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Fetch Tennessee school directory data

Source: R/fetch_directory.R
fetch_directory.Rd

Downloads and processes school directory data from the Tennessee Department of Education's School Directory portal (tnschooldirectory.tnedu.gov). Returns a combined dataset of schools and districts with contact information, addresses, grade levels, and administrator names.

Usage

fetch_directory(end_year = NULL, tidy = TRUE, use_cache = TRUE)

Arguments

end_year

Currently unused. The directory represents the current state of Tennessee schools and is updated regularly by TDOE. Included for API consistency with other fetch functions.

tidy

If TRUE (default), returns data in a standardized format with consistent column names. If FALSE, returns raw column names from the API.

use_cache

If TRUE (default), uses locally cached data when available. Set to FALSE to force re-download from TDOE.

Value

A tibble with school directory data. Columns include:

  • entity_type: "school" or "district"

  • state_district_id: District number (from sde_entitynameunique)

  • state_school_id: School number (accountnumber)

  • district_name: Name of the school district

  • school_name: Name of the school (NA for district rows)

  • school_type: Public, Private, or Charter

  • instructional_type: Regular, High School, etc.

  • address: Street address

  • city: City

  • state: State (always "TN")

  • zip: ZIP code

  • phone: Phone number

  • county_name: County name

  • grades_served: Comma-separated grade levels

  • principal_name: School principal name (from primary contact)

  • principal_email: School principal email

  • superintendent_name: District superintendent (from primary contact for districts)

  • superintendent_email: District superintendent email

  • website: School or district website URL

  • status: Active or Inactive

  • nces_number: NCES identification number

Details

The directory data is downloaded from the TN School Directory portal, which is powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365. The API returns JSON data via FetchXML queries. Schools and districts are fetched separately and combined.

The API paginates results in pages of up to 5000 records. For schools (~3000 records) pagination is handled automatically.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Get school directory data
dir_data <- fetch_directory()

# Get raw format (original API field names)
dir_raw <- fetch_directory(tidy = FALSE)

# Force fresh download (ignore cache)
dir_fresh <- fetch_directory(use_cache = FALSE)

# Filter to active public schools
library(dplyr)
public_schools <- dir_data |>
  filter(entity_type == "school", school_type == "Public", status == "Active")

# Find all schools in Davidson County (Nashville)
nashville <- dir_data |>
  filter(county_name == "Davidson", entity_type == "school")
} # }