Big or small, technology improvements and input to the Ed-Fi Data Standard that benefit the Ed-Fi Community are adding up to have a significant effect on the education sector. The collective impact of this work now reaches more than 50% of students, teachers, and districts across the US and the ranks of the Ed-Fi Community are still growing strong. The number of organizations joining the Ed-Fi Alliance expanded by 10% in the first 2 months of this year. Take a second to think about that!
Also exciting is, the increasing number of instructional tools and systems in use at the state, district, classroom, and even community level. This growth, however, poses its own set of challenges in getting systems to work together. We’re doing everything we can to clear a path for technology and instructional leaders to maximize student learning and increase teacher satisfaction.
Some proof points have developed that tell us the route we’re on is the right one. Ed-Fi Powered student information system vendors like Skyward, Pearson, and Edupoint have demonstrated why the decision to support the Ed-Fi Data Standard is a win-win for vendors and districts. Next generation learning platforms powered by Ed-Fi technology are helping to improve teaching and learning by combining the features of multiple educational data systems to support intellective competencies. Even more compelling, districts and charter school groups are showing increasing interest in the idea of joining a vibrant technical community to solve common issues rather than go it alone.
As part of that quest to remove obstacles, the Ed-Fi Alliance has opened the Request for Comment (RFC) period for the Ed-Fi Data Standard 2.0 on behalf of Ed-Fi Community members. This period provides a formal process to facilitate input using open governance and technical tools. This RFC marks the 3rd technical release in 5 months after the Technical Preview in October and the Dashboards 1.3 release in December of last year. In addition to this release, the Ed-Fi Alliance is also rolling out new productivity tools to help our technical community find what they need quickly, track progress of the technology, and provide input.
Big or small, every member of the Ed-Fi Community plays a role in this work as well as the impact being made across the nation. The Ed-Fi Alliance is proud to serve the Ed-Fi Community and energized by the challenges we still face along this journey. Imagine what is possible as continued growth, momentum, and collaboration take place in 2015 and beyond.
