State education agencies, districts, ed-tech vendors and non-profits are encouraged to participate in an open and transparent process to improve the next release of the Ed-Fi data standard
July 31, 2012 — AUSTIN, Texas – The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation today announced a public Request for Comment (RFC) period for the release of Ed-Fi 1.1. The RFC period will open August 1, 2012 and close September 30, 2012. The Ed-Fi initiative exists to help accelerate state leaders’ and vendors’ abilities to put meaningful student-centric dashboards and tools into the hands of educators in every classroom in the nation.
Compatible with many existing education data standards – including the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) – the Ed-Fi solution (unifying data model, data exchange framework, application framework and sample dashboard source code) facilitates secure data exchange among disparate data systems in K-12 education. The Ed-Fi solution is available to state and local education agencies, organizations and vendors serving the education sector through a free license.
The RFC period for the Ed-Fi 1.1 release is intended to collect input and feedback from IT experts representing organizations including federal and state governments, school districts from across the US, educational software vendors, nonprofit organizations and consortiums involved in shaping and implementing educational data standards. The goal for the Ed-Fi 1.1 release is to ensure:
- Continued CEDS alignment for CEDS v2 and early v3 data elements
- Enhancements to support leading edge data diagnostics and implementations
- Improved support for transactional data
To kick-off the RFC period, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has issued an open invitation to all federal and state governments, school districts from across the US, educational software vendors, nonprofit organizations and consortiums to participate in an on-going webinar series beginning Wednesday August 1, 2012 from 12:00 – 1:00pm CDT.
The series will continue with webinars scheduled on August 14, August 29, September 11 and September 26. Detailed information can be found online at edfi. The foundation has also launched an Ed-Fi discussion portal to allow interested parties to participate in an ongoing public Ed-Fi RFC discussion online..
Since launching in July 2011, the Ed-Fi solution has gained significant momentum in K-12 education among state education agencies, school districts and vendors. Eight states have licensed or are in discussions to license the Ed-Fi solution, and an additional four states will benefit from Ed-Fi-enabled tools through the Shared Learning Collaborative. These 12 states collectively represent 34% of K-12 students and 36% of teachers across the United States.
The Ed-Fi solution is the only free, flexible and complete ed-tech solution to empower educators with relevant, timely, student-centric information that enables better data collection and reporting to improve decision making, facilitate targeted action plans and drive higher student outcomes.
To get more detailed information about the Ed-Fi solution, including the FAQ and technical documentation, or to provide comments on the Ed-Fi solution and its components, visit the website at edfi.
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About the Ed-Fi solution
We connect the data from start to finish.
The Ed-Fi solution exists to make a difference for millions of kids…one teacher, one class, one child a time by transforming data into insights that make it easier for teachers to teach, for students to learn and for schools to succeed. The Ed-Fi solution is a universal educational data standard and tool suite (unifying data model, data exchange framework, application framework, and sample dashboard source code) that enables vital academic information on K-12 students to be consolidated from the different data systems of school districts while leaving the management and governance of data within those districts and states. Ed-Fi components act as a universal translator of academic data, integrating and organizing information so that educators can start addressing the individual needs of each student from day one, and can measure progress and refine action plans throughout the school year.
Developed by Double Line Partners through funding from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Ed-Fi solution can be licensed free of charge by districts, state education agencies and vendors. Licensees gain unrestricted access to all Ed-Fi components. For more information, visit edfi. The Ed-Fi initiative supports the goal of ensuring that all children have access to quality education in public schools, one of the foundation’s key objectives.
Media inquiries:
Megan Matthews,
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Tel. 512 600 5532
communications@msdf.org
