AGENDA

Stop reacting. Start accelerating. See how CCMR data powered by the Ed-Fi Data Standard drives real-time readiness, pathways, and funding. CCMR Insights expanded from 5 to 40 local education agencies, an eightfold increase and 208% year over year, helping more districts turn data into better decisions for students.

The Ed-Fi Alliance SEA Playbook outlines a phased, multi-year approach to implementing the Ed‑Fi Data Standard at scale, combining strong governance, partner-supported technical delivery, and continuous LEA and vendor engagement to transition from legacy reporting to a sustainable data ecosystem.

Discover how Puerto Rico transformed its Student Record Collection into a more secure, actionable, and interoperable data ecosystem. Learn how governance, the Ed-Fi Data Standard, SRX modernization, and enhanced user experience are driving better decision-making and laying the foundation for student success.

EdGraph and NEFEC share lessons learned from running Ed-Fi ODS/API and Ed-Fi API 8 side-by-side in a live pilot environment. We'll compare architecture, operations, performance, analytics, and application development and answer: What gets easier? What gets harder? What breaks? And what does DMS unlock?

Differentiated Assistance (DA) is a service offered by county offices of education to local educational agencies eligible for additional support to address gaps in student performance. Join Contra Costa COE to learn how they are using the Ed-Fi Data Standard to improve districts' capacity to move student outcomes.

The Broker automates secure student record transfers across multiple states and SIS platforms. Using connectors built on the open-source Broker library, it seamlessly extracts, transforms, and loads student data to eliminate administrative barriers and ensure instructional continuity from day one.

A follow-up from last year's session, we'll demonstrate how the South Carolina Department of Education and WInsights have utilized AI tools by building on standard context layers powered by the Ed-Fi Data Standard and EDU. We'll share lessons learned about the importance of data standards and context engineering for education-focused AI tools.

Learn how the South Carolina Department of Education and Education Analytics are helping states and vendors move from one-off assessment integrations to scalable implementations built on the Ed-Fi Data Standard through a shared playbook for data modeling, identity resolution, descriptor management, API sequencing, validation, procurement, and certification readiness.

Join us for an inside look at Ed-Fi API v8 and what it means for agencies and vendors preparing for adoption. This session will highlight lessons learned from early field testing, including performance insights and key improvements over prior versions.

Come see a demo of the E-W Framework Analysis Tool: a web-based tool that is open-source and free for all to use. This tool brings efficiency and time saving to the task of mapping your data to the Framework, allowing education and workforce leaders to instantly see where your data systems stand.

For software providers, integrating with a statewide data hub aligned with the Ed-Fi Data Standard unlocks access to thousands of districts. This session uses the Texas Education Exchange as a case study, covering all four integration pathways what to expect on the path to production.

Nebraska shares its transition from concept to statewide implementation using the Ed‑Fi Data Standard to support justice-involved students. Learn how data sharing, a report-based "data backpack," and cross-agency collaboration are enabling more consistent access to student information.

Michigan's new natural language query tool puts district data within reach of any user. We'll cover the technical architecture, integration with the Ed-Fi Data Standard, district rollout, and early results, showing how conversational AI can replace complex query builders while preserving flexibility and accuracy.

Nebraska districts spend more than $100 million each year managing disconnected data systems. Nebraska Education Data Collaborative's (NEDC) Nebraska Educates DataHub (NEED), built on NDE's ADVISER system, delivers early warnings, dashboards, and benchmarking while protecting privacy and giving all 244 districts actionable insights.

Learn how the Ed‑Fi Alliance evolved from experimentation to scaling an agent‑based SDLC. We'll share practical lessons, tradeoffs, and governance patterns to help experienced teams adopt agentic workflows effectively.

Every state has a validation process. Most of them run on email and faith. Hear how South Carolina replaced manual statewide roll-ups with real-time visibility - a candid panel conversation between a state agency and the vendor who helped them get there.

Tennessee Department of Education and Databricks will share the first implementation case study of an analytics environment built on the Ed-Fi Data Standard using Databricks EDU. Learn how Tennessee deployed the solution in hours, extended it to meet state needs, and identified practical approaches for architecture, rollout, and operations.

Collaboratives built on the Ed-Fi Data Standard are delivering real gains for local districts - lower costs, better data quality, and capabilities districts couldn't build alone. Panelists from four collaboratives share what's working, how they got there, and what it takes to make a collaborative model stick.

Many organizations rely on fragmented tools to understand post-secondary advising. This session shows how a regional access program and WSIPC automated SIS data into a low‑cost Airtable tracker using the Ed-Fi Data Standard, creating flexible, interoperable systems that improve advising and outcomes.

South Carolina turned the same data used for state reporting into timely information educators can use for Tier 2 student interventions. Hear how state, district (Laurens 55), and vendor (Education Analytics) worked together to make that shift, and what they learned along the way in using Teacher Navigator (powered by Rally).

