SIF

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• SIF

from 30,000 feet
Laurie Collins - SIFA project strategist lcollins
_at_sifinfo.org Chris Letterman EED Chris_Letterman
_at_eed.state.ak.us
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Schools Interoperability Framework Association

• Non-profit membership organization comprised of
• K-12 technology companies
• Regional service agencies
• Schools districts
• US and State Departments of Education
• Other educational organizations
• Jointly building the XML Specifications to
  enableK-12 software applications to share data
  quickly, dynamically and securely.
• Dedicated to providing educators with secure,
  appropriate access to the most current and
  accurate data available to support decision
  making.

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The SIF SpecificationA Quick Definition

• A technical blueprint enabling diverse pK-12
  software applications to interact and share data
  seamlessly
• Designed by pK-12 technology providers and
  educators
• Platform Independent/Vendor Neutral
• Open standards (XML, TCP/IP, HTTP / HTTPS)
• Published specification
• Leverages Existing Standards
• NCES Data Handbooks
• Works cross-platform, over a Web-based interface
• Allows automated reporting

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Nationwide SIF Survey Results

• 25,483 Total Responses approx. 7,000 school
  districts and 18,600 schools represented
• 5,597 School Tech Coordinators at School level
  and 4,446 District Tech Coordinators responded as
  being UNAWARE of SIF
• 9,612 School Principals and 2,167 District Supers
  responded as being UNAWARE of SIF
• What is the source of this data?
• What does it mean going forward?

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SIFA Usage / Activity Update

• US Depart of Education National Ed Tech Plan
• Migrant Education Student Data Exchange
• Child Nutrition Act Re-Authorization Bill of 04
• NCES State Longitudinal Data Grants Program
• Legislative - Implementations - Membership
• Data Leadership Summit
• NCES Data Model Work

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SIFA Status Update

• Over 330 members new added each week
• Utilized to serve over 4 million students in 43
  states
• Legislatively mandated in 1 state 4 in
  progress
• Required/suggested by USED, USDA, NCES, states
  and schools in dozens current/planned RFPs
• Currently 72 certified applications
• 55 at version 1.5
• 17 at version 1.1

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What is Data Driven Decision Making?
To Students How am I doing? Educators How
are they doing? Administrators How are we
doing? State/Federal Where are we? Policy
Makers What needs addressing? Parents How
is he/she doing? Stakeholders What is the
impact?
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Traditional School Setup

• The situation in many schools and school systems
  is that there are a series of software
  applications which all may require the same data,
  but which have no way to talk to each other.
• It may be possible for one or two applications to
  share data through proprietary methods, but open,
  dynamic and synchronized data sharing does not
  occur.

Cafeteria
SIS
?
Network Accounts
?
?
?
?
Library
Transportation
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Horizontal Questions
Food Service
Grade Book
HR / Finance
Library
SIS
Transportation
Instructional Services
Voice Telephony
Accountability, Reporting, Planning, etc
Data Warehousing
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SIF Components Working Together - Horizontally
Student Information Services

• Zone Integration Server (ZIS)
• SIF Agents
• Applications
• SIF Data Objects

Network Account
Library Automation
H.R. Finance
Food Services
Data Analysis Reporting
Grade Book
Instructional Services
The SIF ZONE
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SIF School Benefits

• IT Departments
• Reduced support costs
• Reduced time needed to manage multiple data
  sources
• Save money using existing systems and
  infrastructure

• Students Parents
• Improved timeliness of service
• Accurate School Data
• Increased Efficiency

Efficiency, Accuracy, Cost Savings

• Administrators
• Increased Efficiency
• Reduced redundancy and errors
• Reduced compatibility issues

• Teachers
• Real-time access to critical information
• Better data analysis
• Teachers time better spent

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Local Return on Investment

• New Student Registering for Enrollment into
• Student Information System Directory Service
  Application
• ID Card System Library Automation System
• Cafeteria Management System Transportation
  System
• Typical School SIF School
• - 45 minute task - 4 minute task
• - 10 times data entered - 1 time data entry
• 45 minutes/student X 18,000 students
• 6 FTEs!
• 1/10th the Time 1/10th the Risk

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What would your priority be with SIF?

• a. Real-time data movement?
• b. Cleaner data?
• c. Data synchronization between systems?
• d. Ease of state reporting?

