In the K-12 ecosystem, there are often multiple, overlapping systems of identifiers.
For example, most students in the United States have several student identifiers, including:
- A local district student identifier
- A state student identifier
- A student number - sometimes provided as an "easy" way for students to access services or self-roster online
- Identifiers from other widely-used platforms, such as a Google ID/Google email
You may be called upon to use different IDs in different contexts.
For example, for local operations, the district identifier is likely the most commonly used ID. However, if a provider needs to send data to the state, the state identifier might be required. If an integration is occurring within the context of a platform provider (for example, into the Google Classroom context) a provider might be relying on yet another ID.
Most rostering specifications—including the Ed-Fi Enrollment API—provide for storage of multiple IDs in order to account for this. Technology providers should allow users to configure which IDs are applicable to which systems for API-based data exchange.