October 11, 2018 – AUSTIN, TEXAS – Today, the Ed-Fi Alliance named the 2018 recipients of the Ed-Fi Community Awards, designed to recognize leading advocates for the smart, sophisticated, and safe use of education data to transform American classrooms. The announcement was made live this morning at their annual Summit event. This year’s award winners are: Scott Kuykendall of the Delaware Department of Education as the Technical Lead; Sherod Keen, Daniel Hornsby, and Shane Fairbairn representing North East Florida Educational Consortium (NEFEC) as the Ambassador of the Year; Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the Partner of the Year; Rosh Dhanawade, Michael Taylor, and Molly Stewart representing the Indiana Student Information to Empower (INSITE) Team as the Rookie of the Year. New this year, awardees were selected through nominations by the Ed-Fi Community.
“These individuals honored today and the organizations they represent are true advocates for the benefits of a data standard in education and true connectors within the Ed-Fi Community. I am thrilled to be able to recognize their efforts,” said Troy Wheeler, President of the Ed-Fi Alliance. “All of our 2018 award winners are passionate and effective Ed-Fi implementers and we thank them for their commitment to strengthening and growing this community.”
An increasing number of education agencies and districts across the country are adopting the Ed-Fi Data Standard and related technology in an effort to better manage and use education data to support teaching and positive student outcomes. This growth can be attributed to the commitment of the Ed-Fi Community – a diverse group of like-minded education and technology leaders – and its members’ willingness to contribute, provide feedback, and collaborate with one another to achieve a common goal. The 2018 award recipients exemplify what it means to be a member of the Ed-Fi Community through their ongoing engagement and efforts around implementation and evangelism.
The Ed-Fi Community nominated leaders in four categories and this year’s award winners are:
2018 Technical Lead: Scott Kuykendall
Scott plays a key role in the Ed-Fi Community by providing continuous guidance on Ed-Fi v3.0. Further, Scott is leading the Delaware Department of Education’s efforts to harness the benefits of interoperability for his state. He is continuously engaged with the Ed-Fi Community by participating in SEA special interest groups, and has educated the Community by presenting their v3.0 model several times, has helped the Ed-Fi Alliance conduct research on topics to improve the model.
2018 Ambassador of the Year: NEFEC, Represented by Sherod Keen, Daniel Hornsby, and Shane Fairbairn
Early adopters and long time Ed-Fi contributors, the NEFEC team developed the Florida Collaborative on Operational Data (FLCODE) to lead the charge in the Sunshine State. They have rallied the Ed-Fi Community in the fight to free data for educators’ use, and mentor fellow Community members on how to communicate best practices. These NEFEC representatives are constantly meeting with new Ed-Fi adoptees, participating in working groups, and supplying expertise and assets to the Community both in-person and through the Ed-Fi Exchange. This team brings visibility to Ed-Fi in Florida and across the nation at major events. NEFEC/FLCODE will be hosting the Ed-Fi Technical Congress in Florida in 2019.
2018 Partner of the Year: Amazon Web Services
Since joining the Ed-Fi Community in 2016, AWS has been a top technical contributor working to reduce the cost and complexity of Ed-Fi implementations so more education agencies can reap the benefits of interoperability. The AWS Deployment Template for the Ed-Fi ODS/API was the most downloaded tool in the Ed-Fi Exchange in 2018.
2018 Rookie of the Year: INSITE Team, Represented by Rosh Dhanawade, Michael Taylor, and Molly Stewart
INSITE is an effort of the Indiana University School of Education, led by Education Technology Services and the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. INSITE empowers the teaching and learning process via rapid feedback through effective visualizations. This Indiana University team, in collaboration with districts, vendors, and state staff, have moved quickly to implement a successful Ed-Fi pilot with 10 school districts, gracefully tackling and overcoming the usual hurdles new implementers face.
We congratulate this year’s award winners and thank them for their commitment to this important cause. To learn more about the work of these Ed-Fi Community members and the benefits of the Ed-Fi Data Standard in education, visit development.ed-fi.org.
