CEDS

The Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) is a voluntary national framework that defines standardized data elements and their meanings for describing key education activities, primarily in K-12 systems. The goal is to promote interoperability among diverse data systems by providing a common language for data exchange, reporting, and analysis.

CEDS defines data elements and their metadata, including data type, permissible values, and how elements relate to one another. It organizes elements into domains such as Student, School, Enrollment, Course, Assessment, and Staff, and provides code lists and value domains to support consistent data entry and cross-system mapping.

Governance and development are led by the CEDS Consortium, a collaboration of state education agencies and national organizations. Updates are published as new versions, and implementation resources—such as data dictionaries and crosswalks to other standards—are provided to help jurisdictions align their data systems and enable data sharing.

Uses of CEDS include longitudinal data analysis, statewide reporting, and interjurisdictional data exchange. By aligning data definitions and structures, CEDS helps educators, researchers, and policymakers compare data across borders and over time while supporting privacy and governance considerations.

CEDS is not a software product or a single database; it is a set of standards that must be implemented within compatible data systems.