Ed-Fi is a solution designed to address challenges faced by school districts and state education agencies when it comes to integrating student data from multiple systems. The purpose of Ed-Fi is to provide a standardized open-source data framework that enables the integration of data from student information systems and other sources.
In South Carolina, Ed-Fi data is published to an Ed-Fi REST API, landing in a district-level Operational Data Stores (ODS). Data required for state reporting then publish to a state-level API and ODS. The Ed-Fi ODS serves as a central repository for integrated data, and in South Carolina, Ed-Fi data warehouses connected to these district and state ODSes then allow authorized users to access and analyze the data. The District Data Governance Group is a partnership between the SCDE and participating school districts to oversee and advise on this consolidated reporting environment.
Ed-Fi Resources and Support
PowerSchool to Ed-Fi Integration
District PowerSchool administrators: refer to the Start of the School Year PowerSchool to Ed-Fi Manual (v2.3) for instructions to integrate PowerSchool instances with the Ed-Fi environment prior to each new school year. The manual also includes best practices for Ed-Fi publishing.
Fig.1 - Beginning of Year Dashboard Setup Step 1 - Download descriptors Step 2 - Publish All for Organization Info Step 3 - Repeat Publish All at least twice; continue until the Published number stays consistent. Step 4 - Repeat this for every category through Transcripts Step 5 - Moving forward, Publish Changes in each category at least once a week. No need for regular Publish all runs if you a following this! Step 6 - If you'd like, schedule the categories that have that option so that they will run automatically! Note: "Last Published" displays the last time the data for that resource was changed, not the last time a Publish Changes took place.
View a listing of all LevelData errors and the EdFi dashboard categories affected by them. Each dashboard category is listed first with its definition. The bullet points underneath represent the LevelData tabs and the subpoints below correlate to the validations that may flag in your dashboard as a result.
Check the EDPlanSC Data Guide to view the mapping of data from PowerSchool to Ed-Fi to EDPlan SC. Download this one-pager for a quick overview of the data used and troubleshooting tips.
Training and Support
Please contact powerschool@ed.sc.gov for information about upcoming training opportunities or one-on-one support with publishing.
South Carolina is operating the following Ed-Fi versions for School Year (SY) 2025-2026:
Ed-Fi data Standard: v5.2
Ed-Fi API and ODS Technology Suite 3, version 7.3
Ed-Fi Vendor Onboarding
Vendors are encouraged to seek Ed-Fi certification and badges and to access other Ed-Fi Alliance resources to support their integration with South Carolina’s Ed-Fi environment. An overview of the South Carolina Ed-Fi environment is available at the top of this page.
Ed-Fi vendor onboarding to the SCDE’s State ODS includes the following steps:
In introductory discussions SCDE and the vendor will identify and clarify aspects of the process that may be unique to the vendor, relevant use-case scenarios for data transactions, and the scope of the vendor claim set.
The vendor will specify a plan for mapping any custom descriptors or mapping to SC custom descriptors, as well as present a testing framework specifying procedures and protocols.
Finally, the vendor will agree to a formal security policy to ensure that no unauthorized entities will have access to any accessed data.
Vendor Claim Set and Credentials
The vendor claim set is the set of resources to be transferred by the Ed-Fi API between the SCDE’s State Ed-Fi ODS and the vendor. The claim set may vary depending on what is essential to the services that the vendor provides. During early discussions, a base level claim set will be proposed by SCDE, and the vendor will have the opportunity to help refine it. SCDE’s technical partner may assist with the generation and management of vendor claim sets and associated credentials (keys, secrets, and API URLs). Each vendor will receive unique ODS/API credentials (key, secret, and API URL). During the development and testing phase, vendors will be provided access to a sandbox environment.
Monitoring progress to completion
Vendor attends follow-up sessions, as needed, for testing and discussion to ensure that the integration is complete and correct. SCDE and the vendor will jointly propose use cases for integration evaluation. Only after successful evaluation will credentials to production environments be provided.
