Education Analytics Takes Another Step Forward towards Delivering Seamless Data for School Districts

Education Analytics earns a two-year renewal of the Ed-Fi Alliance’s ODS/API Platform Badge for their StartingBlocks Ed-Fi product

June 9, 2022 – MADISON, Wisconsin – Education Analytics, a mission-driven non-profit that uses data and analytics to improve outcomes for students and the education system, announced today that they have earned a renewed Ed-Fi Managed ODS/API Platform Badge for another two years. This badge once again validates Education Analytics as a trusted partner for providing the Ed-Fi Operational Data Store and API (ODS/API) through its StartingBlocks product, a robust Software as a Service (SaaS) product offering.

The badge renewal signifies the continued contributions Education Analytics is making as part of the collaborative Ed-Fi Community, which advocates for data standardization and effective use of data at scale for education agencies of all sizes. The EA StartingBlocks platform leverages Ed-Fi tools so that any state or local education agency can finally take advantage of, and effectively use their own data to support educators, students, administrators and parents. Currently, education agencies across the country have large amounts of data points that remain siloed in various databases and systems; unfortunately, this means the data remains untouched and unused. By adopting a different technology strategy, one that is centered around data standardization, school districts can start to securely combine their data in order to use it to support students. Product offerings recognized by the Managed ODS/API Platform Badge, like EA’s StartingBlocks, enable a partner like Education Analytics to build or upgrade, manage, and support Ed-Fi implementations for a local or state education agency on a cloud platform via a subscription model. Education agencies that are exploring Ed-Fi technologies or investigating how to get started with Ed-Fi can rely on the Ed-Fi badge to indicate which vendors have been vetted and proven to successfully support an effective Ed-Fi implementation.

Education Analytics is currently managing the deployment of an Ed-Fi ODS/API for both districts and the state in partnership with the South Carolina State Department of Education. They also manage multiple single-tenant ODS/APIs for local education agencies that are part of California’s CORE Data Collaborative. With all of these implementations, the goal is to provide each education agency with its own separate and secure ODS/API, so that they can securely and seamlessly connect their local educational data source systems to data warehouse and analytics engines. Denver Public Schools (DPS) has also partnered with Education Analytics to streamline and minimize the cost of deploying an Ed-Fi ODS/API. DPS worked with Education Analytics to deploy StartingBlocks in their own AWS instance, allowing for control while leveraging the efficiencies of the StartingBlocks product and support team.

“Education Analytics’ StartingBlocks has enabled the successful and impactful implementation of Denver Public Schools (DPS) Ed-Fi ODS,” said Betsy Conti, Enterprise Data Architect at Denver Public Schools. “The EA team consistently delivered sustainable solutions and helped educate and empower DPS staff with the knowledge and skills needed for modern data environments. The partnership with EA continues to grow and strengthen beyond StartingBlocks as DPS works to maximize the value of the Ed-Fi data standard.”

The Ed-Fi Badging program requires solution providers to demonstrate that they have integrated key elements of the Ed-Fi Technology Suite into their product offerings to better support education agencies who use Ed-Fi technologies. The Managed ODS/API Platform Badge is one of four badges introduced to the Ed-Fi Partner Program in June 2020, in addition to the API Consumer, API Provider, and ODS Platform Consumer badges. The Managed ODS/API Platform Badge designates a partner’s ability to meet a stringent list of criteria, including the ability to provide a product with a recent and full version of the Ed-Fi ODS/API, offered on a cloud platform, available by subscription, and with at least three unique and active education agency customers.

“Building an ecosystem of providers that understand the power of data and know how to help education agencies build their own capacity to use and analyze it is priority number one for the Ed-Fi Community, which is why we applaud the work that EA is doing,” said Sean Casey, Manager, Strategic Partnerships at the Ed-Fi Alliance. “We are thrilled that EA has built the expertise to achieve the ODS/API Platform Badge. This means that they are uniquely equipped to support and guide any education agency that wishes to transform their IT systems with data interoperability.”

About Education Analytics

Since its founding as a non-profit in 2013, Education Analytics has partnered with more than 300 districts and more than 25 states to conduct research and develop rigorous analytics that support actionable solutions and drive continuous improvement in American education. Education Analytics works with the largest education systems in the country, small districts brought together by regional offices of education and collaboratives, state departments of education, leading research institutions and universities, charter management organizations, and fellow non-profit organizations. At any given time, Education Analytics supports more than 20 projects across the country and stores tens of millions of student records.

About The Ed-Fi Alliance

The Ed-Fi Alliance is a nationwide community of leading educators, technologists, and data advocates connecting student data systems in order to transform education. A not-for-profit organization founded in 2012, by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Ed-Fi aims to boost student achievement by empowering educators with real-time, comprehensive insight into every student.

Ed-Fi technologies streamline data management in school districts and states across the country. By allowing schools to integrate data previously siloed within disconnected tools and software—and organizing it through a single, secure data standard —Ed-Fi solves one of the country’s most perplexing educational challenges: how to get a complete, accurate view of individual student achievement, so that every student can receive the support they need when they need it most.