The Nebraska Department of Education requires attendance descriptors in their data collection to better classify absences, attendance descriptors are simply the reason for the absence.

If you are submitting Student Section Attendance in ADVISER, tie these new descriptor reasons to your Period Attendance reasons and then re-submit your past period attendance through ADVISER.

To edit descriptors in the Period Attendance module head to Period Attendance > Data > Edit Reasons and Cutoffs.

Step One: Click the "Edit" link next to the line with an existing "Reason" to attach a state-defined descriptor to all absences with that reason.

Step Two: Select the Ed-Fi descriptor that best matches the absence reason using the "Ed-Fi Descriptor" drop-down list. (For example: choose the "Illness/Medical" Ed-Fi descriptor to pair with the "Sick" reason.)

Helpful Tip: When defining a reason as "Other" in the "Reasons" list, identify whether the "Other" is excused or unexcused and attach descriptor "10 - Other" to the "Excused" reason and descriptor "12 - Other or unknown" to the "Unexcused" reason.

Step Three: Click the "Update" link to attach the state-reported Ed-Fi descriptor to the listed reason or click the "Cancel" link to discard your changes.

Step Four: Repeat steps one through three until all attendance reasons contain an Ed-Fi descriptor.