Ed-Fi 1.1 Request for Comment
Webinar 3
Adam Miller - adam.miller@msdf.org
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Webinar Logistics
• Please introduce yourself in the chat box
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• The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation was established in 1999 to
help improve the lives of children in need around the world. The
Ed-Fi initiative supports children's access to quality education in
public schools, one of the foundation’s key objectives.
• Ed-Fi is based on input from state and local education agencies and
vendors. Ed-Fi is governed by foundation representatives working
with an advisory council of education agency representatives from
states that opt to implement the standard.
• The Ed-Fi standard is vendor-neutral and does not require any
specific vendor’s hardware or software.
RFC Goals
• Solicit feedback to keep Ed-Fi useful and easy to adopt
• Discover potential errors, problems, or compatibility
issues
• Provide the public portal to capture feedback at
https://discussions.zoho.com/ed-fi
• Most importantly, tell us missing Ed-Fi data elements
that you need.
RFC Conference Schedule
August 1st to September 26th
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9/11 - 12-1pm Central
9/26 - 12-1pm Central
9/27 - RFC phase wrap up - Last call for changes
9/30 - RFC phase lockdown
TBD Ed-Fi Advisory Council meeting
to confirm proposed changes
• TBD Ed-Fi v1.1 Release Announcement
Webinar recordings and RFC schema
on ed-fi.org
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Ed-Fi Discussion Forum
https://discussions.zoho.com/ed-fi
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Ed-Fi recap in 90 Seconds
• What is the recipe for widespread high quality,
student level dashboards?
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Recipe
Ingredients
• Multiple data sources (historical and daily)
• Well-defined data schema
• Metrics based on quality research
• User interface designed for action
Procedure
1. Blend data from various source systems
2. Sift data through an ETL layer of metric calculations
3. Carefully place data inside the user interface
4. Serve with detailed documentation for easier adoption
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Ed-Fi is the recipe and ingredients
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Public XML data schema
Documented student performance metrics
Operational data store with sample data
ETL code to move data
Source code for fully-functional Web-based dashboards
Packaged with a brand name and permissive licensing
for others to build on and share
• Presented as the model for a new quality bar that fits
within the “free” price range
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Ed-Fi Web site provides free licensing
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Ed-Fi aligned to CEDS
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Ed-Fi in the CEDS alignment tool
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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What’s New in the Ed-Fi 1.1
Dashboards
• New dashboard platform capabilities
• User interface enhancements from usability
analysis
• New metric calculations
• Subject Area grade enhancements
• Architectural changes and bug fixes
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Dashboard Platform Capabilities
• Data extractors available from major vendors (Skyward ,
ProLogic, Eduphoria, and ACT)
• Custom cohorts, student grouping, and watch lists
• Critical performance updates from load testing
• Goal setting for district and campus levels
• Security improvements
• Longitudinal student view across campuses in district
• Race/ethnicity updates
• ADA UI improvements regarding red/green color
blindness
• End of year database snapshots
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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User Interface Enhancements
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Early reading metrics
Campus lists navigation consistency
Legend clarity
Searching by ID
Freeze panes in various screens
New assessment views
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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User Interface Enhancements (Cont.)
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Menu/sub-menu structure improvements
Assessment results split between state and local
“More” button menu improvements
Trend arrows
Viewing and hiding metrics
Student population drilldown views
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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New Metrics Calculations
• Days Absent
– Display number of days absent as opposed to
percentage of days absent.
– Days absent per grading period.
• Early Reading Assessment Enhancements
– Ability to display details on early reading tests
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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New Metrics Calculations (Cont.)
• Prior Year Metrics
– Adds prior year metrics to the dashboard views,
allowing educators to view data on their students
before school begins, in addition to having a point of
reference for comparison during the school year.
– Option to display or not display prior year metrics
– Uses a stabilized snapshot of metric data at end of
the school year
– Campus and District rollup metrics
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Subject Area Grade Enhancements
• Display of multiple grades or competencies for a
subject area (Elementary)
• Multiple grading modes (letter, number)
• New composite grade displays to show number
of sub-grades/competencies that met the
Student Threshold.
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Architecture Changes
• Separation of Presentation Core and
Presentation Web code artifacts leveraging the
MVC model for maintainability, extensibility &
development simplicity
• Code optimizations to improve runtime
• Server side paging for grids
• Enhanced code to support metric initialization
activities to enable metric extension capabilities
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Bug Fixes
• Metric variant concept in the Metrics DB to enable
implementation specific metrics
• Logging enhancements for failure analysis
• Move to GIT for Distributed Source Control
• Removal of dependencies from tools/lib to pull from
NuGet
• Fixed login impersonation problems
• Fixed bug regarding hardcoded values in the Overview
pages
• Repaired expand / collapse issue due to Id mismatch in
metric templates
© 2011 Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
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Descriptors
• Enumeration dilemma
– Code lists standardized within the xsd
– States use different code lists and change as
education laws and policies change
– Using codes (01, 02,..) versus short descriptions
• Descriptors
– Moves enumerations from xsd into data (descriptor)
to support enumerations that can align with those
defined and published by a State or other
organization
Descriptors
• Support references by either code
or short description
• Effective dates to model change
over time
• Can link to prior descriptor for
longitudinal analysis
• Linked to a namespace that defines
their scope
• Most map a to common
denominator of enumerations to
support analysis across states
Defining an enumeration vs. descriptor
With enums, values are fixed in the xsd
<xs:simpleType name="GraduationPlanType">
<xs:restriction base="xs:token">
<xs:enumeration value="Minimum"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Recommended"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Distinguished"/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
With descriptors, values are defined in data, in an xml file
<GraduationPlanTypeDescriptor
namespace=”http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/weds/index.html?Code=C062”>
<CodeValue>27</CodeValue>
<ShortDescription>Minimum<ShortDescription>
<LongDescription>Minimum High School Program
TAC Chapter 74, revised September 1, 2005; including TAC §89.1070(b)(2) for students
receiving special education services, revised August 1, 2002.
(for students who entered grade 9 in 2007-2008 and thereafter)</LongDescription>
<EffectiveBeginDate>2007-09-30</EffectiveBeginDate>
</GraduationPlanDescriptor>
Assigning values to enumeration vs. descriptor
With enumerations:
<GraduationPlan>
…
<GraduationPlanType>Recommended</GraduationPlanType>
…
</GraduationPlan>
With descriptors:
<GraduationPlan>
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<GraduationPlanType namespace=”http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/teds/index.html?Code=C062”>
<CodeValue>28</CodeValue>
</GraduationPlanType>
…
</GraduationPlan>
<GraduationPlan>
…
<GraduationPlanType namespace=”http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/teds/index.html?Code=C062”>
<ShortDescription>Recommended</ShortDescription>
</GraduationPlanType>
…
</GraduationPlan>
Next Steps
1. Expect an invite for the next Web conference.
2. Please invite your peers to these webinars!
3. Don’t be shy to ask questions here or through
the Ed-Fi discussion portal.