Synopsis

This Request for Comment (RFC) includes materials that describe a proposed major revision to the Ed-Fi Data Standard. The material in this RFC is designated v2.1a to distinguish the artifacts from previous releases and subsequent RFC material. This draft material is intended to support early stage review and comment, so is likely not suitable for production use.

The proposed v2.1a models are designed to be evolutionary in nature from the current v2.0 models. They address gaps and important problems surfaced in field work based on the v2.0 standards, but also attempt to balance change with the need for continuity in the ecosystem. The resulting work is designed to deliver a stronger, more flexible, and improved core data model, but also be of a size and scope such that existing implementations can plan to adjust and upgrade systems without undue cost and complexity.

To align with data governance cycles for K–12 agencies for data use in the 2018-19 school year, the Ed-Fi Alliance, working with the community, plans to publish final specifications in late calendar Q2 of 2017. We encourage early feedback on the proposed changes to assist with a timely release.

Contents

This RFC includes the following material:

Feedback

Community feedback is critical to the RFC process, and the Alliance welcomes feedback from anyone.

Feedback does not need to be long or comprehensive. It is enough to cite a particular K–12 use case where the model would or would not be able to represent a common data exchange scenario. However, if readers have more lengthy written feedback, existing reports or alternative fully-articulated data models, please feel free to share those.

The primary mechanism for feedback is via the Ed-Fi Alliance general project in the Ed-Fi Tracker. Licensees can submit new RFC 5 feedback by clicking this link (login required). Licensees and the general public can view existing feedback here: http://tracker.ed-fi.org/projects/EDFI/ (login not required).

When entering a feedback ticket, please reference the change or specific fix on which you are commenting, if applicable.

If you need an account for the Tracker, please go to http://www.ed-fi.org/access-request/ (note the Technical Community GuidelinesGetting Involved and Contributing if you are curious about what Ed-Fi Alliance services you can access).

Detail

We encourage interested parties to consult the Ed-Fi RFC 5 - Change Log for v2.1a for a narrative of major changes and links to artifacts with details on individual work. 

See Also

Links to additional information, draft documentation, and other non-normative content related to this RFC will be added below as they become available.