US Department of Education Joins the Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community

Washington, DC, June 03, 2016 --(PR.com)-- The diverse A4L Community brings together thousands of educational organizations including vendors, and has been identified by the Department as the ideal place for their support in the development and usage of data systems in a platform independent and vendor neutral manner.

Included with their overarching membership are twelve Offices of the Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary:
- Institute of Education Sciences
- Office for Civil Rights
- Office of the Chief Financial Officer
- Office of the Chief Information Officer
- Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development
- Office of Educational Technology
- Office of Innovation and Improvement
- Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
- Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
- Federal Student Aid
- Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education
- Office of Postsecondary Education

This membership commitment from the US Department of Education is critical in their continuing support for states and schools in implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) most notably through the successful implementation of the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS). The CEDS project is a national collaborative effort to develop voluntary, common data standards for a key set of education data elements to streamline the exchange, comparison, and understanding of data within and across P-20W institutions and sectors. The A4L North America Management Board has committed that the SIF Data Model - the most comprehensive educational framework globally – will include the developing CEDS data model to ensure its successful implementation and usage. Besides the CEDS work, the A4L Community support various other US Department of Education initiatives including data reporting, educational technology usage, privacy guidance and strategic planning.

“We are thrilled that the US Department of Education has decided to again become an active part of the A4L Community’s wide breadth of education leaders and marketplace providers,” stated Larry Fruth II, Ph.D., CEO/Executive Director, A4L Community. “The A4L Community has always maintained a strong focus on driving the adoption and implementation of interoperable open data standards throughout the education marketplace, and with the support and participation of the US Department of Education, we are looking forward to the year ahead.”

About the Access 4 Learning Community
There is no other global community made up of educational policymakers, marketplace product and service providers and the customers they serve, collaborating daily to address real word learning information and resource issues.

The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community, previously the SIF Association, is a unique, non-profit collaboration composed of schools, districts, local authorities, states, US and International Ministries of Education, software vendors and consultants who collectively address all aspects of learning information management and access to support learning. The A4L Community 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 www.A4L.org.