Attendance Recovery

Requirements

Frequently Asked Questions

General Information | Eligibility | Limitations | Supervision | Other

Contacts

For questions on attendance for apportionment and instructional time, contact the Attendance Accounting Office at AttendanceAccounting@cde.ca.gov.

For questions on operating a high-quality AR program, contact the Educational Options Office at EOO@cde.ca.gov.

ADA Reporting

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does a student generate average daily attendance (ADA) through Attendance Recovery (AR)?

• Appropriately certificated teachers who are employees of the local educational agency (LEA) supervise students in an AR classroom who are engaged in educational activities substantially equivalent to regular instruction and on standards-aligned content.
• The teacher documents the student’s participation time, and the LEA maintains that documentation in daily or hourly increments, as appropriate to the duration of the AR sessions offered.
• The LEA and tracks AR attendance separately from attendance generated during the regular school day.
• A student may accrue time in hourly increments over multiple sessions or multiple days to meet the applicable minimum daily minute requirement, after which the LEA may claim average daily attendance (ADA) for the AR attendance.

A day of attendance for apportionment is generated by a student once they have participated in an AR program for the minimum daily minutes that apply to the student under EC Section 46211(e)(1), and according to the following attendance accounting methods:

For school districts and county offices of education

A student generates a full day of attendance through AR once the student participates for the minimum school day per grade span or instructional setting, pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with EC Section 46110) and Article 3 (commencing with EC Section 46140) of Chapter 2, Part 26 of the Education Code, except for county community schools, continuation high schools, juvenile court schools, and community day schools. For these settings, the instructional minute requirements under EC Sections 1983, 46170, 48645.3, and 48663 apply (EC Section 46211(e)(2)).

The Instructional Time and Attendance Accounting webpage provides a summary of those minimum school day requirements.

For charter schools

A student generates a day of attendance through AR once the student participates for the minimum daily instructional minutes required of a school district student in the applicable grade span under EC sections 46112, 46113, 46117, and 46141 (EC Section 46211(e)(2)). See FAQ #6 under ADA reporting, below, for more details.

Reporting ADA

• Starting with the First Principal Apportionment period due January 15, 2026, the LEA may include AR ADA in the attendance in their computation of regular ADA, within the limits given by EC Section 46211(d)(1) (see FAQ #5 under Program Requirements, above).
• In addition the LEA will also report AR ADA separately in an informational line in the Principal Apportionment Data Collection web application.

2. How many days of attendance can a student recoup through Attendance Recovery (AR)?

The amount of ADA that can be claimed for a student at the time of reporting attendance for apportionment is capped at the lesser of 10 days of attendance, or the number of absences the student accrued in that school year (EC Section 46211(d)(1)). If a student does not yet have any absences in the fiscal year, or all their absences in the record have been offset through AR participation already, or they have already offset 10 absences that fiscal year, then the local educational agency cannot claim attendance for their AR participation time.

3. Does a student have to meet the applicable minimum daily minute requirement in a single day in order for it to count for average daily attendance (ADA)?

No. A student may generate a day of attendance for apportionment by participating in Attendance Recovery (AR) over multiple days, accruing time in hourly increments (EC Section 46211(e)(1)). The teacher of each AR classroom must document these increments. Once this time meets the applicable minimum daily minutes, the local educational agency (LEA) may claim a day of ADA for the attendance month when the absence occurred.

4. Is there a minimum amount of time in a day that an Attendance Recovery (AR) program must be scheduled in order to count for funding purposes?

Yes, a student’s participation time in AR may accumulate in increments of one hour, as documented by the supervising teacher. (EC Section 46211(e)(1)). When participation time on a day is less than one hour, that time does not accrue towards meeting the applicable minimum daily minute requirement. Fractions of an hour do not carry forward. For example, a student who was in an AR program 1.5 hours on Monday and 1.5 hours on Tuesday has accrued two hours of participation time, not three.

5. Do local educational agencies (LEAs) need to maintain hourly records of Attendance Recovery (AR) attendance?

It depends. LEAs must maintain AR attendance in daily or hourly increments, as appropriate to the duration of the sessions offered.

