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Common Education Data Standards (CEDS): K-12 Implementation

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Linkhttp://commoneddatastandards.org/

The Common Education Data Standards Initiative has been defined as, "The collaborative effort to identify, refine, and create a core set of Common Education Data Standards for early childhood, k-12, post-secondary and workforce domains that will attract widespread, voluntary adoption, enable comparability between agencies within states and across states, and ultimately enhance policy-making and student achievement."  

CCSSO, on behalf of the states, is actively engaged in efforts to ensure that states have the option to adopt voluntarily a set of common education data standards.  The Council  has worked with its members to determine strategic goals that build immediate and long-term capacity in state data and information systems.  States have identified the need for systems that can

  •  inform teaching and learning,
  • automate federal and state reporting,
  • support implementation of state accountability systems based on the newly proposed accountability principles, and
  • inform each state's constituencies and communities (by automating resources like SchoolDataDirect, SchoolMatters, and others). 

To help states, CCSSO and some of its partners have been working on a mechanism states can use to implement CEDS 2.0 and to meet their data and information system needs.  Implementation of CEDS 2.0 in each state must start with several assumptions.   Implementation of CEDS 2.0 must: 

  • be voluntary, of course;
  • respect the investments you've already made in your state's data and information systems;
  • meet your state's comprehensive data needs for providing services to learners and other stakeholders;
  • provide data that can be used in collective and collaborative efforts with other states;
  • create a data system that can reduce your state's costs while improving services to learners and other stakeholders; and
  • adapt to evolving and emerging data tools, strategies, and needs.

The following list is offered as background to understanding CCSSO's decision to clarify its position on the K-12 common education data standard:

  • The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) convened a new CEDS Stakeholder Group to replace the Technical Working Group that had facilitated the development of CEDS 1.0.  CCSSO is represented in the CEDS Stakeholder Group.
  • The new CEDS Stakeholder Group has set an ambitious timeline for the development and publishing of CEDS 2.0 with a vastly expanded data dictionary and an accompanying data model.
  • CCSSO has sponsored the development of the State Core Model, which includes a set of data elements that have been and are being mapped to data systems in more than thirty states.
  • NCES and CCSSO have negotiated the transfer of the State Core Model to the CEDS Stakeholder Group to inform the development of the CEDS 2.0 data model.  The CEDS Stakeholder Group will determine the actual content of CEDS 2.0.
  • The CEDS Consortium has tightened up its management structure to focus on action and products to address advocacy, communication, adoption, and implementation of CEDS 2.0.  That focus will highlight specific mechanisms through which states can voluntarily adopt and implement CEDS 2.0.  CCSSO and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) are the managing partners of the CEDS Consortium.
  • Draft 1 of CEDS 2.0 Version 1 was released by the CEDS Stakeholder Group for public review and comment.
  • The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) released Ed-Fi, a data model that includes specifications for dashboard applications.  Ed-Fi includes elements defined in CEDS 1.0 but contains only a small extended subset of CEDS 2.0.
  • CCSSO has facilitated meetings and conversations with EIMAC members, NCES staff, MSDF staff, staff at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF, which funds the CEDS Consortium work), and others to promote discussion of the broad data and information needs of states as well as the implementation of specific data models for the development of specific applications.
  • CCSSO also has facilitated conversations with its business partners and others with regard to the need for a common education data standard across the K-12 and postsecondary data environments.

Contact:Kimberly  Rhodeskimberlyr@ccsso.org202-312-6865