Understanding The Exchange
The Texas Education Exchange is a new data solution that provides real-time insights for education professionals across Texas.
We know that fragmented systems lead to limited effectiveness in the classroom. In response, we’re uniting data from disconnected sources in order to create better student outcomes.
There’s a host of technology aimed at solving the challenges educators face, from SIS platforms to assessment platforms, learning management tools and many other applications. The Exchange will offer tools that draw from a unified warehouse for everyone from regional service center leaders to educators.
When we say everyone, we mean The Exchange is built for professionals at all levels of the Texas Public Education System, from the state agency to educators in the classroom. IT experts, district administrators and school principals will all benefit, too. What’s more, it will also automate the flow of data for more efficient state reporting to eliminate the hassle of annual data gathering.
Built on Ed-Fi
When it comes to education data, we use Ed-Fi.
Ed-Fi is a set of rules for managing educational data that allows systems to share their information seamlessly. It’s used by 1.9 million educators across the country! Adopting this data standard allows us to make better insights possible.
There's a lot to Ed-Fi, so we'll just cover the basics. Structurally, there are two components: first is the Ed-Fi Individual ODS, a secure platform that stores all of your information. Then there’s the Ed-Fi API, an interface to create, read and update data stored in the ODS. The API is the key to building user-centric applications that put the right data in front of the right people.
Ed-Fi is managed by the Ed-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit group made up of teachers, administrators and developers who are steeped in ed-tech.