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ContactThe Guide to the Education Data Model: Version 1 (PK-12) explains the Education Data Model, how it was developed, and the benefits of the data modeling approach that was used. This document also describes practical ways of using the Education Data Model to address common challenges in the management and use of education data.
This guide is written for educators, information system /software vendors, researchers, and other potential users of the Education Data Model (occasionally referred to in this document as simply "the Data Model"). And, as it introduces concepts and approaches to structured data that may not be familiar to the average reader, it should also be helpful to anyone who may be involved in a project that uses the Data Model, but is not necessarily a data model expert.
This guide provides an overview of the concepts and terminology of the Education Data Model. This introductory chapter discusses the objectives and suggested uses of the publication, provides background on how the Data Model was developed, and introduces additional products that support the model. Chapter 2 provides a general introduction to data models and discusses the rationale for developing the Data Model. Chapter 3 guides potential users through the navigation of the Education Data Model. Chapter 4 discusses the content and organization of the Data Model and provides some information on the process used to develop its contents. Finally, Chapter 5 includes a number of vignettes illustrating how different types of users might employ the Data Model to help them face various data challenges.
Neither this document nor the Education Data Model itself takes the place of a skilled data modeler, system architect, or designer. However, the Data Model is a resource that can be used in many ways and by many different types of education and technology professionals. As a reader, you might choose to read some parts of the document before others. Here are some suggested paths through this guide and beyond, to the Data Model itself.
In 2005 the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) commissioned a white paper to analyze existing data models used in the PK-12 education marketplace. A group of LEA, SEA, policy, and vendor experts concluded that the majority of data models in use are housed in vendor-specific data management systems, and that LEAs and SEAs needed a nonproprietary education data model to use as a blueprint to develop their own data models and systems, or to identify the requirements for purchased data management systems. As a result, the Technology Standing Committee of the National Forum on Educational Statistics convened a task force to develop a comprehensive PK-12 data model. The task force, made up primarily of LEA and SEA representatives, began its work by collecting currently used data frameworks and identifying what was needed for a generic education data model that could be used by LEAs, SEAs, federal policy makers, and education data management software vendors.
The newly approved task force examined existing data models, Forum publications, and other sources to seed the Education Data Model with content. Among other resources, the original sources used included the following:
Some basic tenets of data model generation were identified from other sectors (healthcare, military, aviation, etc.) and were included in the initial data model design.
The content of the Education Data Model was developed by experts who worked in six task force subgroups, coming together in one-time external focus groups, and continuing their work through ad hoc communications. The experts included educators and administrators from schools, LEAs, and SEAs; policy makers; assessment and software developers; researchers; and software/systems vendors.
An early activity undertaken by the Education Data Model project included a national outreach to collect important education questions from education stakeholders. These questions were collected over a 6-month period and the results were categorized and summarized in a document-the Forum Data Model Task Force Data Needs Survey Summary (146 KB). The Schools Interoperability Framework Association (SIFA) was contracted to help the Task Force develop a data model that would satisfy the information needs embedded in these questions.
A qualitative analysis of the collected responses yielded nine broad categories of questions. These categories summarize the scope of the questions collected. These categories informed the more sophisticated frameworks that were used by the Forum Data Model Task Force to create focus for the subgroup work. The categories included questions about:
From these questions, the entities (items that need to be tracked in order to answer the questions) and the attributes (measures associated with the entities that are required to answer the questions) were identified.
Next, the entities and attributes were organized into a taxonomy or hierarchical organization of concepts based on similar and dissimilar characteristics. Finally, modeling the more complex relationships among entities produced the draft conceptual data model (See the What is a Data Model? section in Chapter 2).
The work of the Forum Data Model Task Force culminated in three products:
The Education Data Model: Version 1 (PK-12) is intended to be constantly thriving, expanding, and developing. The deliberate identification of this model as "Version 1" underscores that the Forum will continue to bring education stakeholders of all types to the conversation about the data needed at all administrative levels of education. The web tool and Forum activities should ensure that the Education Data Model will continue to grow in response to the needs of all education data users.
