Nevada SLDS Infrastructure Improvements

The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) will use grant funds to improve the Department's existing K–12 infrastructure in order to accomplish three major objectives:

1. Replace existing security/authentication system
2. Implement the Ed-Fi ODS
3. Create automated solution for EDFACTS reporting utilizing interoperability between Statewide Infinite Campus (IC), Ed-Fi, Generate

Details

1. The current security/authentication solution in place at the Department is a legacy solution that no longer provides the elements and functionality required to scale up secure user access to educational data. By replacing this legacy security/authentication system with an Identity and Access Management solution, the Department will be positioned to take full advantage of interoperability with internal and third-party solutions. Moreover, the new security/authentication solution will allow for a single sign-on that will increase stakeholder access to educational data with an industry-best level of data protection and privacy.

2. The current Operational Data Store (ODS) does not support further system enhancements necessary to meet the data reporting and data archiving needs of the Department. The existing ODS was built in 2005 and is not based on any data standard. The implementation of the Ed-Fi ODS will make possible an end to end solution for state and federal reporting leveraging current common data standards. The Department will implement the most recent version of the Ed-Fi ODS and will use the Ed-Fi API to connect the ODS to the State Edition of Infinite Campus and the Nevada Pre-K to Workforce Reporting SLDS (NPWR). This connectivity will allow for the direct, real-time population of student data from Infinite Campus to the Ed-Fi ODS and more timely data access for the NPWR system.

3. EDFACTS reporting is a federal requirement that traditionally has been completed through flat file data collections and validations between the Department and Nevada LEAs. With the implementation of the Ed-Fi ODS, the Department will develop a solution that will be based on current accepted standards, such as Ed-Fi, and the interoperability framework envisioned by the CCSSO's CIO Network. Using this framework and leveraging industry standards, the Department will create an end to end solution that that will automate the movement of data from schools through to the EDFACTS reporting application. This solution will be supported through the ongoing efforts of the Ed-Fi and Generate consortia of states allowing states to reduce the large overhead of maintaining and updating custom internal code when applications change or update.

The Department expects to see improvements in data quality, timeliness, ease of reporting, transparency, security and data access as a result of this project.