Consider how powerful it would be if all of the numerous systems and applications used

by K-12 school systems could easily "speak" to one another and share data, with data
flowing fluidly from one application to the next.

Central office employees could enter student information once in a centralized portal,
and then relevant pieces of that information could be exchanged securely and
automatically with various departments and applications as needed, resulting in
tremendous operational efficiencies for schools. There would be no need for duplicate
data entry, saving administrative workers numerous hours.
More significantly, from enrollment to graduation, teachers and administrators would
have a better understanding of each student's needs. If divergent systems could easily
connect with one another, it would be simple to collect data from a variety of apps and
use it to ensure student success.

To realize this objective, school districts must ensure that the numerous software
products they utilize are interoperable. However, there are numerous roadblocks in the
way.
This post outlines why interoperability is crucial and what K-12 school districts will need
to achieve it, including a stable, high-speed network infrastructure for sending and
securing data.

Why is interoperability important?

Currently, the majority of digital tools and resources used in K-12 schools aren't
interoperable, which means they can't easily share data. So, if a teacher or administrator
wants a full perspective of a student's performance, they'll have to manually export data
from several systems and digital resources — each with their own log-in — to a
spreadsheet.
According to the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), students should have
seamless access to different resources covering the same topic that is tailored to their
educational requirements in order to fully achieve technology's potential to improve
education. Students and teachers should be able to access data dashboards in real-time
to see what they've completed and what they still need to learn.

Learning would be adaptable, teaching would be data-driven, and everyone would be

able to monitor how kids are progressing across all disciplines and content areas in a
single glance. In other words, "interoperability is critical to the promise of instructional
technology."
In order to achieve interoperability in K-12 education, four fundamental goals must be
met.

Improving efficiency: Teachers and administrative personnel at many schools spend

a significant amount of time filling out forms and entering the same data into several
software systems. Much of the same student information, for example, is input
independently into an ERP system, a student information system (SIS), a learning
management system (LMS), a transportation or health system, and so on.

If these systems were interoperable, schools might utilize data integration engines to
automatically populate them with appropriate data.
This would eliminate data entry errors across several systems and save staff a
substantial amount of time. It might also save money, improve departmental teamwork,
and help kids and families in the long run.

Increasing flexibility: Adopting open data standards will prevent schools from
becoming bound into using a certain technological platform only to avoid losing their
existing content or data. It would ensure that information and data would be accessible
even if technology platforms changed over time.

Growing student success: Today, data from diverse apps live in separate,
unconnected silos in most school systems. As a result, getting a complete picture of a
student, including demographic data and performance across numerous classes and
software programs, is a multi-step procedure. To begin, the administrator would need to
export data from all of these different systems. The data must then be altered or
cleansed to ensure that it is in the proper format. Finally, the information can be loaded
into a dashboard or another analytics program.

Many K-12 leaders are discouraged from even attempting this procedure since it is
onerous and time-consuming. As a result, instructors and administrators lack the
knowledge necessary to comprehend a student's demands and provide the necessary
support for that student's success.

Driving continuous improvement: It's difficult for K-12 leaders to compare data
across various schools or departments to gain a bird's-eye view of their operations when
data is stored in separate silos. Interoperability can provide a greater awareness of
school or district patterns and developments, just as it can help leaders obtain full
insight into a specific student's condition. This information can help drive continual
improvement.

Understanding different interoperability standards

The quantity of different standards that exist is one of the reasons that interoperability
can appear to be so complicated and difficult to achieve. There are various standards for
specifying how digital content interacts with learning management systems, linking
information systems, enrolling groups of students in software programs, and
maintaining their IDs and passwords, for example.
Here's a rundown of some of the most important data interoperability standards in K-12
education today, albeit it's far from exhaustive.

Standards for digital content: The IMS Global Learning Consortium's standards
allow any learning application to work with any LMS platform. School districts can
ensure that these systems function together effortlessly by selecting instructional
software and an LMS that meet these standards. The following standards enable this:

• Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)

• Common Cartridge

Data integration standards: Data integration standards entail bringing together

analytical data from various sources and providing consumers with a consistent view of
this data. Data must integrate automatically if real-time dashboards are to become a
reality. Data must be put into a standard format for easy integration in order for this to
happen.
• Common Education Data Standards
• Ed-Fi Alliance
• Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF)

The above mentioned are some of the standards and projects that make this feasible.

Standards for Rostering: Rostering assigns students and teachers to designated

classes. They're used to control group rights, such as which tools and content should be
accessible to specific members. Traditionally, learning applications have used
proprietary rostering formats, requiring schools to build individual rosters for each
program. Rostering standards enable the generation and exchange of rosters across
numerous applications to be automated. Solutions that allow you to change a roster
once and then distribute it to others include
• OneRoster (from the IMS Global Learning Consortium)
• SIF xPress Roster

There are four keys to achieving interoperability success.

In order to achieve interoperability in K-12 education, a district-wide effort is required.
To make it happen, school districts must follow four actions.

1. Develop a shared understanding of data interoperability.

School districts must implement uniform purchasing processes and adhere to common
standards in order for data to be shared effortlessly across all departments and systems.
Collaboration between the IT and curriculum departments will be required, as well as
executive support from the superintendent or another cabinet-level office. School
districts should form an interoperability committee and have a shared vision for the
goals they want to achieve. This vision should include information on how data will be
saved and shared, as well as the purposes for which it will be used.

2. Add interoperability clauses in software purchase agreements.

Because each system has its own nomenclature for naming data fields, formats for
saving information, and so on, moving content and data between applications is
challenging. This difficulty can be solved by using software that adheres to industry
standards. Leaders must be familiar with the many interoperability standards already in
use, determine which ones make the most sense for their district, and then specify those
standards in RFPs and software contracts. This should be carried out in a consistent
manner across all schools and departments.

3. Create data governance policies and mechanisms that are sound.

It is a key priority to protect the privacy and security of student and staff information. If
school districts fail to comply with HIPAA, FERPA, COPPA, and other privacy rules,
they face severe penalties. Leaders must develop clear policies and procedures to protect
data privacy and ensure that only authorized workers have access to pertinent data.
These regulations should cover important issues such as how data will be stored and
secured, who will have "ownership" of the data, who should have access to what
categories of data, and what kind of data transfers are allowed.
4. Establish a secure and dependable network infrastructure for data
transmission.
Reliable network connectivity is required for seamless data sharing and exchange across
many platforms and departments. A secure and stable high-speed network is required to
handle the ever-increasing volume of data transmitted within schools on a regular basis.
This includes not only secure fiber or high-speed data (HSD) coaxial cable connections
between buildings but also comprehensive WiFi coverage in all locations, complete with
the most up-to-date encryption for data security and role-based user authentication for
determining who has access to what types of data.

Work with a network solutions vendor who can help you reach your goals.
Supporting data interoperability requires a high-performance network.
You get all of this and more with Folio3.
When it comes to connectivity, you want a firm that is more than simply a technology
vendor; you want a company that is a full partner in your IT journey. Many K-12 school
districts around the country have enlisted the aid of Folio3's ed-tech professionals to
design and implement their IT goals.
As the consumption of data grows, networks will require more capacity to transport all
of this data. Folio3 network solutions are flexible enough to adapt to changing
requirements.

The smooth flow of data across numerous software programs can contribute to more
insight and efficiency, as well as cost savings and better decision-making for K-12
leaders. This is only possible because of interoperability
— and attaining it necessitates the deployment of a secure and dependable network
infrastructure.