Leveraging Data for Academic Excellence This report examines the current data interoperability efforts in nine states: Delaware, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Throughout the report, states explore the successes and challenges in making interoperable solutions where data is seamlessly connected and readily available for use by decision makers, teachers, parents, and students.

Insert language from our partners at A4L in your requests for proposals so that your school or district procures only technologies that are interoperable.

A great resource for state-level policymakers from our partners at DQC.

iNACOL’s issue brief shares state policy recommendations and resources for policymakers who are ready to rethink state accountability systems to support student-centered learning.

This infographic from the Data Quality Campaign shows how critical data is to personalizing education.

The State of Data Interoperability in Education policy report.

The Smart Education Networks by Design (SEND) Initiative by CoSN provides districts with resources to help them navigate the shift from old networks to modern, resilient, flexible networks that support the increasing demands of teaching and learning.

Naturally, robust reporting and analysis features play a key role in data-driven instruction. So when a tool isn’t as user-friendly as it could be, it behooves us to work with companies’ teams to incorporate our teachers’ feedback into product updates.”

Tim Leddy, Senior Product Manager

There’s no secret sauce in terms of platform, reports or software; it’s about creating an interoperable ecosystem, developing the right habits and empowering teachers to accomplish lofty goals.”

Anthony Nevico, Former Senior Director of Systems & Data

Data interoperability is an imperative for multiple reasons. Regarding the high mobility rate within Providence Public Schools, it allows for students to have immediate access to the curricular tools and resources in their home school at the moment of entry, which ensures that there is no loss in learning time."

Cameron Berube, Director of Curriculum & Instruction

Interoperability Standards for Education. This new report from CoSN is a resource for non-technical leaders that will help district technology leaders understand why interoperability standards matters.

Is Meaning Lost When Data Is Exported? Why Reasoning Mind Takes a 'Wait And See' Approach

What you need in order for an API to work is for all districts to use the same set of standards to connect to vendors, but that is technically complicated.”

William McGuinness, Director of Product Management

In collaboration with the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood this guide offers guidance on what privacy rights your child has in federal law, what to look for in school vendor’s Privacy Policies, and tips on how to advocate for your school or district to adopt best practices in ensuring your child’s sensitive data isn’t breached or abused.

Zeal CEO John Danner: Want to Make Data Actionable? Start With Building the Right Culture

The solution that’s been proposed is to roll up data from all systems and present it in a dashboard. Because the data isn’t well-aligned, it’s a ‘garbage in, garbage out’ problem.”

John Danner, Chief Executive Officer

Data Sharing Hasn’t Been a Concern for Most Newsela Customers—But Super Users Want More

When we see more adoption, we will work on automating and generalizing the approach. The tipping point will be when it is more efficient for us to build tools that give more control to administrative customers than it is to handle their requests manually”

Dan Cogan-Drew, Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder

Illuminate Education Shines Light on Growing Need for Better Data Sharing.

This article is part of the guide What Does It Take to Make Interoperability Work in K-12 Education?

EdSurge

“We’ve been talking about interoperability since the beginning in 2009. It’s a key tenet of what we do... No one uses the word ‘Interoperability, but that’s what they [educators] are asking for.”

Mark Walls, Chief Product Officer

DIY or Buy? How Lexia Learning Is Revisiting Data Integration

EdSurge

We are making progress constantly but the question is really, ‘Do users feel like we’re making enough progress fast enough?’”

Rob Paushter, Vice President of Product Development

Why Open Standards Matter CoSN conducted, with the support of the Gates Foundation, two convenings to discuss interoperable systems and how they affect teaching and learning. Below is an overview of the issues identified and how CoSN as an organization is committed to moving forward to address them.

Prize data in the service of learning through measuring what matters, making data use possible, being transparent and earning trust, and protecting privacy.

Understand why safeguarding student data is at the core of interoperability and learn from actionable steps to achieve it.