Hourly accounting of attendance is appropriate if students meet their minimum daily minute requirement over multiple days. In this case, the AR teacher must document each hour of student attendance, and the LEA must make this supporting documentation available for the purpose of the annual audit process.

Daily accounting may be used when an AR session meets the minimum daily minute requirement in a calendar day, and in this case the hourly recordkeeping requirement does not apply.

6. Can a local educational agency (LEA) track attendance in an Attendance Recovery (AR) program by the minute?

No. EC Section 46211(e)(1) states that a student generates a day of attendance for apportionment only after meeting the minimum daily minute requirement for AR. Attendance may be recorded in hourly increments, but not in minutes or fractions of an hour. Any participation documented in increments of less than one hour does not count toward meeting the required instructional time for AR.

7. How does a local educational agency (LEA) claim attendance generated by students in an Attendance Recovery (AR) program?

LEAs that choose to offer AR will report days of average daily attendance (ADA) generated by an AR program through the Principal Apportionment Data Collection Web Application (PADC Web) at the regular reporting periods (Period 1, Period 2 and Annual.) AR ADA will be included in the regular ADA total, and will also be reported separately from all other ADA on an informational line in PADC Web.

8. If a student has only participated in half of the applicable minimum daily minute requirement under EC Section 46211(e), can the local educational agency claim a half-day of attendance?

A student's participation in Attendance Recovery (AR) for less than the applicable minimum daily minute requirements does not generate a day or fraction of a day of attendance. A student in an AR program shall only be credited with not less than a full day of attendance, and only after the applicable minimum daily minute requirement is met (EC Section 46211(e)(1)).

9. How is the student cap on average daily attendance (ADA) applied when a student transfers between sites in a school district?

The student cap on ADA that can be claimed through Attendance Recovery (AR) applies to each student for the entire school year (EC Section 46211(d)(1)).

When a student transfers within the school district, the AR participation time they accrued at one school may be applied to absences that occurred at the destination school, provided that the district maintains a documentation trail for audit purposes. A best practice for a school district that offers AR is to check whether an incoming transfer student has completed AR days or hours at their previous school, to establish the number of absences that may be offset through AR that year at the destination school.

The annual audit procedures will verify the statutory requirements of AR programs of EC Section 46211, including the student cap in subdivision (d), and the minimum daily minutes required under subdivision (e).

10. Charter schools do not have minimum daily minute requirements for instructional time. How do they determine the days of average daily attendance that a student has generated through participation in an Attendance Recovery (AR) program?

While it is correct that charter schools do not have to offer a minimum amount of daily instructional minutes in order for a day of regularly scheduled instruction to count for apportionment, the minimum daily minute requirements of EC sections 46112, 46113, 46117 and 46141 apply to all local educational agencies for the purpose of generating average daily attendance from AR (EC Section 46211(e)(2)(B)).

11. Once a student has accrued enough Attendance Recovery (AR) participation time to meet the applicable minimum daily minute requirement and generate a day of attendance, does any further participation that same day count towards AR?

Yes. A student continues to accrue participation time in this case, provided that AR participation on a single calendar day does not generate more than one day of attendance for apportionment (ADA) (EC Section 46211(d)(1)). For example, if a student in a morning session of AR accumulates enough time to recover a day of ADA, and then participates in AR again later that afternoon, the extra time in hourly increments accrues towards the next AR day for which they are eligible (EC Section 46211(e)(1)).

12. If a student whose applicable minimum day is 180 minutes participates in 360 minutes of Attendance Recovery (AR) in a single day, do they generate two days of average daily attendance?

No. A student cannot generate more than one day of attendance for any calendar day of participation in an AR program (EC Section 46211(d)(1)). If a student whose minimum day requirement is 180 minutes (three hours) participates in six hours of AR on a Saturday, the student would generate one day of AR ADA plus three hours of participation time. This remainder time may be used to claim a day of ADA when the student participates in AR on a subsequent calendar day.

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Contacts

For questions on reporting ADA through the PADC Web Application, contact the Principal Apportionment Section at PASE@cde.ca.gov.

