New Zealand Education
In New Zealand, the education sector operates under guidelines and systems set by the Ministry of Education, but there isn't a single, mandated data model like those seen in other countries. Instead, schools use a variety of tools and systems that comply with government standards for data management, reporting, and interoperability. The Ministry of Education provides direction through policies, guidelines, and approved systems, ensuring that schools manage and use educational data effectively and consistently across the country.
New Zealand’s education system, which covers early childhood education through to tertiary education, operates within a framework set by the government. However, when it comes to data management and interoperability in the K-12 sector (which in New Zealand is referred to as primary and secondary education), there isn't a single mandated data model or interoperability framework like SIF (Schools Interoperability Framework) in the U.S. Instead, various guidelines and systems have been developed to ensure consistency and quality in educational data management.
K-12: The term "K-12" refers to the educational system in many countries, through 12th grade.
Government Policy and Directions
National Education and Learning Priorities (NELP): These priorities guide schools and early learning services in their strategic planning and decision-making. While NELP doesn't prescribe specific data models, it emphasizes the importance of using data to support student learning and well-being.
Education Review Office (ERO): The ERO conducts regular reviews of schools and early childhood services, evaluating their performance based on various criteria, including how they manage and use data to improve educational outcomes.
Digital Technologies Curriculum: New Zealand has integrated digital technologies into its curriculum, which encourages schools to adopt and use modern digital tools and data systems. This policy direction supports the use of standardized data management practices.
Canonical Model
A Canonical Model is a simplified, standard way of representing data or concepts across different systems or processes. Think of it as a "universal translator" that helps different parts of a system or different systems understand each other by using a common language or format. Instead of having to deal with many different ways of saying the same thing, a Canonical Model provides a single, agreed-upon way to represent that information, making it easier to share, integrate, and process data.
Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)
Common Education Data Standards is not explored in this material as it has low adoption in New Zealand.
Ed-Fi Alliance
Ed-Fi offers a canonical data model for educational entities like students, parents, and classes.
IMS Global Learning Consortium Standards
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) provides a standardized way for an Learning Management System (LMS) to pass relevant information to external tools. The actual modeling of these entities is handled within the LMS, with LTI serving as the conduit for securely sharing this information with integrated tools.
Outcome
I want to build a solution to broker information between an Student Management System (SMS) and a Learning Management System (LMS).