CEDS Data Model - Domains and Entities

Entity	Description
EL Child	A person for whom instruction, services and/or care are provided in an early childhood program under the jurisdiction of a school, education agency, or other institution or program.
Parent/Guardian	A person having parental or legal guardianship responsibility for a learner.
EL Family	All persons: (i) Living in the same household who are: (A) Supported by the income of the parent(s) or guardian(s) of the child enrolling or participating in the program; or (B) Related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption; or (ii) Related to the child enrolling or participating in the program as parents or siblings, by blood, marriage, or adoption.
EL Organization	An institution that provides early learning services; this can be a grantee with delegates at various locations, possibly in one or more buildings; has an assigned administrator(s).
EL Staff	A person who performs specified activities for any public or private education institution, agency, or household that provides instructional and/or support services to students or staff at the early childhood level.
Staff Credential	An active certificate, license, permit, or other documentation held by an individual that authorizes the holder to perform certain functions or to make certain claims about his or her competencies in employment or assignment. Credentials are issued by a state agency (or in some cases by other organizations), post-secondary institution, or professional association based on education and training completed, experience, assessment, background verification, and/or other requirements.
Staff Professional Development Activity	An entity that includes information about a person's participation in a professional development activity and outcomes from that participation that may be related to a Professional Development Requirement. Note: The Staff Professional Development Activity may also be more granularly defined as a person's partcipation in a specific Profesional Development Session, indicated by reference.
Professional Development Requirement	An entity that includes information about a requirement that a person participate in professional development related to a specific professional role or assignment.
Professional Development Activity	An entity that includes information about an activity designed for the purpose of developing someone professionally. Note: The Professional Development Activity is scheduled as one or more Professional Development Sessions that may occur over multiple days. Information about a staff member's participation in a session or activity is included in Staff Professional Development Activity.
Professional Development Session	An entity that includes information about part or all of a Professional Development Activity scheduled for delivery within a single day.
Technical Assistance	An entity that includes information about technical assistance provided to a person or organization. Note: "Technical Assistance" is also a type of Profesional Development Activity (see: Professional Development Activity Type)
EL Class/Group	A cohort of children receiving services together, or in some cases individually, usually for a predetermined amount of time, with at least one assigned primary teacher.
Program	An entity with information about a system of services, opportunities, or projects, designed to meet academic or non-academic needs. Note: A Program entity may be related to an organization as the service provider and to people as program staff, participants, recipients of program services. CEDS broadly defined Program for information about program types such as work-study programs or athletic programs that are not specifically defined. CEDS also has more specific program entities such as PS Institution Program and CTE Program.
Learning Goal	An entity that specifies the learning that is intended for an individual learner and the success criteria use to indicate progress toward the learning goal. In the formative assessment process a learning goal exists within the framework of a Learning Progression / Competency-based Pathway defined within the context of Learning Standards.
Learning Resource	The CEDS entity that includes information about materials that support teaching and learning.

Elementary and Secondary (K12)

The provision of a formal instructional program whose curriculum is designed primarily for students who have entered kindergarten through those who have exited high school.

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Entity	Description
K12 School	An institution that provides educational services; has one or more grade groups (PK through 12); has one or more teachers; is located in one or more buildings; has an assigned administrator(s).
Charter School	A school providing free public elementary and/or secondary education to eligible students under a specific charter granted by the state legislature or other appropriate authority, and designated by such authority to be a charter school. In CEDS charter schools are identified using the Charter School Indicator element.
Charter Authorizing Organization	The organization that approved the establishment or continuation of a charter school.
Local Education Agency (LEA)	Local educational agency or LEA means a public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within a State for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for, public elementary schools or secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of a State, or for a combination of school districts or counties as are recognized in a State as an administrative agency for its public elementary schools or secondary schools.
Charter School Management Organization	A separate legal entity that 1) contracts with one or more charter schools to manage, operate, and oversee the charter schools; or 2) holds a charter, or charters, to operate multiple charter schools.
State Education Agency (SEA)	The SEA is the state-level entity primarily responsible for the supervision of the state's public elementary and secondary schools.
K12 Student	A person for whom instruction, services and/or care are provided in an elementary or secondary educational program under the jurisdiction of a school, education agency, or other institution or program.
Parent/Guardian	A person having parental or legal guardianship responsibility for a learner.
K12 Staff	An individual who performs specified activities for any public or private education institution, agency, or household that provides instructional and/or support services to students or staff at the early childhood level through high school completion.
K12 Course	The organization of subject matter and related learning experiences provided for the instruction of students on a regular or systematic basis, usually for a predetermined period of time (e.g., a semester or two-week workshop) to an individual or group of students (e.g., a class).
Course Section	A setting in which organized instruction of course content is provided to one or more students for a given period of time. Note: A Course may be offered to more than one Course Section. Instruction may be delivered in person by one or more instructors or via a different medium. Sections that share space should be considered as separate Course Sections if they function as separate units for more than 50 percent of the time.
Program	An entity with information about a system of services, opportunities, or projects, designed to meet academic or non-academic needs. Note: A Program entity may be related to an organization as the service provider and to people as program staff, participants, recipients of program services. CEDS broadly defined Program for information about program types such as work-study programs or athletic programs that are not specifically defined. CEDS also has more specific program entities such as PS Institution Program and CTE Program.
Incident	The occurrence of an infraction ranging from a minor problem behavior that disrupts the orderly functioning of a school or classroom (such as tardiness) to a criminal act that results in the involvement of a law enforcement official (such as robbery). A single event (e.g., a fight) is one incident regardless of how many perpetrators or victims are involved.
Calendar	A set of dates associated with an organization.
Learning Resource	The CEDS entity that includes information about materials that support teaching and learning.
Financial Account	An entity that includes information about one item in a chart of accounts for which money or the equivalent is spent or received.
Organization Account Value	An entity that includes budgeted and/or actual values for the specified Acoount and specified accounting period or academic Session.
Session	An entity with information about a period of time.
Rubric	An entity that includes information about an instrument used to communicate expectations of quality around a task, product, or performance and/or used to delineate consistent criteria for grading.
Rubric Criterion	An entity that includes information about the criteria that must be met to demonstrate quality for a product, process, or performance task.
Rubric Criterion Level	An entity that includes information about a degree of achievement on a product, process, or performance task, and the benchmarks or qualitative indicators attributed to that degree of achievement.
Allergy	An entity that includes information about a person's reaction to an allergen.
Staff Credential	An active certificate, license, permit, or other documentation held by an individual that authorizes the holder to perform certain functions or to make certain claims about his or her competencies in employment or assignment. Credentials are issued by a state agency (or in some cases by other organizations), post-secondary institution, or professional association based on education and training completed, experience, assessment, background verification, and/or other requirements.
Staff Professional Development Activity	An entity that includes information about a person's participation in a professional development activity and outcomes from that participation that may be related to a Professional Development Requirement. Note: The Staff Professional Development Activity may also be more granularly defined as a person's partcipation in a specific Profesional Development Session, indicated by reference.
Professional Development Requirement	An entity that includes information about a requirement that a person participate in professional development related to a specific professional role or assignment.
Professional Development Activity	An entity that includes information about an activity designed for the purpose of developing someone professionally. Note: The Professional Development Activity is scheduled as one or more Professional Development Sessions that may occur over multiple days. Information about a staff member's participation in a session or activity is included in Staff Professional Development Activity.
Professional Development Session	An entity that includes information about part or all of a Professional Development Activity scheduled for delivery within a single day.
Technical Assistance	An entity that includes information about technical assistance provided to a person or organization. Note: "Technical Assistance" is also a type of Profesional Development Activity (see: Professional Development Activity Type)
Learning Goal	An entity that specifies the learning that is intended for an individual learner and the success criteria use to indicate progress toward the learning goal. In the formative assessment process a learning goal exists within the framework of a Learning Progression / Competency-based Pathway defined within the context of Learning Standards.
Achievement	An entity that includes information about achievement earned by a learner upon fulfilling a specified criteria, which may be defined by a related a Competency Set.
Facility	An installation in which school administration at the district or system level is housed; includes all buildings, structures, and other stationary items that are located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites and that are used for district or system administrative purposes.
Authentication	An application or service that can authenticate the identity of a person. The CEDS entity that includes information about an authentication provider, the login identifier used to authenticate a person's identity, and other information related to authentication of a person's identity.
Authorization	The CEDS entity that includes information about a data system or application which an authenticated person may access.