For questions on attendance for apportionment and instructional time, contact the Attendance Accounting Office at AttendanceAccounting@cde.ca.gov.

Absence Reporting

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Are local educational agencies (LEAs) required to submit Attendance Recovery (AR) days to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS)?

Yes. LEAs will be required to submit days of AR attendance to CALPADS in order for the California Department of Education (CDE) to report an alternative chronic absenteeism rate that will be posted on the CDE’s web site (EC sections 60901(c)(3) and 46211(d)(4)). However, the alternative chronic absenteeism rate will not affect the Chronic Absenteeism data reported on the Dashboard or DataQuest.

Beginning in the 2025–26 End-of-Year (EOY) 3 submission, LEAs will be required to submit AR days to CALPADS on the Student Absence Summary (STAS) file and to certify those data as part of their EOY 3 submission. Detailed information is forthcoming and will be provided from the LEAs CALPADS web page.

2. Does Attendance Recovery (AR) affect the chronic absenteeism rate?

There is no immediate impact to the chronic absenteeism rate. Pursuant to EC Section 60901(b), local educational agencies that offer AR will separately report information on AR attendance. This information is required to be published on the California Department of Educaition's web site (EC sections 60901(c)(3) and 46211(d)(4)). 

3. Should the original attendance code in the student information system (SIS) be changed to reflect that a day of attendance was recovered in Attendance Recovery (AR)?

No. While up to ten AR days may now be reported per enrolled student when attendance and absence data are submitted to CALPADS via the Student Absence Summary (STAS) file, all other fields in the STAS are to be populated the same. The absence field should not be adjusted based on AR days. As such, the code for the original absent day does not change in the SIS.

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Contacts

For questions on chronic absenteeism, contact the Educational Data Management Division at CALPADS@cde.ca.gov.

Attendance Recovery and Expanded Learning Opportunity Programs

Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility | Supervision | Instructional Content | Allowable Use of Funds and Fees

Eligibility

1. Can a local educational agency (LEA) offer both Attendance Recovery (AR) and Expanded Learning Opportunity Programming (ELO-P) at the same time?

Yes. It is the legislature’s intent, as expressed in EC sections 46210(b)(2) and 46120(d)(3)(B), that LEAs be able to offer ELO-P and AR in conjunction to realize fiscal efficiencies and expand student access to ELO-P, while avoiding negative impacts on afterschool enrichment offerings. In this case, the distinct requirements for each program must be met (see FAQ #5 under AR & ELO-P Programs, below.)

2. Can an Expanded Learning Opportunity (ELO) student participate in Attendance Recovery (AR)?

Yes, students may participate in both an ELO program and an AR program concurrently, and a student’s participation in an AR program must not restrict their ability to participate in the full range of ELO programming offered in the school year (EC Section 46211(c)).

3. Do Attendance Recovery (AR) students have to be Unduplicated Pupils to participate in an AR program offered in conjunction with its Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P)?

No, students do not have to meet ELO-P eligibility requirements in order to participate in AR. The two state programs have distinct criteria for student participation, even when they are offered together at the same school site.

4. Can a local educational agency (LEA) that has students on a waitlist for Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) enroll students in an Attendance Recovery (AR) program that is supported with ELO-P funds?

The creation and implementation of a waitlist would be a locally based decision if an LEA meets the requirements to offer and provide access, as outlined in EC Section 46120(b).

An LEA cannot bypass a student on the ELO-P waitlist to enroll a student in AR that is not on the ELO-P waitlist.

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Supervision

5. Can an Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) instructor supervise students in an Attendance Recovery (AR) program?

An ELO-P teacher may supervise students in AR if they are a certificated employee of the local educational agency (EC Section 46211(f)).

6. Do all Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) staff have to be certificated if the ELO-P program is operating in conjunction with Attendance Recovery (AR)?

No, ELO-P and AR are separate programs with distinct requirements. If a local educational agency chooses to offer them in conjunction, the requirements under EC Section 46120 apply to students in the ELO-P program, and the requirements of EC Section 46211 apply to students the AR program. In the case of a commingled classroom of students from both programs, the most stringent requirement applies, and the supervision requirements of EC Section 46211(f) must be met for all AR students in the classroom, as emphasized by EC Section 46120(d)(3)(B).

