries in the drop-down field default to an initial entry of ‘Attended’ to begin with.

Faculty will then change the entry using the drop-down field to ‘Never Attended’, as needed. A selection must be made for each student and you must hit ‘Submit’ at the upper right corner of the roster to have your certifications recorded.

Students whom you report as ‘Never Attended’ will be automatically dropped from the course. A student may appeal the non-attendance drop and request a reinstatement in writing within five (5) business days from the date they are notified. The written appeal must be made to the course instructor, who must respond in writing within five (5) business days. The student may appeal the instructor’s decision in writing within five (5) business days to the appropriate Department Chair, then Instructional Dean, whose decision is final. 

Your log in for MyACC is your ACC eID. If you have not already set up your eID, please use the ACC eID Manager to complete this task first.

Certification Deadline

Once the deadline has passed, attendance certification must be emailed directly from your ACC faculty email account to attendance-certification@austincc.edu. The email must include the following:

• Semester
• Course section details
• Student name and ACC ID number
• Indicate if the student is to be certified as having been in attendance or if the student never attended

If you experience difficulty logging on to the system, please submit a MOJO ticket or email at helpdesk@austincc.edu.

General questions concerning class roster certification or attendance policies may be directed to the Financial Aid Office on campus or to the HBC Financial Aid office.

Yes. Students cannot be identified as financial aid recipients on the class roster due to financial aid confidentiality regulations. Additionally, with ongoing financial aid applications and awarding, students may receive financial aid throughout the semester. Attendance certification will assist with the accurate and timely awarding for all eligible students.

The Department of Education has defined the following as acceptable academically‐related activities:

• Physical class attendance where there is direct interaction between instructor and student
• Submission of an academic assignment
• Examination, interactive tutorial or computer assisted instruction Study group as assigned by school
• Participation in online discussion about academic matters
• Participation in the required online orientation for all Distance Learning section students

See Attendance Certification Requirements & Grade Submission Guidelines.

Any of the activities listed above can be used for certifying attendance for Distance Learning students.

No. ACC does not have any formal attendance policies. All classroom attendance and related grade policies are determined solely by the instructor of each class.

Instructors are required to certify each student’s attendance as defined by the Department of Education. Taking attendance, or noting that one of the acceptable attendance activities (listed above) has occurred by the reporting date, is the only accurate means of verifying that the attendance certification is correct.

The deadline for submitting certification is the official reporting date.

Admissions and Records will send each faculty member an email notification three business days prior to the certification date for each class section they are teaching. The notification will list the course section(s) for which the certification date is approaching, the certification deadline date and the link for Online Services. All certification deadlines end at 11:59 p.m. Please see Important Faculty Dates.

You will receive an automated confirmation email each time you check the certify box and hit submit at the bottom of your roster.  Additionally, you will see the date that you certified at the top of your roster.  It is automatically updated with the current date each time you check the certify box and hit submit.  It will not update if you do not check the certify box before exiting your roster.   

Once the deadline has passed, you will receive an automated email notification.  Department Chairs and Deans are copied on the late submission emails.  After the deadline, all entries must be made manually by Admissions and Records staff.  An entry or change to ‘attended’ may only be entered if the student was actually in attendance before the certification deadline passed. To request manual entries of the late certifications or to change an incorrect entry, you will need to send an email from your ACC employee email account to attendance-certification@austincc.edu, listing the student(s) name and ACC ID number as they appear on the roster and the certification status (attended, never attended) to be manually entered on the student record by A&R staff. All entries will be reflected on the roster and the student record in Online Services.

The student will not receive financial aid for your class and possibly for other classes.

If the change is being made before the official reporting date/ certification deadline has passed, you can change the status in Online Services. Once the deadline has passed, the system is locked down for all attendance certification and no entries will be made to the status.  If a student does not begin attendance before the certification deadline and you mark them as ‘never attended’ the student will be dropped from the class. 

If you wish to request that a student be reinstated after being dropped, please send your request to have your student(s) reinstated into your class along with all pertinent details including: student name, student ID number, your course section (e.g. ENGL 1301-001) and the semester, to attendance-certification@austincc.edu. He or she will need to speak to the Financial Aid staff to determine when, after the successful completion of the course, he or she will receive any possible financial aid for the course.

Yes. Students are automatically withdrawn from classes at ACC when an instructor has certified them as ‘never attended’. If you have certified a student as ‘attended’, you are still able to subsequently submit an instructor‐initiated withdrawal for the student prior to the same withdrawal deadline; the decision to do so is solely at the discretion of the instructor. All withdrawals are submitted electronically by logging in to Online Services.

A student may appeal the non-attendance drop and request a reinstatement in writing within five (5) business days from the date they are notified.  The written appeal must be made to the course instructor, who must respond in writing within five (5) business days. The student may appeal the instructor’s decision in writing within five (5) business days to the appropriate Department Chair, then Instructional Dean, whose decision is final.

If you wish to request that a student be reinstated into your course after being dropped, please send all of the pertinent details (student ID, name, course rubric and section number) to reinstate the student into your class to attendance-certification@austincc.edu. 

No. All students who you certify as “never attended” are automatically withdrawn from the course and will not appear on your grade roster.

No. No change needs to be made after the certification is submitted. If the student withdraws or is withdrawn, Financial Aid staff will calculate any possible repayment of funds as of the withdrawal date.

Yes. This is an acceptable way of taking students’ attendance. If any additional personal information other than the name is requested, you should obtain agreement from all students that the information they are providing can be viewed by other students in the class. If it is not, please collect any additional information in a way that doesn’t compromise student information privacy.

Students can log into their Online Services account and view their class schedule for each semester of enrollment. ACC has added a field for each section on the student record, which will reflect the status that you enter on your class roster.

You must enter a last date of attendance for any student you are giving a grade of ‘F’ on your final grade roster.

You will receive an error message at the top of the final grade roster indicating that the date entry is missing and none of your final grades will be submitted until all required last date of attendance entries are made.

No error will occur. The entry will be recorded on the student’s records but will have no impact on his or her Financial Aid or academic records.

You will receive a confirmation of successful grade entry after you hit ‘submit’ at the bottom of your grade roster. You can return to any of your grade rosters at any time (while still employed at ACC) and view all of your entries for any section you have taught at ACC.

Students will not see or know this information unless they inquire in the Financial Aid or Admissions and Records office. This information is not displayed in Student Online Services.