Edsby platform for K-12 providing next generation digital learning, data consolidation and records management system for New Zealand’s 2,500 public schools
ONTARIO, Canada (June 24th, 2019) – Edsby®, the most comprehensive digital learning and data platform available for K-12 education, is being deployed across New Zealand.
After two years of competitive evaluations, the New Zealand Ministry of Education awarded Edsby a contract to build and run the country’s Te Rito National Learner Repository and Data Exchange, formerly the Student Information Sharing Initiative (SISI).
This multi-year key Ministry project is aimed at strengthening the continuity of learning for New Zealand’s 800,000 students by consolidating critical information to ensure it is available to teachers when a student arrives in a new school. Te Rito is also focused on reducing the administrative burden on teachers and schools associated with current duplicated systems while also improving the quality and timeliness of data provided to the Ministry of Education and other agencies. It’s also intended to aid educators in tailoring support for learners to ensure all communities receive equal chances for success, including transient children, Māori, Pacific peoples and children with special needs. Te Rito will continue to be co-designed with local stakeholders through its development and delivery.
Edsby is being configured to the Ministry’s requirements and is to be deployed in two early stage roll-outs with the first stage already underway. The system is then to be rolled out to all 2,500 public schools in the country, so that regardless of the individual school’s Student Management System (SMS), information will be available to support the learner at school, when it’s needed.
All data will be hosted in Ministry-approved cloud data centers operated by Microsoft. The Ministry is working with legal, ethics and privacy experts to ensure data privacy and access is managed appropriately. New Zealand’s student data privacy regulations are among the strictest in the world.
“The single student record, national-level analytics and data privacy sought by the Ministry are inherent strengths of our product,” said Edsby Co-Founder Scott Welch, project lead. “We are excited to be working in partnership with both Māori and English language schools, as well as the outstanding team in the Ministry.”
“The Te Rito project is intended to save schools and teachers time in trying to obtain critical learner information from a student’s previous school,” said New Zealand Ministry of Education Deputy Secretary Evidence Data and Knowledge, Dr. Craig Jones. “We’re very much looking forward to working with the Edsby team. Their platform will enable the Te Rito project to deliver significant benefits to New Zealand learners, their families, schools, school leaders and educators, across the country.”
About Edsby
Edsby is an award-winning digital learning and data platform for K-12 that gives school districts and regional or national governments powerful new ways to facilitate their digital transformations. The Edsby team has been building scalable, reliable software systems for education organizations around the world for 30 years using latest technology and standards. To learn more about Edsby, visit https://www.edsby.com/.
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Edsby deploying country wide in New Zealand – Q&A
What are the unique challenges New Zealand aims to solve with its Te Rito project?
Each of New Zealand’s 2,500 schools chooses its own technology systems, including Student Management System (SMS). When a student transfers from one school to another, there has been no mechanism for a student’s records—including achievement data, teacher observations or individualized learning plans—to follow, since there is currently no common data interchange standard implemented by all SMS providers. This also means national Ministry-level analytics have not been easily feasible. New Zealand selected Edsby for its ability to integrate with SMS systems already in place in the country and its ability to support existing or future standards.
What is the Edsby platform?
Edsby is a comprehensive digital learning and data platform that combines a rich, modern user interface with a powerful data engine. Edsby is a single learning and analytics platform currently used by over a million students, teachers and parents in Canada, the U.S., Japan and elsewhere. Edsby was designed specifically for the challenges of K-12 education and can connect to many different systems of record in a school or region. It integrates with the SMSes in use in schools throughout New Zealand. It also has comprehensive and flexible permission and access controls for learners, teachers, parents and administrators.
Who is Edsby?
The founders of Edsby have worked together developing education focused solutions for over 30 years and are based in Toronto, Canada. Company founders include the architects of FirstClass®, a messaging and collaboration product used by millions of students and teachers around the world and credited as one of the earliest learning management systems.
Why was Edsby chosen for the Te Rito National Learner Repository and Data Exchange?
The New Zealand Ministry of Education undertook a comprehensive two-phase procurement process to find the best solution for the Te Rito project. Key stakeholders conducted due diligence, including a visit to Edsby headquarters to ensure Edsby was the best option.
How does New Zealand know Edsby will work for the country?
The Edsby platform is tailored to whatever country and education system it is implemented in. Edsby supports the New Zealand indigenous people’s language Māori as a default system language. Edsby is committed to a co-design process with both Māori and English Ministry Working Groups to ensure Te Rito is ideal for New Zealand (increasingly referenced locally by its Māori name Aotearoa).
What stage is the project at?
The New Zealand Ministry of Education and Edsby are undertaking two early stage rollouts of the National Learner Repository and Data Exchange, and the project is in the first stage. It includes close collaboration with all New Zealand-based vendors of SMSes as a validation of the Te Rito platform.