Open-Source Attendance Software for Community Colleges
Track section-level attendance across biometric, RFID, QR, and manual entry with FERPA-compliant audit logs and IPEDS-ready exports. LGPLv3, self-host or run on our cloud.
Open-source attendance management for colleges is an institution-controlled system that records student presence per class section, stores hashed access logs under FERPA disclosure rules, and produces enrollment-status reports for IPEDS and Title IV federal aid certification without sending student data to a closed vendor or paying per-seat fees that scale with headcount.
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ADA-compliant terminals
Keyboard navigation, screen-reader labels, and high-contrast modes ship on every roll-call screen. RFID and QR fallbacks let students who cannot use fingerprint scanners check in without a workaround. The openeducat_attendance baseline holds WCAG 2.1 AA on the standard theme, and the accessibility configuration is owned by your college, not a vendor preference.
FERPA-grade audit log
Every attendance read, edit, and export writes a tamper-evident row with user ID, IP address, timestamp, and reason. Registrars pull the disclosure log for any record from one screen, no database query needed. The log answers the 34 CFR §99.32 disclosure-record requirement without spreadsheet exports or third-party connectors.
IPEDS and Title IV exports
Maps section attendance to last-date-of-attendance and never-attended flags. Generates the CSV columns IPEDS keyholders use for Fall Enrollment and the values financial aid needs to run an R2T4 calculation when a Title IV recipient withdraws. The export keeps row IDs so federal auditors can trace any number back to the source attendance event.
Per-section attendance rules
Set the absent threshold, late-grace minutes, and notification trigger separately for each course section. Adjunct faculty inherit defaults; the registrar overrides for clinicals, labs, dual-enrollment cohorts, and CTE courses with state-mandated contact hours. Rules version with the section so historic audits show the policy in effect at the time.
Biometric, RFID, QR, manual
openeducat_attendance accepts ZKTeco fingerprint readers, MIFARE and HID RFID cards, dynamic QR codes rendered on the student portal, and roster-based manual marking from a single course form. Conflicts resolve to the earliest verified read so a student who taps RFID at the door and is then marked present by the instructor does not double-log.
SIS and report-card sync
Section rosters import from your existing SIS through the OpenEduCat student module or a scheduled CSV job. Attendance flows into report cards, transcript GPA holds, and the financial-aid satisfactory-academic-progress check in the same Postgres database. No nightly ETL between the SIS and a separate attendance vendor.
Parent and advisor SMS
Optional SMS to a designated emergency contact or assigned advisor when consecutive absences cross a threshold. Templates respect FERPA disclosure rules for students 18 and over, honor opt-outs at the contact level, and log every send so the dean of students can show what notification went out and when.
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Does OpenEduCat produce the LDA value the registrar needs for a Title IV R2T4 calculation?
Yes. The attendance module stores a verified last-date-of-attendance per student per section. When a student withdraws, the registrar exports LDA, never-attended status, and total contact hours in the CSV layout used by most R2T4 worksheets, with the source row IDs preserved for federal audit. The export runs from the registrar screen with no IT ticket and no need to query the database directly.
Can adjunct instructors mark attendance without seeing other sections' rosters?
Yes. Adjuncts receive a faculty role scoped to the sections they teach. They cannot read or edit rosters, grades, or attendance for any other section. The audit log captures every read for the FERPA disclosure record. When an adjunct leaves the college, the registrar revokes the role and the audit history remains intact for the retention period your policy sets.
Is the system accessible for students using screen readers or one-handed input?
Yes. All attendance screens meet WCAG 2.1 AA on the default theme. RFID, QR, and instructor-marked entry let the college offer at least one mode that does not require fingerprint capture or two-handed operation, which is the practical ADA-compliance baseline for a check-in kiosk. Color contrast, focus indicators, and ARIA labels are part of the openeducat_attendance baseline rather than an add-on.
Will my data leave the campus if we self-host?
No. OpenEduCat is LGPLv3 and runs on your hardware or your VPC. The attendance module has no outbound network calls except the SMS and email gateways you configure. There is no vendor telemetry pinging home, no usage analytics shipped to a third party, and no license-server check that requires internet access for the system to keep working.
How does this map to IPEDS Fall Enrollment reporting?
Section enrollment plus the verified attendance status maps to the IPEDS full-time, part-time, and never-attended counts the keyholder submits. The export ships as the column set most IPEDS keyholders work from so the institutional research office can review the data, reconcile with the SIS counts, and submit through the IPEDS Data Center without manual recoding.
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Attendance Management System for Schools and Colleges
Replace paper registers with biometric, RFID, or one-tap digital roll call. Parents get absence alerts in under 5 minutes. Compliance reports for FERPA, GDPR, and MoE mandates generate in one click. Open-source, used by 18,000+ institutions.
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Period-wise attendance for K-12 schools with parent alerts in under 5 minutes, ADA/ADM state reporting one-click, chronic-absenteeism flagging, and FERPA/COPPA defaults for under-13 students. Built on openeducat_attendance with K-12-specific workflows.
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Subject-wise attendance for colleges — 75%/85% exam-eligibility auto-block per UGC/AICTE rules, RFID/QR for thousand-seat lecture halls, departmental percentage dashboards, and NAAC/NBA reporting. Built on openeducat_attendance with college-specific workflows.
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Track attendance across schools, faculties, programmes, and 800-seat lecture halls in a single platform. openeducat_attendance handles credit-hour rules, accreditation reporting (NAAC, NBA, WASC, AACSB), and LMS integration — without locking your university into a per-student license.
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