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This is documentation for an older release that is still maintained. Latest version
Version: 3

Ed-Fi Data Standards

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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.

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Please note that the current version of Data Standard v3.3 is v3.3.1-b, which contains early access content. Data Standard v3.3. is built on top on v3.2, so its elements are mostly consistent with v3.2. See the What's New page for information on the early access content.

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 v3.3.1-b.

This is an "early access" release, meaning it contains newer data model changes that have yet to be proven in field work. Organizations wishing to avoid such early material – which is naturally subject to change – are advised to stick to elements defined in the current release – see Ed-Fi Data Standard v3.2 for information on those elements.

REST API Bindings​

Current REST API bindings are based on previous Data Standard releases. However, since this release is non-breaking, the current 3.3.0-a release is backwards-compatible with those bindings. The relevant RFC bindings can be found here:

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.

Standard 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: