DOWNLOAD the A4L Quarterly Newsletter, June 2023 >>
Focussing on the entire K-20 ecosystem
Last month we held our annual Privacy & Interoperability Symposium in Chicago. With nearly 100 attendees, and a very full agenda, it was a great conference. The excitement about both the current work of A4L and the future of the organization was evident throughout. It was great to spend quality time in person with everyone that could attend. Keep an eye out for an announcement about a fall event in the near future.
Since our last newsletter lots has been happening behind the scenes. Members of the various A4L Boards have been meeting to develop a new governance structure and develop a path forward for new A4L leadership. A transition to the new governance model is now in process. The Global Education Security Standard V1.0 has been released and the global SIF Infrastructure Specification 3.6 has been through Community Review and published today!
Never before has our work at the intersection of interoperability and privacy been more important. The seamless and secure exchange of student data while ensuring that privacy obligations are both understood and met through common expectations is vitally important to the entire K-20 ecosystem. There is, rightfully so, a lot of focus and resources being applied to cybersecurity within schools, but how often do we hear about data breaches of student data outside of the school environment? This is why A4L is focusing on the entire K-20 ecosystem including the sharing of data beyond the school environment. Ensuring the external providers of services that receive student data can receive the minimum amount of data required and understand & acknowledge their privacy and security obligations is crucial. “Connecting & Securing Effective Learning Ecosystems” K-20 is our common goal.
All of the A4L Community members play an important role in contributing towards reaching our goal. Whether your focus or area of interest is interoperability specs, data exchanges, legal privacy obligations, security controls, cyber security, or any combination of these, you are all contributing towards the common goal of supporting the K-20 student data ecosystem to be effective, secure and ensuring privacy.
Thank you for all the work you do towards these goals!
Global Community News:
Global SIF Infrastructure Specification 3.6 published; Welcome new members!; Scheduled Maintenance; Association Board of Directors confirmed for 2023-2024: Certification News; The Community Needs YOU!; Advance Notice: Bylaws coming into Community Review; and Community Project Team updates.
AU Community News:
SIF Data Model Specification (Australia) 3.6.0 coming soon…!
NA Community News
A4L Community announces North America Leadership for 2023; Overview: Privacy & Interoperability Symposium; and SIF Unity Specification – what’s next?
Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) News
UPDATE: National Data Privacy Agreement (NDPA) v2; User Training Guides & Enhancements.