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Version: 6

Ed-Fi Data Standard v6

Version-specific reference

This page is technical reference for Data Standard v6. For what the Ed-Fi Data Standard is, independent of version, see About the Ed-Fi Data Standard. For which Data Standard versions are supported, and through which school year, see Ed-Fi Technology Suite Supported Versions.

About Data Standard v6​

Data Standard v6 is a major version of the Ed-Fi Data Standard and the successor to Data Standard v5. Version 6.0, released in 2025, introduced breaking changes to the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model (UDM) for domains commonly used by student information systems, assessment vendors, and educator pipeline systems. Version 6.1 added non-breaking changes. The current release is v6.1 (full version number v6.1.0).

For details on changes introduced in v6, refer to the What's New page. See the Ed-Fi Technology Suite Roadmap for information on past and upcoming Data Standard releases.

Data Model​

The Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model (UDM) is the widely adopted, CEDS-aligned, open-source data standard developed by the Ed-Fi community for the improvement of the community, and for the broader purpose of helping the K–12 education community in using data as a strategic asset to improve educational outcomes of students. The UDM captures the meaning and inherent structure of the most important information in the K–12 education enterprise.

The Ed-Fi UDM, along with the normative and non-normative guidance in the Ed-Fi Standards, serve as the foundation for enabling interoperability among secure data systems.

Data Model Documentation​

The data model is referred to as the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model, or UDM. The UDM is documented via 2 primary artifacts: the Ed-Fi Data Handbook and a set of Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams.

Additional documentation is provided in the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model documentation. This additional documentation provides narrative overviews of domains and key entities, as well as normative best practice guidance.

Version​

The most recent version and name for the Ed-Fi Data Standard is Ed-Fi Data Standard for Suite 3 v6.1.0.

REST API Bindings​

The DS v6.0 release causes the Ed-Fi Resources API to contain breaking changes, while DS v6.1 does not contain breaking changes. Review the What's New documentation for more information.

Bulk / XML Bindings​

In addition, a set of Bulk / XML standards (core entity XML definitions and interchange specifications) based on this release are available on GitHub.

Sample Data​

The Data Standard includes sample data in the bulk XML format. The sample data is based on an entirely fictitious district called "Grand Bend ISD." Note that the sample data does not cover all model elements, and that while some effort is made to provide realistic data, the data is managed more to provide coverage of elements rather than realism.

Default Descriptors​

The Standard includes default "code sets" or "enumeration values" and their definitions. Descriptor values are published on GitHub in XML format.

Only descriptor values in the "ed-fi.org" namespace are part of the standard. In some contexts, the Alliance publishes values in the Grand Bend "gbisd.edu" namespace (Grand Bend the fictitious district for the sample data). This is done for descriptors whose actual values are nearly always locally defined, and therefore non-standardizable.

Data Exchange Standards​

For a list of standards built on the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model, visit the Ed-Fi Data Exchange Standards Home.

Guidelines​

The Ed-Fi Alliance publishes technical guidelines for building solutions based on the Ed-Fi Data Standard: