K-12 Data Standards in Education 4th Annual Conference on Technology and Standards 1

K-12 Data Standards and the U.S. Department of Education

Accomplishments and Milestones related to EDFacts

Ross Santy, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy DevelopmentActing Director, Performance Information Management Service

U.S. Department of Education

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Classrooms

School Campuses

State Education Agencies

U.S Department of

Education

Local Education Agencies / School

Districts

The Education Data Supply Chain

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Classrooms

School Campuses

Local Education Agencies / School

Districts

State Education Agencies

U.S Department of

Education

EDEN

The Education Data Supply Chain

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What is EDEN?

• Education Data Exchange Network – launched November 2004

• Used by SEAs to submit state, district and school level data to USED

• Organized into Data Groups, Categories and File Specifications

– Data Framework and other documentation available at http:www.ed.gov/edfacts

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Performance Data at ED: A Recent History

PBDMI The Performance Based Data Management Initiative (PBDMI) began in 2003 with the

challenge of building a central repository and unified supply chain for USDOE’s K-12 educational data. It concluded in September 2005.

EDEN: PBDMI Created the Educational Data Exchange Network (EDEN):

Functional system used to collect data from all states

Collection began with 2003-2004 school year

2006-2007 collection began in January, currently merging with NCES/CCD

EDFacts: The way ED utilizes data

Analysis and Reporting tools for data across programsAvailable to all states on the data they submit

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What is EDFacts?

• Data reporting tool launched in Spring 2006• Accessible to ED Program Offices and one user per

SEA• Current EDFacts data organized into 6 areas:

– Submission Status Reports– Special Education Programs 618 Tables– Charter School Reports– Consolidated State Performance Report data– Education Community Profiles– Internal Grants (GAPS) Data*

* ED access only

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Policy/Program/Information Office Partnerships

• Goal: Build new partnerships that will allow programs, through utilization of the information technology tools brought forward, to expand their own expertise and help set better policy

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Promoting Data Culture Change at States and at ED

• Systems Development – Information Technology initiatives are building

unit-level record systems• States: student level longitudinal systems• ED: school level “snapshot” systems

– Placement is critical• States: EDEN/EDFacts coordinator is often in

information office• ED: EDFacts is in the policy office

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State Data Submissions

Monthly EDFacts Transmissions

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

11/20

04

12/20

04

10/20

05

11/20

05

12/20

05

10/20

06

11/20

06

12/20

06

Month

Tra

nsm

issi

on

Successful Transmissions

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State Data Submissions

State Submission Status - All Years

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

AK

AR

CA CT

DE

GA IA IL KS

LA MD MI

MO

MT

ND

NH

NM

NY

OK

PA RI

SD TX

VA

WA

WV

States

Perc

ent

Expected submission types transmitted Expected submission types missing Non-expected submission types

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Key Challenges

• State capability to collect and report data

• Overcoming historic process

• Stability of LEA – State – Federal data definitions

• Protecting against users deriving faulty assumptions from the data

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Core Issue: Data Definitions

• Programs at USED are accustomed to asking questions of program experts

• Transition to leverage data systems in place at SEAs has not been made

• EDFacts Data Groups are defined at the aggregate in plain English

• There does not exist a USED recognized student level K-12 data standard

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Example: Questions from the Consolidated State Performance Report

• CSPR: “Please provide the number of students who were eligible to receive supplemental educational services under section 116 of Title I during the 2005-2006 school year”

• CSPR: “Total Number and Percentage of all students identified as LEP at Basic or Level 1 on the state’s English language proficiency (ELP) assessment”

• CSPR: “Number of McKinney-Vento subgrantees reporting ‘Eligibility for homeless services’ as a barrier”

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Example: An EDFacts Data Group

• #578: Supplemental Services - Eligible to Receive Services:– The unduplicated number of students who were

eligible to receive supplemental educational services under section 1116 of Title I, Part A during the school year.

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Current Activities

• Every state is developing or planning to develop a statewide longitudinal student data system (as evidenced by SLDS grant applications received)

• NCES has engaged the Schools Interoperability Framework Association to develop a generic K-12 school and district data model

• EDFacts team is examining ways to utilize the student-level definitions within the SIF v2.0 data schema to ensure cross-state data consistency

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Stages of Interoperability

Semantic Interoperability

Structural Interoperability

Syntactic Interoperability

Adapted from Daconta, Orbst, and Smith (2003)

Vocabulary

Taxonomy

Thesarus

Conceptual Model

Logical Theory

Axiology

Controlled Vocabulary

List

Glossary

Relational Model,XML

DB Schema, XML Schema

ER Model

Topic Map

OWL

UML

RDF/S

Where is P-20 education on this line, and where should we be?