diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py
index 0503d7bbcb6..722ae164046 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@
 from opentelemetry.configuration import Configuration
 from opentelemetry.context import attach, detach
 from opentelemetry.instrumentation.django.version import __version__
-from opentelemetry.instrumentation.utils import extract_attributes_from_object
+from opentelemetry.instrumentation.utils import (
+    extract_attributes_from_object,
+    http_status_to_canonical_code,
+)
 from opentelemetry.instrumentation.wsgi import (
     add_response_attributes,
     collect_request_attributes,
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@
 )
 from opentelemetry.propagators import extract
 from opentelemetry.trace import SpanKind, get_tracer
+from opentelemetry.trace.status import Status
 from opentelemetry.util import ExcludeList
 
 try:
@@ -184,13 +188,27 @@ def process_exception(self, request, exception):
             return
 
         if self._environ_activation_key in request.META.keys():
+            status_code = 500
+            # pylint:disable=W0212
+            span = request.META.get(self._environ_span_key, None)
+            if span and span.is_recording():
+                span.set_attribute("http.status_code", status_code)
+                span.set_status(
+                    Status(
+                        canonical_code=http_status_to_canonical_code(
+                            status_code
+                        ),
+                        description="{}: {}".format(
+                            exception.__class__.__name__, exception
+                        ),
+                    )
+                )
             request.META[self._environ_activation_key].__exit__(
                 type(exception),
                 exception,
                 getattr(exception, "__traceback__", None),
             )
             request.META.pop(self._environ_activation_key)
-
             detach(request.environ[self._environ_token])
             request.META.pop(self._environ_token, None)
 
@@ -231,5 +249,4 @@ def process_response(self, request, response):
                 )
         except Exception as ex:  # pylint: disable=W0703
             _logger.warning("Error recording duration metrics: %s", ex)
-
         return response
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py
index 5c034a23af2..f066ad3f608 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ def test_error(self):
         )
         self.assertEqual(span.kind, SpanKind.SERVER)
         self.assertEqual(
-            span.status.canonical_code, StatusCanonicalCode.UNKNOWN
+            span.status.canonical_code, StatusCanonicalCode.INTERNAL
         )
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes["http.method"], "GET")
         self.assertEqual(
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ def test_error(self):
         )
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes["http.route"], "^error/")
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes["http.scheme"], "http")
+        self.assertEqual(span.attributes["http.status_code"], 500)
         self.assertIsNotNone(_django_instrumentor.meter)
         self.assertEqual(len(_django_instrumentor.meter.metrics), 1)
         recorder = _django_instrumentor.meter.metrics.pop()
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-flask/CHANGELOG.md b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-flask/CHANGELOG.md
index a4641e55b66..bd6ea89cb21 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-flask/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-flask/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Record span status and http.status_code attribute on exception 
+  ([#1257](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/1257))
+
 ## Version 0.13b0
 
 Released 2020-09-17