Postsecondary (PS)

The provision of a formal instructional program whose curriculum is designed primarily for students who are beyond the compulsory age for high school. This includes programs whose purpose is academic, vocational, and continuing professional education, and excludes avocational and adult basic education programs. (IPEDS)

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Entity	Description
PS Institution	An organization that provides educational programs for individuals who have completed or otherwise left educational programs in secondary school(s).
PS Student	An individual who is a prospect, applicant, admitted student, enrolled student or alum of a postsecondary institution.
PS Section	A postsecondary instructional course in a particular field of study that typically involves a prescribed number or instruction periods or meetings for enrolled students.
PS Staff	A person who performs specified activities for any public or private education institution, agency, or household that provides instructional and/or support services to students or staff at the postsecondary level.
PS Applicant	An individual who is a applicant of a postsecondary institution.
Parent/Guardian	A person having parental or legal guardianship responsibility for a learner.
Program	An entity with information about a system of services, opportunities, or projects, designed to meet academic or non-academic needs. Note: A Program entity may be related to an organization as the service provider and to people as program staff, participants, recipients of program services. CEDS broadly defined Program for information about program types such as work-study programs or athletic programs that are not specifically defined. CEDS also has more specific program entities such as PS Institution Program and CTE Program.
Learning Resource	The CEDS entity that includes information about materials that support teaching and learning.
Learning Goal	An entity that specifies the learning that is intended for an individual learner and the success criteria use to indicate progress toward the learning goal. In the formative assessment process a learning goal exists within the framework of a Learning Progression / Competency-based Pathway defined within the context of Learning Standards.
Authentication	An application or service that can authenticate the identity of a person. The CEDS entity that includes information about an authentication provider, the login identifier used to authenticate a person's identity, and other information related to authentication of a person's identity.
Authorization	The CEDS entity that includes information about a data system or application which an authenticated person may access.

Career and Technical Education (CTE)

The CEDS domain that includes information about Career and Technical Education programs as defined by Perkins IV, and information about the students served by these programs.

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Entity	Description
CTE Student	An entity that includes information about a person for whom instruction, services and/or care are provided in a Career and Technical Education program and has met the state-defined threshold of Career and Technical Education participation as defined in the State's approved Perkins IV State Plan.
CTE Staff	An entity that includes information about an individual who performs specified activities for any public or private education institution, agency, or household that provides instructional and/or support services to students or staff  in a Career and Technical Education program.
Program	An entity with information about a system of services, opportunities, or projects, designed to meet academic or non-academic needs. Note: A Program entity may be related to an organization as the service provider and to people as program staff, participants, recipients of program services. CEDS broadly defined Program for information about program types such as work-study programs or athletic programs that are not specifically defined. CEDS also has more specific program entities such as PS Institution Program and CTE Program.
Course	The organization of subject matter and related learning experiences provided for the instruction of students on a regular or systematic basis, usually for a predetermined period of time (e.g., a semester or two-week workshop) to an individual or group of students (e.g., a class).
Course Section	A setting in which organized instruction of course content is provided to one or more students for a given period of time. Note: A Course may be offered to more than one Course Section. Instruction may be delivered in person by one or more instructors or via a different medium. Sections that share space should be considered as separate Course Sections if they function as separate units for more than 50 percent of the time.
Authentication	An application or service that can authenticate the identity of a person. The CEDS entity that includes information about an authentication provider, the login identifier used to authenticate a person's identity, and other information related to authentication of a person's identity.
Authorization	The CEDS entity that includes information about a data system or application which an authenticated person may access.

Adult Education (AE)

The CEDS domain that includes information about programs that help adults get the basic skills they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens -- and information about the adults served by these programs.

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Entity	Description
AE Student	A person for whom instruction and/or services are provided in an Adult Education program.
AE Staff	A person who is employed by an Adult Education program.
AE Provider	The CEDS entity with information about programs that help adults get the basic skills they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens.
Program	An entity with information about a system of services, opportunities, or projects, designed to meet academic or non-academic needs. The Program entity may be related to an organization as the service provider and to people as program staff, participants, recipients of program services. CEDS broadly defined Program for information about program types such as work-study programs or athletic programs that are not specifically defined. CEDS also has more specific program entities such as PS Institution Program and CTE Program.
Course Section	A setting in which organized instruction of course content is provided to one or more students for a given period of time. Note: A Course may be offered to more than one Course Section. Instruction may be delivered in person by one or more instructors or via a different medium. Sections that share space should be considered as separate Course Sections if they function as separate units for more than 50 percent of the time.
Authentication	An application or service that can authenticate the identity of a person. The CEDS entity that includes information about an authentication provider, the login identifier used to authenticate a person's identity, and other information related to authentication of a person's identity.
Authorization	The CEDS entity that includes information about a data system or application which an authenticated person may access.

Workforce

The CEDS domain that includes data about persons participation in a workforce and employment development program and employment and earnings data matched between education and workforce data sources.

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Entity	Description
Workforce Program Participant	A person for whom instruction and/or services are provided in a workforce and/or an employment development program.
Quarterly Employment Record	The CEDS entity that includes person-level employment and earnings information from quarterly employment and earnings-related data from sources such as State UI Wage Records, the Wage Record Interchange System, or the Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES).
Authentication	An application or service that can authenticate the identity of a person. The CEDS entity that includes information about an authentication provider, the login identifier used to authenticate a person's identity, and other information related to authentication of a person's identity.
Authorization	The CEDS entity that includes information about a data system or application which an authenticated person may access.

Assessments

The data domain that includes entities and elements to support design, administration, and scoring/evaluating the results of assessments used to measure one or more persons mastery of one or more learning objectives.

