Now more than ever teachers and administrators are drowning in potentially actionable student data but lack truly useful information about their students. In order to understand a full picture of each student’s challenges and successes, and to provide the best tailored instruction, teachers, parents and administrators need access to useful, timely, and actionable learning information.

The first step toward this full-picture learning is actionable student data interoperability — the seamless, safe, and controlled exchange of actionable student data between applications. In 2011, after five years of working with schools, we introduced the Ed-Fi Alliance and Data Standard to improve K-12 student achievement.

The Ed-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit subsidiary devoted to helping every school district and state in the U.S. achieve data interoperability. The technology is built upon the Ed-Fi Data Standard, an open standard governed by a community of districts, states, and vendors across the country. By connecting the educational data applications that schools are already using in a controlled and safe system, it empowers educators, students, and parents with comprehensive, real-time insights into students’ strengths and opportunities for growth.

Currently 1.9 million teachers and 33.1 million students are represented by organizations using the Ed-Fi suite of tools. This suite of tools enables districts, states, and charter management organizations to tackle the distinct challenges facing their specific communities. These challenges include addressing chronic absenteeism, improving performance in specific content areas, enhancing parent and student engagement, and providing equitable access to opportunities for all students. Our goal is to help educators tackle their largest challenges by giving them secure, real-time, and easy access to actionable student data.

The Ed-Fi Alliance is a robust and growing community of dedicated technologists and educators who work together to share best practices and personal knowledge. This valuable resource fosters connections between educators looking to solve similar problems to help students succeed.

Read the full article about actionable student data for educators at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.