SIF from 30 000 feet Laurie Collins —

SIF from 30, 000 feet Laurie Collins - SIFA project strategist lcollins@sifinfo. org Chris Letterman – EED Chris_Letterman@eed. state. ak. us

Schools Interoperability Framework Association • Non-profit membership organization comprised of: – – – K-12 technology companies Regional service agencies Schools & districts US and State Departments of Education Other educational organizations • Jointly building the XML Specifications to enable K-12 software applications to share data quickly, dynamically and securely. • Dedicated to providing educators with secure, appropriate access to the most current and accurate data available to support decision making.

The SIF Specification: A Quick Definition – A technical blueprint enabling diverse p. K-12 software applications to interact and share data seamlessly – Designed by p. K-12 technology providers and educators – Platform Independent/Vendor Neutral • Open standards (XML, TCP/IP, HTTP / HTTPS) • Published specification – Leverages Existing Standards • NCES Data Handbooks – Works cross-platform, over a Web-based interface – Allows automated reporting

Nationwide SIF Survey Results ü 25, 483 Total Responses – approx. 7, 000 school districts and 18, 600 schools represented ü 5, 597 School Tech Coordinators at School level and 4, 446 District Tech Coordinators responded as being UNAWARE of SIF ü 9, 612 School Principals and 2, 167 District Supers responded as being UNAWARE of SIF ü What is the source of this data? ü What does it mean going forward?

SIFA Usage / Activity Update ü US Depart of Education National Ed Tech Plan ü Migrant Education Student Data Exchange ü Child Nutrition Act Re-Authorization Bill of 04 ü NCES State Longitudinal Data Grants Program ü Legislative - Implementations - Membership ü Data Leadership Summit ü NCES Data Model Work

SIFA Status Update ü Over 330 members – new added each week ü Utilized to serve over 4 million students in 43 states ü Legislatively mandated in 1 state – 4 in progress ü Required/suggested by USED, USDA, NCES, states and schools in dozens current/planned RFP’s ü Currently 72 certified applications ü 55 at version 1. 5 ü 17 at version 1. 1

What is Data Driven Decision Making? To: Students “How am I doing? ” Educators “How are they doing? ” Administrators “How are we doing? ” State/Federal “Where are we? ” Policy Makers “What needs addressing? ” Parents “How is he/she doing? ” Stakeholders “What is the impact? ”

Traditional School Setup Cafeteria • The situation in many schools and school systems is that there a series of software applications which all may require the same data, but which have no way to talk to each other. • It may be possible for one or two applications to share data through proprietary methods, but open, dynamic and synchronized data sharing does not occur. ? SIS ? Network Accounts ? ? ? Library Transportation

Horizontal Questions K 12 Data Model Voice Telephony SIS Library HR / Finance Grade Book Food Service Instructional Services Data Warehousing Transportation Accountability, Reporting, Planning, etc…

SIF Components Working Together - Horizontally – Zone Integration Server (ZIS) – SIF Agents Student Information Services Library Automation Network Account H. R. & Finance Food Services – Applications – SIF Data Objects Data Analysis & Reporting Grade Book Instructional Services The SIF “ZONE”

SIF School Benefits IT Departments Students & Parents – Improved timeliness of service – Accurate School Data – Increased Efficiency, – Reduced support costs – Reduced time needed to manage multiple data sources Accuracy, Cost Savings existing – Save money using systems and infrastructure Teachers Administrators – Real-time access to critical information – Increased Efficiency – Better data analysis – Reduced redundancy and errors – Teachers time better spent – Reduced compatibility issues

Local Return on Investment New Student Registering for Enrollment into: *Student Information System *ID Card System *Cafeteria Management System *Directory Service Application *Library Automation System *Transportation System Typical School - 45 minute task - 10 times data entered SIF School - 4 minute task - 1 time data entry 45 minutes/student X 18, 000 students= 6 FTE’s! 1/10 th the Time – 1/10 th the Risk

What would your priority be with SIF? a. Real-time data movement? b. Cleaner data? c. Data synchronization between systems? d. Ease of state reporting?