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Entity	Description
Assessment Family	A set of assessments with a common name, jurisdiction, or focus (e.g. SAT, GRE, NAEP).
Assessment	An instrument used to evaluate a person with at least one form, section, and Assessment Item. (A summative assessment typically addresses a particular level, subject, and date range. A person's individual responses during the summative assessment administration are evaluated then the results are scored using one or more Assessment Sub Test Scoring Rules.)
Assessment Form	An instance of an assessment that can equate scores with another instance of that same assessment.
Assessment Session	An entity with information related to an instance of delivering an assessment during a specific period of time.
Assessment Item	A specific prompt, that defines a question or protocol for a measurable activity that triggers a response from a person used to determine whether the person has mastered a learning objective.
Assessment Asset	An entity that represents content used to compose an assessment item, is referenced by an item but not part of the item content itself, or is content that is included as part of a section within an assessment form. Assets can be static content such as art work or dynamic assets such as calculators or other tools.
Assessment Subtest	An entity that defines information for scoring an Assessment Form based on a set of Assessment Item responses with explicit rules to produce an Assessment Subtest Result, which may be for the entire Assessment Form or one aspect of evaluation based on a subset of Assessment Items.
Assessment Result	An entity that includes information about a person's results from an assessment which may be for the entire assessment or one aspect of evaluation. The entity includes the score value and information about the score, such as a diagnostic statement. Note: Information for interpreting an assessment result is available in the related Assessment Subtest information. This includes the minimum, maximum, and optimal values for the measurement. The Subtest may in turn be associated with one or more content standards using the Learning Standard Item Association entity.
Assessment Registration	An entity with information related to a specific person registered for an Assessment Administration, assigned a specific Assessment Form for participation in one or more Assessment Sessions.
Assessment Administration	Information related to an assessment event or administration period. It includes information related to the time period of administration, and place(s) of administration
Assessment Personal Needs Profile	An entity that includes information about the personal needs and preferences for assessment participants, based on the IMS Global (R) Accessible Portable Item Protocol.
Assessment Participant Session	An entity that includes information about a specific person's participation in an Assessment Session.
Achievement	An entity that includes information about an achievement earned by a learner upon fulfilling a specified criteria, which may be defined by a related a Competency Set.
Learning Goal	An entity that specifies the learning that is intended for an individual learner and the success criteria use to indicate progress toward the learning goal. In the formative assessment process a learning goal exists within the framework of a Learning Progression / Competency-based Pathway defined within the context of Learning Standards.
Learning Standards	Content that either describes a specific competency (learning objective) or describes a grouping of competencies within the taxonomy of a Learning Standards Document.
Learner Action	An entity that includes information about an action taken by or on behalf of a learner, describing a single event in a learning experience.
Learner Activity	The work assigned to a learner and/or performed by a learner which can comprise of interaction with learning resources, and assessments.
Assessment Performance Level	The CEDS entity that includes information about the performance levels that may be assigned to an Assessment Result and specifications for selecting the performance level based on a score. Four styles are supported: 1) Specification of performance level by lower and upper cut score 2) Specification of performance level by lower cut score only 3) Specification of performance level without any mapping to scores 4) Specification of performance level by mapping to other scores Performance levels are repeatable. A list of all the possible performance levels for an assessment result are derived from the relationship between Assessment Subtest and Assessment Performance Level. The performance levels that have been met for a specific Assessment Result are derived from the relationship between Assessment Result and Assessment Performance Level.
Assessment Item Response	Information related to the a specific response to an assessment item by the person being assessed. The entity includes the response, a score or indication that the response was correct or incorrect and other information such as response time.
Assessment Form Subtest Assessment Item	An entity that includes information about an Assessment Item associated with a and Assessment Form Subtest including weights to apply to items for scoring.
Assessment Item Body	An entity that contains information for rendering an Assessment Item as one or more interactions with the person being assessed.
Learning Standard Item Association	An entity that relates learning standard items to other learning standard items to support competency maps using competency to prerequisite-competency assertions, and to relate learning standard Items to other objects such as learning resources.

Learning Standards

The data domain that includes entities and elements that define learner competencies established in learning standards documents, that may be adopted as expectations by education agencies, and may exist within the structure of a taxonomy or competency-based pathways.

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Entity	Description
Learning Standard Document	A collection of learning standard items, typically arranged in a hierarchical structure or classification scheme, reflecting expectations of learner competencies within a single subject area covering one or more levels. (examples: Head Start Child Outcomes Framework, Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, Accountability Criteria for National Health Care Cluster Foundation Standards)
Learning Standard Item	Content that either describes a specific competency (learning objective) or describes a grouping of competencies within the taxonomy of a Learning Standards Document. Note: Use the element Learning Standard Item Type to indicate the level of grouping in a hierarchy, e.g. "Subject", "Strand", "Competency". A compentency may have child learning standard items of type "Indicator" used to describe how that competency may be assessed. The elements Learning Stanadrd Item Statement and Learning Standard Item Notes may be used to describe a procedure for an observation-based assessment of learning and any citations or notes supporting the method. Learning Standard Items may be associated with other entities, such as Assessment Items, using "Learning Standard Item Association" (See the CEDS Data Model Guide for example uses of the Learning Standard Item framework.)
Learning Standard Item Association	An entity that relates learning standard items to other learning standard items to support competency maps, and to relate learning standard Items to other objects such as learning resources.
Competency Set	The CEDS entity that supports the definition of a set of competencies that represent completion or partial completion of a unit, course, program, degree, certification, or other achievement/award, including information that specifies whether completion requires achievement of all items in the set or some number of items.

Learning Resources

The CEDS Domain that includes information about materials that support teaching and learning.

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Entity	Description
Learning Resource	An entity that describes content, materials, or informational resources that support learning.
Peer Rating	The CEDS entity that includes information about a persons rating of a Learning Resource.
Peer Rating System	The CEDS entity that includes information about a system by which a person can rate a Learning Resource.