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AboutDescriptorTables.md

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Descriptor Tables

This folder contains a series of CSV tables that list various descriptor values, typically of descriptors that are custom to the Minnesota Ed-Fi implementation. By moving such tables out of the "Mapping Matrix" Excel spreadsheet and into individual files, we accomplish several goals:

  1. Allowing full names of descriptors to label a table, instead of being limited by Excel's character limit for tabs.
  2. Reducing the size of the Mapping Matrix spreadsheet.
  3. Enabling viewers to see when each individual descriptor was last updated
  4. Enabling viewers a quick preview of each table when selecting it within GitHub

Refer to the CSVs in this folder for either the coming school year (spring), or the current school year in effect (summer, fall, and winter). See details below.

Note: occasionally special characters, such as em dashes, are stored in the database but do not translate well into CSV exports. An example is in code value 2 for SpecialEducationEvaluationStatusDescriptor: "Shared-Time K-12 – Evaluated, EC – Evaluated" appears as "Shared-Time K-12 ? Evaluated, EC ? Evaluated". This is merely an artifact of character translations to CSV files and can be ignored. Several other examples appear in the LanguageDescriptor Export; when you pull from the API, you should be able to see the full special characters instead of what you see in these CSVs.

Source Details

As of the most recent run, these tables are derived from the following database at MDE:

Exceptions will be marked with details below as necessary.

  • NOTE: For school year 2024-25, the 'Responsibility Descriptor' has been exported. This is a NEW descriptor used for Joint Powers solutions. We have now completed validating and double checking the remaining custom descriptors for the 2024-25 school year, as noted by the "Production" environment designation above.
  • NOTE: For school year 2023-24, the "HK" grade level was retired on legislative direction. Instead of removing it entirely from the ODS API, it was updated to show "DO NOT USE". For school year 2024-25, it will not be available in the API at all. This also holds true for the "H" Kindergarten Schedule Descriptor.

Vendors may also wish to refer to the change/commit log in GitHub to see what the latest changes are for the tables in this folder.

Assessment Descriptors

The following Descriptors used for Assessment purposes are now being exported along with other descriptor values, from the source listed above, with each new environment deploy. Please note that only assessment vendors will need to use these descriptors. Individually, see:

Note that Assessment vendors will also want to make use of the AcademicSubjectDescriptor and GradeLevelDescriptor tables listed below.

List of Custom Descriptors and Links

Below is a list of known custom descriptors, typically using the uri://education.mn.gov namespace, excluding any subfolders within that space. Links are to the CSV files that you can view inside this directory. This list is automatically generated out of the same database as above, but we've manually removed links here if the descriptor has not yet been exported.