7. Must an Attendance Recovery (AR) program occur in a separate classroom from an Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P)?

Statute does not preclude an AR classroom from having students present who are not participating in the program, so long as all conditions of apportionment are being met. The determination of whether ELO-P and AR programs are offered in the same classroom is a local level one and should be made based on the needs of the students.

• Example 1: A classified employee and a certificated employee of the LEA supervise a commingled group of up to 20 non-kindergarten students participating in ELO programming, and up to 20 in AR, working on homework assignments and other content aligned to grade-level standards.
• Example 2: A certificated employee of the LEA supervises a classroom where 10 non-kindergarten students are engaged in enrichment activities and 10 non-kindergarten students receive instruction aligned to grade-level standards.
• Example 3: In a classroom containing kindergarteners, a certificated employee engages 10 students in enrichment activities and play, while in a certificated employee of the LEA leads up to 10 students in academic content.

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Instructional Content

8. Does the Attendance Recovery (AR) activity have to be instructionally related to content standards, or can it be another allowable Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) activity, as long as it is supervised by a certificated staff member?

As a condition of funding, the educational activities that students are engaged in when they participate in an AR program must be substantially equivalent to their regular instructional program, and the educational content must be aligned to grade level standards (EC Section 46211(f)). This is a requirement of all AR programs, regardless of whether they are offered in conjunction with an ELO-P program.

9. If a local educational agency (LEA) already offers academic support as part of its Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P), does that time now count as Attendance Recovery (AR)?

No. AR and ELO-P are distinct programs, each with their own audit requirements, even when they are run concurrently.

When ELO-P operates at the same time as AR, the AR program offering does not count towards meeting the ELO-P requirements.

The legislature’s intent is that access to ELO is not negatively affected when an LEA chooses to offer AR combined with ELO-P (EC Section 46210(b)).

10. Can a school district offer four hours of AR supervised by certificated employees of the district and five hours of ELO-P supervised by either certificated or classified staff?

No, this offering does not provide AR as a voluntary option for students and would not meet the ELO-P minimum time requirement for a nonschool day. AR hours do not count towards meeting the statutory requirement for the daily length of ELO-P programming.

It is the intent of the legislature that AR programs do not negatively affect expanded learning implementation (EC Section 46210(b)(2)). Moreover, AR is not compulsory and students concurrently participating in both AR and ELO-P retain the ability to participate in either program (EC Section 46211(c)).

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Allowable Use of Funds and Fees

11. Can Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) funding be used to support Attendance Recovery (AR) efforts?

ELO-P funds may be used to support AR if certain conditions are met (EC Section 46120(d)(3)(B)):

1. AR must be offered at the same time as ELO-P.
2. Both programs must be offered at the same school site.
3. The AR program must be operated by the LEA.

LEAs that wish to utilize ELO-P funding for an AR program must still meet all ELO-P program requirements. The LEA’s annual audit process will verify compliance with the programs’ requirements.

As emphasized by EC Section 46120(d)(3)(B), the apportionment-significant requirements of AR under EC Section 46211(d) through (g) will still apply to students participating in the AR program. This includes the supervision requirements under EC Section 46211(f).

It is the intent of the Legislature that operation of AR does not negatively impact ELO-P implementation, which is designed to improve regular schoolday attendance and student engagement. Additionally, LEAs should minimize fiscal impacts and expand student access to ELO-P when a parallel AR programs is operated to achieve fiscal efficiencies (EC Section 46210(b)).

It is the California Department of Education's Guidance that LEAs revise and update their ELO-P Plans to reflect how ELO-P funding will support AR if they wish to utilize some ELO-P fundings for that purpose.

12. What are the allowable uses of Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) funding when used to support Attendance Recovery (AR)?

Consistent with current ELO-P policy, the California Department of Education (CDE) does not approve or deny individual local educational agency (LEA) requests for allowable use of ELO-P funds for AR. ELO-P funding can be used to support AR provided that all such expenditures are necessary and reasonable for an AR program activity, and are adequately documented. Furthermore, those expenditures should be consistent with statute and the LEA's policies and procedures.

