October 1, 2019 – AUSTIN, TEXAS – Today, the Ed-Fi Alliance named the recipients of the 2019 Ed-Fi Community Awards, designed to recognize leading advocates, partners and technical contributors to the mission of the Ed-Fi Alliance, interoperability and the use of effective data in states, K12 schools and technology providers. The announcement was made live this afternoon at the Ed-Fi Alliance’s sold-out, annual user conference, the Ed-Fi Summit.
First introduced in 2017, the Ed-Fi Community Awards recognize, highlight and reward individuals and organizations that go above and beyond to promote and share the vision of data interoperability and its transformative effects within the education sector. Award winners are nominated from an open nomination process directly from the Ed-Fi Community.
“These individuals honored today and the organizations they represent are true advocates for data interoperability, they are leaders and connectors within their field and within the Ed-Fi Community,” said Troy Wheeler, President of the Ed-Fi Alliance. “All of our 2019 award winners are passionate and effective data advocates and we thank them for their commitment to strengthening Ed-Fi’s work and their important contributions to transforming the way we use data in schools.”
An increasing number of education agencies and districts across the country are adopting the Ed-Fi Data Standard and related technology in an effort to better manage and use education data to support teaching and improve 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 2019 award recipients exemplify what it means to be a member of the Ed-Fi Community through their ongoing engagement and efforts.
The Ed-Fi Community nominated leaders in four categories and this year’s award winners are:
2019 Rookie of the Year
Kirk D. Prybil, Enterprise Architect, ACT, Inc.
Kirk Prybil has been the leader behind ACT’s work within the Ed-Fi Community. Kirk spearheaded the efforts by ACT to expedite their Assessment Certification early in 2019, and he continues to incorporate additional ACT testing outcomes via Ed-Fi. Kirk and his team are currently working on rostering assessment data at the state level with Wisconsin. He is active within Ed-Fi’s Assessment Working Group and has partnered with Beaverton School District to present their partnership work on a recent webinar.
2019 Technical Contributor of the Year
Britto Augustine, Chief Technology Officer, Arizona Department of Education
Nominated a record five times, Britto Augustine is being recognized for his outstanding contributions to data interoperability in the State of Arizona and within the Ed-Fi Community. Britto was a driving force behind the Arizona Department of Education’s Ed-Fi 3.x upgrade. He is a prominent speaker on behalf of data interoperability and a champion for Ed-Fi at edtech conferences nationwide. Britto has been a key contributor to the Ed-Fi Technical Advisory Group, where he encourages new ideas and innovative approaches to problem solving within the Ed-Fi technology tools. Britto encourages agency-wide use of out-of-the-box Ed-Fi Data Standard to the full extent. Further, he has made outstanding contributions to Ed-Fi technical design which will have benefits for all the state education agencies.
2019 Partner of the Year
Rick Rozzelle, Senior Advisor, CELT
Rick Rozzelle has been a standard bearer for quality data best practices in states and school districts across the nation for many years. He has served as a trusted advisor, thought leader and champion for data driven education throughout his distinguished career and through his work with the Ed-Fi Alliance. Rick has been instrumental in helping CELT Corporation to help schools and learning organizations focus on improved student learning as the driving force behind all information and technology decisions. He has been instrumental in moving multiple collaboratives and agencies; the FLCODE collaborative and the Effective Assessment Data Management EADM districts among them. Rick believes in the Ed-Fi vision and goes to great lengths to convey and assist others to grow the Ed-Fi Community. He continues to deliver on this work by leading and guiding the establishment of special interest groups and community work groups that are focused on improving the Ed-Fi Data Standard and technologies.
2019 Ambassador of the Year
Monica Hogan, Director of Analytics, Office of Data and Accountability,
Boston Public Schools
Monica Hogan is a tireless and passionate champion for quality data in K12 education and has dedicated her career to furthering the education field particularly around effective data use in special education classrooms. Monica frequently champions Ed-Fi not only at her own district and state but also with other education leaders throughout the country. Monica has presented on behalf of Ed-Fi and data quality at multiple conferences and convenings to reach districts and share the work of Ed-Fi. She participates in the Ed-Fi Community as chair of the Special Education Work Group and as a member of the Ed-Fi Governance Advisory Team to help propel the community’s work forward on the special education data domain.
We congratulate this year’s award winners and thank them for their commitment to this important cause. To learn more about the work of these Ed-Fi Community members and the benefits of the Ed-Fi Data Standard in education, visit www.ed-fi.org.
