Last week I was lucky enough to be a fly on the wall at the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools’ Spring Meeting. As many of you know, the League of Innovative Schools connects the most forward-thinking leaders in our nation’s K12 school districts. They are pioneering new learning practices in assessment, maker research, micro-credentials and personalized learning to name just a few.
The League has formed a new working group that seeks to engage member districts on the topic of data interoperability, which is why they asked Ed-Fi to participate. The Data Interoperability Working Group will meet monthly to explore the state of data interoperability in their own schools, the value that new functionality could mean for teaching and learning and best practices around how to achieve data interoperability. Ultimately getting to a place where data becomes an asset to teachers in real time in the classroom is a vision that many schools share and it’s inspiring to see this topic bubble up to the top of the League’s agenda.
During the spring meeting, we had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges that innovative districts face, share information, and connect educators with technology leaders.
Some of the biggest hurdles that we’re mentioned are:
- Inefficiencies in processes due to data coming from multiple sources
- Data privacy and compliance concerns
- Smaller districts have less influence with vendors
- Difficulty in communicating issues in data interoperability
- Confusion amongst various standards, regulations and guidelines
It’s no secret that Ed-Fi is working to create a sea change in the Ed-Tech space – a new vision for the state of technology in our schools. The good news is that we aren’t going at this alone. Leaders in the Ed-Tech space are making interoperability a priority, whether it’s Digital Promise and the new CTO Working Group or the newly launched initiative, Project Unicorn that lays out an interoperability pledge and toolset for school leaders to consider.
This is how change happens. One step at a time taken by multiple groups, and we are excited to be a part of the newest change agents with the League of Innovative Schools.
