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Attendance Recovery

Attendance Recovery allows local educational agencies (LEAs) the option to offer more opportunities to increase student access to instruction and recover funding dependent on average daily attendance.

Overview

To mitigate the negative impact that chronic absenteeism and emergency events have had on academic continuity for students and LEA funding, Senate Bill (SB) 153 (Chapter 38, Statutes of 2024) as amended by SB 176 (Chapter 998, Statutes of 2024) established the Attendance Recovery (AR) program under Article 9, Chapter 2, Part 26 of Education Code (EC) sections 46210-46211.

AR programs are voluntary programs that enable students to recoup absences for the purpose of apportionment (up to the lesser of ten total or the total number of absences accrued in a given school year) by attending supplementary sessions outside of the regularly scheduled school day.

Beginning in fiscal year 2025–2026, school districts, county offices of education and classroom-based charter schools may choose to offer an AR program to eligible students enrolled in classroom-based programs before or after school, during weekends, or on intersession breaks.

For additional information on AR, please review the resources and Frequently Asked Questions below and under each tab.

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 over multiple sessions on multiple days to meet the applicable minimum daily minute requirement, after which the LEA may claim a day of average daily attendance (ADA)

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. 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.
Calculation Example
Total AR participation minutes per student
÷
Applicable minimum daily minute requirement
=
Round down to whole number
< >
If student’s AR days would be greater than total absences accrued for the year, reduce to the total absences
-
If AR days would be more than 10 days, reduce to 10
=
Days of AR attendance

Student A: TK/K, five absences

  • 25 hours ÷ 180 minutes = 8.3
  • Reduce to five = 5 ADA

Student B: grade 1, ten absences

  • 30 hours ÷ 230 minutes = 7.8
  • Round down to 7 days = 7 ADA

Student C, grade 4, twelve absences:

  • 45 hours ÷ 240 minutes = 11.25
  • Reduce to ten = 10 ADA
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. 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 reported separately from all other ADA in PADC Web.

5. 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 average daily attendance (ADA)?

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 ADA. 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)).

6. How is the student cap on average daily attendance (ADA) applied when a student transfers between sites in a school district, or between local educational agencies (LEAs)?

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

A best practice for LEAs that offer AR is to check whether an incoming transfer student has completed AR days at their previous school, to establish how many more days of AR are eligible for the student to participate in that year.

7. 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)).

Grade/Setting Minimum Daily Minute Requirement EC Section
TK/Kindergarten
180 Minutes
46117
Grades 1-3
230 Minutes
46112
Grades 4-8 240 Minutes
46113
Grades 9-12
240 Minutes
46141
8. 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)).

9. 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.

Questions:   Principal Apportionment Section | AttendanceAccounting@cde.ca.gov | 916-324-4541
Last Reviewed: Wednesday, June 18, 2025
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