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• Typical Horizontal SIF Implementation

Cafe
SIS
agent
agent
Library
ZIS
agent
Transportation
agent
District data warehouse or data repository
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Vertical Reporting Implementation
Phase IV of the Unity Project
State/Federal
1.5
District/State
District/State
District/State
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State Data Warehouse
A hybrid vertical implementation a mix of
locally placed ZIS and Regional ZIS
State ZIS
IU or Regional Center
IU or Regional Center
DistrictE
DistrictF
DistrictA
DistrictB
DistrictC
DistrictD
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SIF Implementations
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SIF State Activity Updates

• Numerous States Members and statewide activities
• Delaware state data collection project
• Wyoming statewide implementation state data
  collection
• Oklahoma districts required to have SIF
  Certified software by 05-06 state data
  collection and implementation of their vertical
  SIF project
• Idaho 4 core applications statewide linked by
  SIF, plus link local applications via SIF
• Utah state SIS to have SIF Compliant agent
• Nevada allow SIF to feed local data
  repositories
• South Dakota using SIF to move data locally and
  vertically
• South Carolina All districts have a horizontal
  SIF implementation to assign unique statewide
  student IDs
• Pennsylvania first to pilot state data
  collection purchased IU memberships work on
  state SIF project
• Virginia successful pilots roll out of
  statewide SIF implementations in progress.
• Tennessee Rolling out is SIF pilot part of
  their longitudinal data grant
• Ohio Working on their SIF vertical reporting
  project

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SIF State Success Story Wyoming Department of
Education

• When a new student is enrolled
• Data is inputted locally in the various 10
  Student Information Systems
• Data is then collected at the 10 regional data
  acquisition sites across the state to the state
  Zone to the ZIS Server
• State then either
• Sends a unique student identifier to the district
  (Phase I)
• Utilizes data to populate aggregate reporting
  database at the state level (Phase II Student
  Information/Finance/Special Ed/Food Service
  Systems)
• Allows for tools to be used at the state level
  for schools to utilize their own local data
  (Phase III including Transportation/Human
  Resource Systems)
• The Wyoming Legislature, responding to
  complaints about data burden from school
  districts, was contemplating requiring a single
  state solution to impose on districts.  State
  data needs are small compared to the needs of
  local schools and districts.  It is the local
  users, therefore, that should be determining the
  features and functionality of their software, not
  the state. SIFs modular design allows for future
  maintenance and updates without impacting or
  upsetting other components. SIF is a flexible
  solution that promotes competition among vendors
  -- keeping applications feature rich and prices
  down. The modular nature also means districts are
  not locked into a particular vendor.  This keeps
  vendors on their toes and customers satisfied.
  Steve King Wyoming Dept of Ed.

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WY DOE Investments
Every installation can be unique

• Hardware
• Zone Integration Server and Software - Data
  Router / Access Control
• Software pricing based on state requirements or
  on enrollment counts
• Estimated Costs 5,000 per unit to purchase
  new hardware Software pricing varies by vendor
  for state purchases
• SIF Agent Software
• Pricing
• Development of SIF Agent for existing
  applications by State IT Dept
• Development of SIF Agent Outsourced to a third
  party vendor
• Estimated Purchase Price varies by application
  complexity and State requirements
• Staff Time
• Installation
• Varies by staffs technical capabilities and
  applications involved
• Maybe Outsourced to SIF Integration Specialists
• Estimated Costs varied by installation
  configurations

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SIF State Benefits

• Students Parents
• Personalized Student Content
• Improved timeliness of service
• Accurate School Data
• Increased Efficiency

• IT Departments
• Reduced support costs
• Reduced time needed to manage multiple data
  sources
• Save money using existing systems and
  infrastructure

Efficiency, Accuracy, Cost Savings

• Policy Makers
• Real-time access to information
• Better data analysis
• Allow best of breed choices
• State dollar savings

• State Administrators
• Increased Efficiency
• Reduced reporting burdens
• Reduced redundancy and errors
• Reduced compatibility issues

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SIF Next Steps . . .

• SLDS (Statewide Longitudinal Data System) Grant
  funding the SIF phase 2008 of the Unity Project
  
• Alaskas SIF membership will include all the
  school districts
• Education, education, education SIF holds
  quarterly association meetings, has online
  community of practice virtual work, planning,
  issue resolution SIF U online SIF training
  for SIF Membership
• Participate!