Ed-Fi® Version 1.1 Released

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ed-Fi Version 1.1. has been released today and is now available at www.ed-fi.org.  The Ed-Fi solution, which is compatible with many existing education data standards, including the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS,) facilitates secure data exchange among disparate data systems in K-12 education.

The Ed-Fi solution is available through a free license to state and local education agencies, organizations and vendors serving the education sector.

The release of Ed-Fi Version 1.1 follows an extensive request for comment period that incorporated feedback from IT representatives from a diverse collection of more than 120 organizations, including federal and state governments, school districts from across the US, educational software vendors, nonprofit organizations and consortiums that are involved in shaping educational data standards. Ed-Fi Version 1.1 also includes changes based on real-world lessons learned from implementations in states including Colorado, Delaware and Texas.

With this release, Ed-Fi Version 1.1 expands its capabilities to include:

• CEDS v2.0 alignment – more than 90 additional CEDS K-12 elements have been integrated
• Expanded dashboard features , such as the ability for teachers to define custom cohorts and to access metrics from prior years, as well as features designed to support response to intervention instructional techniques
• Alignment with several education data efforts including Learning Resource Management Initiative, Common Core of State Standards and the Shared Learning Collaborative

"The Ed-Fi solution continues to support CEDS by providing adopters with a straightforward path to implementing key CEDS elements," said Jack Buckley, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. "This ease of implementation will help drive improvements and innovations across the education sector."

"State Education Agency Ed-Fi implementations have been critical to shaping Ed-Fi Release 1.1 ," said Lori Fey, Director, Policy Initiatives, US Education at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, "and we encourage the continued collaboration among states, vendors and education consortiums to strengthen the capabilities of the Ed-Fi solution. Getting feedback about on-the-ground needs and experiences of both IT experts and educators in classrooms is critical to ensuring that the education data tools we're building are useful, useable and used. "

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 date, 10 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. Collectively, these 14 states represent 35% of K-12 students and 39% of teachers across the United States. 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 www.ed-fi.org. 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 at 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 from the Ed-Fi Alliance free of charge by districts, state education agencies and vendors. Licensees gain unrestricted access to all Ed-Fi components and maintain ownership of derivative works. For more information, visit http://www.ed-fi.org. 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.

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