Latest community-driven data standard and technology release delivers new and improved features to make implementation seamless and easier for education agencies and student information system vendors.
- June 7, 2018 – AUSTIN, Texas – Ed-Fi Alliance, LLC, dedicated to boosting student achievement by empowering educators with data, today announced the final release of the Ed-Fi Data Standard version 3.0 and Ed-Fi Operational Data Store (ODS) and Application Programming Interface (API) version 3.0. While the Ed-Fi Data Standard is the foundational model that aligns data sets in a standardized and organized way, the ODS and accompanying API are the technology tools used to operationalize the Data Standard and how state and district education agencies put interoperability into practice.“The release of the Data Standard 3.0 and ODS and API 3.0 is a significant milestone for the Ed-Fi Community. What is most noteworthy is that a majority of the upgrades and code changes have come directly from suggestions and requests from the Ed-Fi Community,” said Chris Moffat, vice president of technology, Ed-Fi Alliance. “We have a dedicated and growing community of state and local education agencies, and ed-tech product vendors who understand that seamless data exchange is at the heart of interoperability which is why our cycle of continuous technology improvements to the Data Standard and ODS and API are critically important.”
The Data Standard v3.0 and ODS and API v3.0 are the first technology pieces that initiate Ed-Fi’s new versioning system and will fall under Technical Suite 3.
- Highlights of the Data Standard v3.0 include a new extensibility pattern, addressing volatility of core data model keys, fixes to Bell Schedule model, and relocation of evaluation-based student attributes,
- The ODS/API 30 release implements new and updated standards, including; alignment with the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model v3.0, an upgrade to OpenAPI 2.0 specification, and standardized use of OAuth 2.0 client credentials grant type. Additionally, the release delivers new and improved features; including, a decoupling of Ed-Fi Core and Extensions in the API, and support for multiple operational contexts.
“As a long-time supporter of the Ed-Fi Alliance and an early-adopter of the Ed-Fi Data Standard we are very pleased to have participated in the development of the Ed-Fi Data Standard and ODS/API 3.0. What Ed-Fi does best is bring together a community of collaborators and that is what they’ve done with this latest release,” said Satish Pattisapu, chief information officer, associate superintendent, information technology, Arizona Department of Education. “They are continuously improving the standard and technology tools and incorporating critical input from the Ed-Fi Community. This is what continues to push the interoperability movement forward.”
An operational data store is a database designed to integrate data from multiple sources for additional operations on the data, for reporting, controls and operational decision support. It is the primary mechanism that allows for data to flow from multiple sources into one repository and through the API back out into data analytics and visualization tools. The Ed-Fi ODS / API enables applications to read and write education data stored in an Ed-Fi ODS through a secure REST interface, and supports both transactional and bulk modes of operation.
“Congratulations to the Ed-Fi Community for the latest release of the Ed-Fi Data Standard and ODS/API 3.0,” said Tim Casey, state and federal compliance director, Skyward, Inc. “This continuing growth and evolution of the Ed-Fi standard and technology suite represents significant momentum, growth, and innovation for the field of K12 education. As one of the largest SIS providers in the country we serve over 2,000 school districts and we are pleased to be able to deliver a system certified to the Ed-Fi Data Standard and API to meet our customers’ needs and priorities for real-time, secure, and comprehensive data in support of their learners. We are fully committed to continue moving data interoperability forward, and this latest release brings key updates and improvements to the Ed-Fi Technology Suite that will be beneficial to our current and prospective customers.”