Education finance data is often built for compliance, not strategic decision-making. Learn how the SPEND Initiative and Education Analytics are exploring an expanded finance domain for the Ed-Fi Data Standard and an ML-powered translation engine to standardize financial data without requiring districts to replace local systems – giving leaders a clearer view of how resources can drive impact.

What began as the Texas Education Agency's Instructional Insights initiative grew beyond dashboards into a connected ecosystem of commercial applications, the Ed-Fi Data Standard, and a statewide data hub designed to strengthen instruction and improve student outcomes.

The Center for Educational Performance and Information and Michigan Department of Education use API services to give districts and vendors access to trusted statewide data. Learn how MiDataHub serves as the connection between districts and the state, simplifying data access and supporting a growing network of partners.

Debunk the myth that AI reduces the need for data interoperability. Learn why interoperability remains essential for safe, effective AI. This session will provide actionable ideas and ways to leverage procurement for governance. We will also preview how tools can be used to support operational interoperability.

Hear how Charleston County Schools unified fragmented student data through Student Success to drive coordinated supports, strengthen MTSS practices, and enable faster educator action. Discover how the district is now leveraging AI to accelerate meaningful, measurable impact for every student.

Assessment scores live in one system, attendance in another, and rosters somewhere else entirely. Before anyone can use data, someone has to clean it up first. This session follows that journey from messy to meaningful, featuring perspectives from a district that lived the data drama firsthand, the OneData team, and a learning product on the receiving end. Together, they trace the full path from source to action. See how that connected data can power a learning analysis product, revealing insights into student learning and EdTech usage. Session Learning Goals By the end of this session, participants will be able to: - Explain how interoperability standards and a shared data layer turn disconnected sources into a reliable foundation for analysis.  - Identify practical and organizational hurdles school districts may face when moving from siloed to unified data.  - Describe how OneData connects application usage and learning data to reveal meaningful insights.

AI isn't just a destination for data — it can accelerate every step from ingest to insight. This session discusses how AI can be embedded across the layers of a modern Ed-Fi data platform: speeding up development, streamlining operations, improving security, and providing timely insights. See practical examples of AI delivering value from the moment data enters your platform to the moment it reaches a decision-maker's hands.

Level Data and partners are working with Education Agencies to rebuild how students own and move their academic records — replacing a decades-old model with a federated, open-standards network, and exploring how Ed-Fi becomes the connective tissue for a truly K-12 to higher ed ecosystem. Session Learning Goals - Understand why the current transcript model fails students — and why eTranscript modernization initiative represents a fundamental rethinking of who academic records actually belong to - Learn how a federated, open-standards-based exchange network works in practice, and what it takes to normalize student records across heterogeneous SIS environments at scale - Explore how open standards like Ed-Fi could serve as the connective tissue for a truly extensible student records model — one that travels seamlessly from K-12 through higher ed and into the workforce

Discover how South Carolina Department of Education transformed accountability reporting by replacing flat-file workflows with an automated data pipeline. Learn how live dashboards, automated metrics, and streamlined reporting improved visibility, reduced manual effort, and supported accountability reporting and data verification.

Texas Education Agency has supported more than 400 districts in using observation and feedback data collection and visualizations to help with HQIM implementation. District, ESA, and agency leadership are all able to conduct role-based program evaluation with Instructional Insights App on The Exchange.

Indiana is using the Ed-Fi Data Standard to support more than student data. Learn how common governance and reusable extension patterns helped the state connect finance and career and technical education data without building separate systems for each program.

Minnesota and Tennessee are rethinking statewide data modernization by simplifying what has become overly complex. Rather than building on years of customizations and legacy dependencies, both states are aligning more closely with the Ed-Fi Data Standard Core and redesigning downstream systems around granular, interoperable data. Learn how they're reducing complexity while creating a foundation for faster implementation, easier vendor integration, and future innovation.

As superintendent of Hitchcock ISD in Texas, Dr. Darryl Henson inherited a district on "Accredited-Warned" status. Hear how Dr. Henson partnered with Region 4, the Ed-Fi Alliance, and the Texas Education Exchange to deploy the Agile Diagnostic and AI Platform to improve Hitchcock's index rating to a grade of "A" or "B".

What should the next generation of the Ed‑Fi Data Standard look like? Explore Data Standard v7.0 and how community feedback, implementation experience, and emerging needs are shaping it. Join the discussion on priorities, tradeoffs, and opportunities to better align and accelerate impact.

Delaware educators can see grades, attendance, assessments, and discipline information in one place to support the MTSS process. Learn how Data Service Center uses the Ed-Fi Data Standard to populate the ITracker tool and help teachers, coaches, and administrators act sooner.