Typical Horizontal SIF Implementation agent Cafe’ agent SIS Library agent ZIS agent District data warehouse or data repository Transportation

…Phase IV of the Unity Project… Vertical Reporting Implementation State/Federal 1. 5 District/State

State Data Warehouse State ZIS IU or Regional Center District A District B …A hybrid vertical implementation a mix of locally placed ZIS and Regional ZIS… IU or Regional Center District C District D District E District F

SIF Implementations

SIF State Activity Updates • Numerous States Members and statewide activities – Delaware – state data collection project – Wyoming – statewide implementation; state data collection – Oklahoma – districts required to have SIF Certified software by 05 -06; state data collection and implementation of their vertical SIF project – Idaho – 4 core applications statewide linked by SIF, plus link local applications via SIF – Utah – state SIS to have SIF Compliant agent – Nevada – allow SIF to feed local data repositories – South Dakota – using SIF to move data locally and vertically – South Carolina – All districts have a horizontal SIF implementation to assign unique statewide student IDs – Pennsylvania – first to pilot state data collection; purchased IU memberships work on state SIF project – Virginia – successful pilots; roll out of statewide SIF implementations in progress. – Tennessee – Rolling out is SIF pilot part of their longitudinal data grant – Ohio – Working on their SIF vertical reporting project

SIF State Success Story: Wyoming Department of Education When a new student is enrolled: Ø Data is inputted locally in the various 10 Student Information Systems Ø Data is then collected at the 10 regional data acquisition sites across the state to the state Zone to the ZIS Server Ø State then either: 1. Sends a unique student identifier to the district (Phase I) 2. Utilizes data to populate aggregate reporting database at the state level (Phase II – Student Information/Finance/Special Ed/Food Service Systems) 3. Allows for tools to be used at the state level for schools to utilize their own local data (Phase III – including Transportation/Human Resource Systems) Ø “The Wyoming Legislature, responding to complaints about data burden from school districts, was contemplating requiring a single state solution to impose on districts. State data needs are small compared to the needs of local schools and districts. It is the local users, therefore, that should be determining the features and functionality of their software, not the state. SIF’s modular design allows for future maintenance and updates without impacting or upsetting other components. SIF is a flexible solution that promotes competition among vendors -- keeping applications feature rich and prices down. The modular nature also means districts are not locked into a particular vendor. This keeps vendors on their toes and customers satisfied. ” Steve King – Wyoming Dept of Ed.

WY DOE Investments * Every installation can be unique Hardware Zone Integration Server and Software - Data Router / Access Control – Software pricing based on state requirements or on enrollment counts Estimated Costs: $5, 000 per unit to purchase new hardware Software pricing varies by vendor for state purchases SIF Agent Software Pricing – – Development of SIF Agent for existing applications by State IT Dept – Development of SIF Agent Outsourced to a third party vendor Estimated Purchase Price: varies by application complexity and State requirements Staff Time Installation – – Varies by staffs technical capabilities and applications involved – Maybe Outsourced to SIF Integration Specialists Estimated Costs: varied by installation configurations

SIF State Benefits Students & Parents IT Departments – Personalized Student Content – Reduced support costs – Improved timeliness of service – Reduced time needed to manage multiple data sources – Accurate School Data – Increased Efficiency, – Save money using existing Accuracy, Cost Savings systems and infrastructure Policy Makers State Administrators – Real-time access to information – Increased Efficiency – Better data analysis – Reduced reporting burdens – Allow “best of breed” choices – Reduced redundancy and errors – State dollar savings – Reduced compatibility issues

SIF Next Steps. . . • SLDS (Statewide Longitudinal Data System) Grant – funding the SIF phase [2008] of the Unity Project • Alaska’s SIF membership will include all the school districts • Education, education – SIF holds quarterly association meetings, has online community of practice – virtual work, planning, issue resolution; “SIF U” – online SIF training for SIF Membership • Participate!