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The Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model is the widely adopted, CEDS-aligned, open-source data standard developed by the educational community for the betterment of the community. The Unifying Data Model captures the meaning and inherent structure of the most important information in the K–12 education enterprise.

The Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model, along with the normative and non-normative guidance in the Ed-Fi Standards, serve as the foundation for enabling interoperability among secure data systems.

Data Model Documentation

The data model is referred to as the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model, or UDM. The UDM is documented via 2 primary artifacts: the Ed-Fi Data Handbook and a set of Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams.

Ed-Fi Data Handbook (v3.2.0-c)

Ed-Fi UDM UML Diagrams (v3.2.0-c) (Visio format, on GitHub)

Additional documentation is provided in the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model section in this space. This additional documentation provides narrative overviews of domains and key entities, as well as normative best practice guidance.

Version

The version of the Ed-Fi Data Standard documented on this site is 3.2.0-c. The appended letter (in this case, the "-c") signals that the release contains material that was published under a Request for Comment (RFC) or is provided as early access for technology implementers. This early access version was followed by a final release designated Ed-Fi Data Standard v3.2.

For more information on the community development and governance process, please visit Standards Development Process.

For more information on data standard versioning, please consult: Ed-Fi Data Standard Versioning and Releases

REST API Bindings

All RFCs are available on Ed-Fi RFC Home. The documents containing this RFC material in this release are the following:

Bulk / XML Bindings

In addition, a draft set of Bulk / XML standards (core XML definitions and interchange specifications) based on this release are available on GitHub.

Data Exchange Standards

For a list of standards built on the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model, visit the Ed-Fi Data Exchange Standards Home.

Guidelines

The Ed-Fi Alliance publishes technical guidelines for building solutions based on the Ed-Fi Data Standard:

For REST API design and implementation guidelines, visit the Ed-Fi API Design & Implementation Guidelines documentation.
For XSD design and implementation guidelines covering bulk XML, visit the Ed-Fi XSD Design & Implementation Guidelines documentation.

Ed-Fi Data Standard v3.2.0-c