Executive Executive Summary

In 2024, the Ed-Fi Alliance analyzed the usage of its Unifying Data Model (UDM) among state-wide implementations to understand its utilization and identify areas needing extensions. This analysis provided valuable insights into adoption patterns and practical challenges, informing future iterations of the Ed-Fi model. By fostering a collaborative environment and continuously improving the UDM, Ed-Fi aims to enhance educational data interoperability and outcomes.

The analysis of the usage of the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model (UDM) across various states reveals that each state has created extensions to address specific needs not covered by the core model. These extensions span a wide range of areas, including special education, student transportation, assessment administration, and career pathways. For example, Texas has introduced a substantial number of extensions, including 20 new entities and 491 attributes, covering areas like accountability data, special education, and finance. In contrast, states like South Carolina and Wisconsin have focused on more targeted extensions, such as assessment administration and immunization records.

Common themes across states include the need for detailed tracking of special education programs, student enrollment and attendance, and specific program participation data. States like Arizona, Delaware, and Georgia have created extensions to capture data related to school and section enrollments, discipline, and student program evaluations. Similarly, Indiana and Kansas have focused on areas like alternative education programs, curricular material assistance, and CTE instruction and certification. Minnesota and Nebraska have introduced extensions to address needs in course offerings, discipline, post-graduation activities, and crisis events.

To enhance alignment and interoperability, several recommendations have been made to Ed-Fi states. These include utilizing existing core attributes where possible, migrating to the newer versions of the Ed-Fi data model, and reviewing and updating definitions. These analyses have also given the Ed-Fi Alliance an opportunity to consider consolidating multiple entity extensions and collaborating across states to identify common extension attributes for potential inclusion in the core model. As a result of it , the Ed-Fi Alliance has implemented some updates in the Data Standard v5.1 and v5.2 by including student health, transportation, assessment registration and Section 504 programs. One other artifact of this analysis on the Ed-Fi Alliance side is the initiation of a overhauling review an overhaul of domain specific best practices and business rules guidance Ed-Fi Alliance started and , which will be continued in 2025 (see for examples: Enrollment domain, Alternative and supplemental services, Assessment registration, Student Attendance).

Absence of a standardization in the format of data specification documentation across the Ed-Fi states, extension of the scope of work during the process, and limited bandwidth data standard team had due to regular responsibilities were major limitations for the completion of these analyses. With the results obtained and lessons learned during this run, the Ed-Fi Alliance aims to eliminate these limitations in the next run of similar work.