THE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES AND THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RECOMMEND THE USE OF
SIF SPECIFICATION AND CERTIFIED PRODUCTS
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Washington D.C. – May 17, 2005 - The Schools Interoperability Framework Association (SIFA) is proud to announce that two government agencies have separately developed policies encouraging the purchase and use of software that meets SIF standards for data interoperability. The use of SIF data specification is recognized by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), a division of the U.S. Department of Education, in an April 2005 request for grant applications for state agencies to design and implement statewide longitudinal data systems. Hard on its heels, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a procurement document to state public and private School Food Agencies recommending utilization of the SIF standard for food service software in their RFPs.
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IES recently starting taking proposals for a grant program whose purpose is to provide grants to State Education Agencies (SEAs) for longitudinal data systems that efficiently and accurately manage the large volume of information a school district must handle. Their long-term goal is to increase the number of states maintaining statewide longitudinal data systems so as to assist them in generating and using data to meet reporting requirements, support education-related decision making, and facilitate educational research. The requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act particularly require that school districts collect, report, and analyze increasingly detailed information.
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The request states: “Statewide longitudinal data systems developed under this program should make it possible to conduct value-added research that utilizes linked, longitudinal data on students, teacher, and programs/initiatives/interventions. Such research can help the Department of Education, States, districts, and schools identify the most cost effective solutions; lead to eliminating performance gaps between subgroups of students; and contribute substantially to improving achievement of all students.” As part of the request for applications, IES encourages SEAs to use voluntary standards and guidelines such as those found on the SIFA web site (http://www.sifinfo.org/specification.asp).
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In a document on procurement entitled, “Developing an OPEN Process for the Purchase of a Software System”, the USDA endorses several recommendations to school food agencies about how to design RFPs and select food service software. The document observes that “The technology department will be interested in a vendor’s ability to conform to the ‘Schools Interoperability,’ or ‘SIF’ initiative for data exchange among disparate administrative systems.”
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The document includes sample RFP questions for a school to ask a software vendor, including: “describe your company’s commitment to SIF,” “Is your company registered as a SIF endorser or participant?” “Identify the SIF object(s) that the agent handles,” and “Describe your company’s plans for making your application(s) SIF compliant.” It was distributed with a list of questions and answers designed to help School Food Authorities keep their procurement procedures fair and vendor neutral.
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"On behalf of the Association, I want to commend IES and USDA for recognizing the vital role that interoperable data systems play in making our educational institutions more efficient and more effective," says Larry Fruth II, PhD, Executive Director of SIFA. "By including SIF Certification in their data system RFPs, schools, districts and states can feel confident that the purchases they make adhere to the most rigorous interoperability standards available.”
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SIF sample RFP language, certified products, interoperability readiness surveys, implementation tools, end-user discussion forums and membership information can all be found on the SIF web site at www.sifinfo.org.
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About The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIFA):
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SIFA is a unique non-profit collaboration of over 300 schools, districts, states, the U.S. Department of Education, software vendors and consultants collectively defining the rules and regulations for educational software data interoperability. SIFA enables diverse applications to interact and share data efficiently, reliably and securely regardless of the platform hosting the applications. It has united these education technology end users and providers in an unprecedented effort to give teachers more time to do what they do best: teach. For further information, visit http://www.sifinfo.org.
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The SIF Certification program is a voluntary, formal process that vendors undertake to ensure their products meet all the applicable conformance requirements for interoperability. To date, 56 products have been certified—ranging from student information and data warehouse systems to transportation, library, and foodservice applications. The Open Group is the designated certification authority that administers the SIF certification program for SIFA.
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SIF is a trademark of the Schools Interoperability Framework Association
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For more information, please contact:
Edustructures LLC
Sandra Richards, 1.877.790.1261 Extension 438
news@edustructures.com
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