Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)

How was CEDS started? NCES heard strong interest in, and sometimes concern about, data standards directly from state education agencies (SEAs) and other governmental actors involved in creating statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs), national organizations, and other Federal offices. To develop voluntary common standards and to support SEAs in improving data quality, NCES established a technical working group under the Director’s Expert Guidance and Assistance clause in the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the Fall of 2009. It was constituted under the authority of the Director of IES to convene (ESRA Sec. 114(g)).