The new school year is well underway, and we want to recognize the incredible work our employees, volunteers, members, partners, and Alliances are doing to support students and protect their privacy. As classrooms come alive with learning, the Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community remains committed to providing the resources, collaboration, and community you need to navigate this important work…
As we reach the midpoint of 2025, the A4L Community continues to demonstrate what’s possible when interoperability and privacy are treated not as competing priorities—but as complementary pillars of a secure, learner-centered data ecosystem.
This year, the development of the Registry 2.0 initiative has taken center stage. When launched with a redesigned interface, enhanced metadata capabilities, and a growing library of shared agreements, the new SDPC Resource Registry will help districts and vendors streamline privacy workflows while improving transparency and trust. The Registry 2.0 pre-conference workshop at our Annual Meeting was a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come—and how much more we can do together.
Release Represents Milestone Toward National Alignment of Skills and Learning Data Across Education, Workforce, and Hiring Systems
I can still remember my first A4L conference in 2016. Walking into the room, filled with people whose names I recognized from emails and phone conversations, the “old guard” of SIF. I had so much respect for that group that had founded not just a standard but a movement, a cause worth fighting for, to simplify the way education data was shared across the rapidly increasing number of software systems that schools, districts, and states were using to manage the operational and instructional business of education. And I also saw opportunities for change and modernization, as we looked to move forward and continue to ensure that our cause was relevant to the needs of our stakeholders. I found a like-minded group within the organization, and together we created exciting new possibilities at A4L.
The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community is proud to announce the release of the collaboratively developed global SIF Infrastructure Specification 3.7 (global) which is unique in the technical standards world in that it supports data movement via greater interoperability by standardizing ‘data and privacy on the wire’.
On November 13, 2024, the Association Board of Directors approved the SIF Infrastructure Specification (global) 3.7 for A4L Community Review.
Community Review period will be open from Tuesday, November 19 until COB ET on Monday, December 9, 2024 (inclusive).
It has been a very exciting and fulfilling first month as full time Executive Director. There is so much positive energy and engaged members it is difficult not to get excited!
There are great new developments both in the SDPC and with SIF. In SDPC work has begun on developing the Registry 2.0! This is a very large project and many of you will be engaged throughout the process. In the end we will be delivering a much more robust and user friendly Resource Registry. Much more to come on this in the near future.
Following the success of the May release, The A4L Community Australian Data Standards Working Group is proud to announce the launch of the SIF Data Model Specification (Australia) 3.6.1. This release builds on the foundation laid in May, where critical steps were taken to affirm individuals’ identities within the education technology landscape. Now, with version 3.6.1, the Specification continues its commitment to advancing standards and interoperability, with a particular focus on the enhancement of the OpenAPI presentation.
The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community in North America is proud to announce the release of the global SIF Infrastructure Specification 3.6 enhancing quality of service and ease of use for the marketplace.
The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community is proud to announce the release of the collaboratively developed global SIF Infrastructure Specification 3.5 which is unique in the technical standards world in that it supports data movement via greater interoperability by standardizing ‘data and privacy on the wire’.