The Ed-Fi Data Standard lets educators compare data across education domains to improve outcomes. Essential, but not the whole story. What about housing, family, food security, and other non-education data that shapes student outcomes? Hear how the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators is building a data utility to drive better student outcomes.

The journey from first click to first day starts before enrollment data reaches the Ed-Fi Data Standard. Enrollment and Choice happen between school years, a chance to welcome and retain every family. From current Houston and Austin ISD work, learn where enrollment data fits today and what patterns are emerging to connect the full enrollment experience.

See how districts and states streamline procurement with 1EdTech's TrustEd Apps Management Suite (TAMS), helping teams evaluate trusted privacy and interoperability standards, identify solutions certified by 1EdTech and the Ed-Fi Alliance, and quickly find reliable tools and resources that support learning.

Texas is big and complex – thankfully, there are many organizations working together to ensure that Texas students have as much opportunity as possible by using the Ed-Fi Data Standard to improve data management. A panel of leaders from influential organizations will explore how.

This session will provide a high-level overview of recent and upcoming releases for the Ed-Fi Data Standard and the Ed-Fi Technology Suite, and give insight into what's coming next for 2027.

This session will focus on Public Consulting Group's implementation of a modern integration solution leveraging the Ed-Fi 6.1 Data Framework and API. In conjunction with the SC Department of Education, PCG will showcase the first implementation of an enterprise IEP platform using the Ed-Fi Data Standard.

How do you build data infrastructure to operationalize outcomes based contracts (OBCs)? Learn how Texas implemented the OBC Data Dashboard, connecting to the Texas Education Exchange to automate usage tracking, progress monitoring, and payment calculations for edtech and high-impact tutoring.

Compliance data can do more than meet reporting requirements. Learn how the Texas Education Agency has used data collected for compliance to create cohesive data products – TalentED Dashboards and Insight to Impact Dashboards – within the Texas education field to support collaboration across the SEA, LEAs, EPPs, The Exchange, and technical assistance providers.

South Carolina successfully migrated to the Ed-Fi Data Standard for production state reporting, and the transition came with valuable lessons. Some we expected. Others surprised us. This session offers an honest look at the cutover: what we did, what we would change, and the early warning signs that could have helped us identify issues sooner.

Better educator data starts with better connections. Learn how South Carolina is building its Educator Information Pipeline (SCEIP) using the Ed-Fi Educator Preparation Data Model (EPDM). This session explores how the state is integrating state and local educator preparation data into a centralized data warehouse, establishing data governance, and delivering dashboards for multiple stakeholders.

Complex customizations can slow implementations and make systems harder to maintain. Learn how states are using the NACHOS scoring methodology to identify unnecessary complexity, align more closely with the Ed-Fi Data Standard, and move forward faster.

Meaningful innovation starts with meeting local needs. Learn how WInsights combines state support, user buy-in, and technical capacity to test new approaches through cohort-based innovation. Discover how expanded use of the Ed-Fi Data Standard creates connected data pathways that provide educators with next-day insights into student progress toward learning standards.

Timely feedback helps educator preparation programs continuously improve. Learn how the TEA Insight to Impact Observation Tool supports Texas EPPs use customizable observation rubrics to capture observation ratings and results, deliver meaningful candidate feedback, and power dashboards that support program improvement.

State reporting alone did not give South Carolina districts the information they needed locally. The state responded by creating the Palmetto Data Collaborative – its first education service agency and a shared data hub connecting districts, vendors, and the state. Hear how it came together, what is working, and what comes next.

Texas is showing how statewide interoperability succeeds through trust, standards, and partnership. Hear lessons around collaboration between PowerSchool, the Texas Education Exchange, and the Ed-Fi Alliance to help districts reduce integration burden and scale secure data exchange.

Organizations collaborated to build a solution that cuts time Special Education staff spend collecting and organizing data. Over the past year, teams created an extension to the Ed-Fi Data Standard, built a data pipeline, and delivered insights to educators and SEA staff. Join us to see our progress and path forward.

Implementers need a more consistent approach to managing descriptors, competencies, and learning records. Explore how governance, versioning, and reuse are evolving across the Ed-Fi Data Standard and 1EdTech standards.

HR data management is stronger when districts take a shared approach. Learn how a pilot implementation of the Educator Workforce Solution in Contra Costa County sparked regional conversations about HR data management and its impact on LEAs' reporting and decision-making.

See what it takes to launch a statewide data hub on a tight timeline. Learn how teams planned, coordinated, and executed district rollover and onboarding during a compressed summer implementation.

South Carolina modernized its statewide Gifted and Talented program using the Ed-Fi Data Standard with a cloud-hosted, standards-aligned platform. Learn how the South Carolina Department of Education and Edwise approached the implementation, the lessons they learned, and practical guidance for other states planning similar modernization efforts.