Ed-Fi Community Members Recognized for Commitment to Driving Data Standards in Education
October 6, 2017 – AUSTIN, TEXAS – Ed-Fi Alliance, LLC, committed to empowering educators by securely and seamlessly connecting educational data systems, today named its first set of recipients of the Ed-Fi Community Awards: Don Dailey of the Michigan Data Hub as the 2017 Ambassador of the Year, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Technical Team as the 2017 Technical Team of the Year. These Ed-Fi Community members were recognized in a ceremony at the fifth-annual Ed-Fi Summit & Bootcamp.
An increasing number of education agencies and districts across the country are adopting the Ed-Fi Data Standard and related technology to better manage and use education data to support teaching and positive student outcomes. This growth can be attributed to the commitment of the Ed-Fi Community – a diverse group of like-minded education and technology leaders – and its members’ willingness to contribute, provide feedback, and collaborate with one another to achieve a common goal. The 2017 award recipients exemplify what it means to be a member of the Ed-Fi Community through their ongoing engagement and efforts around implementation and evangelism.
“These individuals honored today are longstanding advocates for the benefits of a data standard in education and true connectors within the Ed-Fi Community, tirelessly helping individuals and organizations alike on their implementation journeys, and I am thrilled to be able to recognize their efforts,” said Troy Wheeler, President of the Ed-Fi Alliance. “Both Don Dailey and the Wisconsin technical team are outstanding examples of pragmatic and effective Ed-Fi implementations and we thank them for their commitment to giving back to this community.”
2017 Ambassador of the Year: Don Dailey, Michigan Data Hub
Don Dailey oversees the Michigan Data Hub and is an active participant in the Ed-Fi Alliance’s 2017 Technical Advisory Group (TAG), providing ongoing technical guidance and input on the Ed-Fi Technology Roadmap. Through his leadership, the Michigan Data Hub, which is built on the Ed-Fi Data Standard and technologies, has made data more accessible to educators in Michigan, ultimately benefiting learning outcomes for all students.
2017 Technical Team of the Year: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
The development team for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction represented by John Raub, Dan Retzlaff, Audrey Shay and Melissa Straw (other team members not present include Tom Christensen, Sheshi Takkallapally, Anusha Kommu, Amrit Rajbhandari, Priya Manikka, Meghana Aleti, and Melissa Aro) have been working with the data standard and Ed-Fi technology since 2014 for its WISEdata project, which has streamlined data collection processes and improved data quality for its districts and schools. Due to the technical expertise on its staff, the Wisconsin team has been able to pick up and implement Ed-Fi technology largely on its own. The team is also represented on the TAG and regularly contributes to the Ed-Fi Exchange, a hub for sharing information around technical solutions and best practices developed by and for the Ed-Fi Community.
To learn more about the work of these community members and the benefits of the Ed-Fi Data Standard in education, visit www.ed-fi.org.
