AEM Blue

Since 2011, AEM has developed the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) for the National Center for Education Statistics to give needed tools and a common data vocabulary to all education data stakeholders.

CEDS informs decision-making, decreases staff burden associated with deciphering data, and helps a range of education stakeholders work together more efficiently: State and Local Education Agencies, institutes of higher education, governing/coordinating boards, early learning agencies, early learning providers, departments of labor, regional education laboratories, research organizations, other education standards bodies, and national education data organizations. The CEDS standards and tools enable these stakeholders to implement solutions with more accurate, timely, and consistent data.

To accelerate its adoption in the education data community, AEM has invested in many relationships that have led to ongoing, open communication with education data organizations. These relationships have promoted increasing state use of CEDS and tools for data collection, data management, and data use. They have also enhanced collaboration with other ED initiatives to provide high-quality technical assistance to states. As a result, more than 2,500 education stakeholders in 49 states and 3 territories now follow AEM-developed best practices in data transparency, collection, and storage.

Education data context and goals can vary by organization, so CEDS strives to develop data management tools that are both versatile and powerful—powerful enough to collectively support the long-term data management goals for almost any education data stakeholder, yet versatile enough that a single tool can sufficiently address immediate needs.

Our team combines deep technical expertise with extensive technical assistance experience, particularly in a state policy context. This helps us work quickly, efficiently, and proactively as we come in with an understanding of not only the technologies and tools but also the landscape in which they are being used.