It is CDE’s Guidance that LEAs revise and update their ELO-P Plans to reflect how ELO-P funding will support AR if they wish to utilize some ELO-P funding for that purpose.

13. Can a local educational agency (LEA) use Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) funds to offer Attendance Recovery (AR) to grades that are not served by the ELO-P program?

To allocate ELO-P funds to an AR program for middle and high school students, an LEA must first meet the ELO-P funding requirements to offer and provide access to its students from Transitional Kindergarten/Kindergarten through 6th grade, pursuant to paragraphs 5 and 6 of EC Section 46120(g).

The LEA must ensure that the middle and high school students are also provided access to ELO-P. The LEA may not exclusively use ELO-P funds to offer an AR program to students without also providing access to ELO-P (EC sections 46120(c)(3) and 46211(c)).

Having fulfilled these criteria, the LEA may use ELO-P funds, as long as the requirements under EC Section 46120(d)(3)(B) are being met (see FAQ #7 under Attendance Recovery and ELO-P, above).

For example, an LEA satisfies all the ELO-P requirements for its TK/K-6 students and has offered ELO-P access to 7-8 grade students. It may then use ELO-P funds to operate an AR program for its grades 7-8 students on the same school site as its ELO-P activities, if the older students can elect to participate in ELO-P as well.

Additional ELO-P FAQs can be found on the California Department of Education's webpage for the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program.

14. Can a local educational agency charge a fee in order for a student to participate in an Attendance Recovery (AR) program?

No. In general, public school students cannot be required to pay a fee to participate in an educational activity (EC Section 49011). Statute does not otherwise provide a means to charge students a fee to access AR.

15. Can a student be charged a fee for Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) on a day in which they participate in Attendance Recovery (AR)?

No, students cannot be charged an ELO-P fee for any day in which the student participates in both ELO-P and AR. Pursuant to EC Section 49011, students that participate in AR cannot be charged a fee.

16. Can a student be charged a fee for Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) on a day when they did not participate in Attendance Recovery (AR)?

Yes. However, students that are foster youth, homeless and/or qualify for free and reduced-price meals cannot be charged a family fee. Students not within one of these categories can be charged a family fee. If a local educational agency (LEA) charges a family fee, it must be done so on a sliding scale that adjusts the fee based on family income and ability to pay. LEAs shall allow families to demonstrate their eligibility for a family fee waiver, by way of self-certification, pursuant to EC Sections 46120(b)(5), 8483(e), and 8482.6. If an LEA charges family fees, the LEA must track and maintain accurate records of fees collected for program activities or services to students.

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Contacts

For questions on attendance for apportionment and instructional time, contact the Attendance Accounting Office at AttendanceAccounting@cde.ca.gov.

For questions on ELO-P, contact the Expanded Learning Division at ExpandedLearning@cde.ca.gov.

Resources

Guidance for Implementing High-Quality Attendance Recovery Programs

AR programs provide students with structured opportunities to recover missed instructional time and can contribute to improved academic and attendance outcomes. Pursuant to EC Section 46211(h), the California Department of Education (CDE) has provided guidance on this page as a resource to support LEAs in student engagement, ensure instructional continuity, and uphold standards of quality and equity.

Attendance Recovery Webinar(PDF)

The School Fiscal Services Division in collaboration with other Divisions of the CDE hosted a webinar on March 19, 2025 to inform local educational agencies of the requirements for operating compliant Attendance Recovery programs, starting in the 2025–26 school year.

Fiscal Year 2024–25 Attendance Accounting and Instructional Time Requirements Presentation (PDF)

The School Fiscal Services Division hosted a webinar on August 14, 2024 to provide a general overview of instructional time requirements, the methods for claiming average daily attendance (ADA), and related topics. An overview of Attendance Recovery is provided in slides 69-88.

Correspondence

Notice of AB 176 Statutory Changes to Attendance Accounting and Instructional Time (Dated 08-Oct-2024)