Data Standards

Extract, standardize, integrate, and unify data from the many districts sources in a timely manner.

The Problem to Solve

Local Education Agencies or LEAs use a collection of information systems to manage their education operations. These will typically include a student information system (SIS), grade book application, curriculum and lesson planning system, benchmark testing and reporting system, a system to manage human resources, and a business and accounting system. In many cases, the list of different systems and programs involved can number several dozen.

If integrated at all, these systems are linked by special-purpose, point-to-point interchanges. Somewhat better integration can be expected between products in a suite from the same vendor.

To learn more...

  • The CDM Overview
    Provides more detail about the CDM in a series of documents available for download.
  • The CDM XML Schema
    May be downloaded or its online documentation may be browsed.
  • The CDM Interchange Library
    Holds a collection of reusable interchange schemas that have been defined and applied to date and are made available for download.
  • The CDM Data Dictionary
    Provides online documentation for the standard data elements defined in the CDM.

Across these various systems, a signifigant amount of data is collected and very little gets back into the hands of educators in a timely manner to impact student success.

The District Connections Database

The District Connections Database (DCD) is a system whose purpose is to extract, standardize, integrate, and unify data from the many districts sources in a timely manner to drive dashboards and reporting to improve student performance. An additional benefit is that it provides a platform to more cost-effectively accomplish Federal - and State-level reporting.

A(nother) Standard is Needed

The key is to get all the data into a standard form that reflects the same meaning across all of the data sources. As anyone who has dealt with education data will testify, the details and nuances of the data are often complex. There is no shortage of data standards in the education space today. However, several issues prevent practical use of the standards namely:

  • These various standards are not aligned and are somewhat different, typically designed for different purposes.
  • Even with the plethora of education standards, there are many interchange scenarios for which standards do not exist.
  • The problem is not just interchange: the semantics of data elements also deeply impact operational systems, databases, and data warehouses.

The Canonical Data Model (CDM) was conceived as part of an effort to create standards for “missing” data interchange scenarios and while also serving as a reference model that can be applied in the design of systems, databases, and data warehouses. The role of the CDM reference model is to provide a broad alignment of structure and semantics that can be referenced and applied in a wide number of circumstances.

The CDM reference model builds upon the National Education Data Model (NEDM), but is a more structured reference model versus the conceptual level of the NEDM that provides an ontological organization of education terms.

The Canonical Data Model (CDM)

To serve the broad needs of the DCD, the CDM has several components: The CDM Reference Model defines the business entities relevant for the education domain at the district level, their associations, and their semantics.

  • An associated CDM Core XML Schema defines a library of XML types to serve as building blocks in creating specific interchange schemas or microformats used for specific interchange scenarios, such as importing test assessment score or exchanging student records.
  • One or more extension schemas that may extend the XML types in the core schema or add additional types. These extensions might be required to provide specific data for SEA reporting, or to address specific reporting for grants and other education programs.
  • One more interchange schemas (i.e., the microformats) composed of XML elements defined from types in the core schema or types in one or more extension schemas, as depicted below.
  • A standard data dictionary of data elements that can be used for many purposes, including data interchange, database structures, or application semantics.

The documents shared here are in draft form and are based on Phase 2 of the District Connections Database project. The site content will continue to be updated to reflect experiences and observations from future phases.

Phase 2