Meaningful interactions between the student and instructor are critical for student success in Virtual Virginia courses.
School division attendance policies for online learning vary across the state. VVA reports daily attendance through the VVA student information system (SIS), and schools/divisions may retrieve this information for local attendance reporting needs according to local school/division policies.
Attendance Criteria
For students in grades K–5 and students in grades 6–12 who are enrolled in courses with synchronous meeting times, attendance is reported based on students’ presence in daily synchronous instruction sessions, Monday through Friday. A student is reported as present when their camera is on, showing them engaged in the instructional session. (A student with an approved, camera-related exception recorded in their learning plan is not subject to the “camera-on” requirement.) If a student is unable to attend a synchronous session, they are responsible for watching the session recording in the Course Video Library.
For students in grades 6–12 who are enrolled with the asynchronous option, attendance is reported based on daily activity in students’ individual VVA courses within the learning management system.
A student’s parent/caregiver should communicate directly with the local school regarding excused or unexcused absences. VVA instructors do not approve or record excused absences.
If a student is reported as absent for 4 consecutive days (excluding weekends), the student, parent/caregiver, assigned mentor, and counselor of record will receive an automated “no login or activity” performance alert via email. Students who are identified by a “no login or activity” performance alert a second time or who are inactive or fail to complete coursework over a second four-calendar-day period may be academically withdrawn from the VVA course.
Accessing Attendance Information
The counselor/coordinator of record and designated mentor may access daily attendance information for students in grades K–12 via the VVA SIS by following these steps:
To access student attendance information in Genius SIS:
- Using your counselor or mentor ID and password, log in to Genius. If you can’t remember your password, click the “forgot password” link.
- Click the Students tab.
- Click Student Absences.
- Select a Start Date and End Date (and Affiliation, if necessary).
- Click Get Data.
Each student and their parent/caregiver also have a widget on their VVA SIS dashboard displaying the student’s absences for the last seven days.
Mentors, counselors, and school/division coordinators of record can pull summary attendance reports by following the steps on this page.