Introduction
The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is excited to announce Ed-ID, a new system for generating IDs for students and educators. The Ed-ID system will issue an education ID to students in a variety of education settings, including early childhood, pre-K, and K-12. Ed-ID will also provide IDs to educators from early childhood settings through secondary settings.
This new approach will allow more versatility for the generation and use of IDs across a variety of state agencies involved in student learning, will increase the quality and accuracy of the IDs, and improve the management of these IDs through a centralized service.
Assignment and consistent use of these data identifiers is the foundation for successful sharing of data between the state and schools, reducing complicated or duplicative matching processes when conducting longitudinal data analysis.
Ed-ID for Students
The new Ed-ID portal will assign a unique, nine-digit ID for a student. The ID will be assigned randomly rather than being assigned by the school, which utilized the next available number for that school. Also known as the student test number (STN), the Ed-ID serves as a unique identifier for a child or student throughout their educational experience in Indiana. The Ed-ID for students is the mechanism used to provide a unique identifier for state and federal reporting as outlined in IC 20-19-3-9.4.
Ed-ID for Staff
The new Ed-ID portal will assign a unique, eight-digit ID for staff members. The ID will be assigned randomly. Also known as the school personnel number (SPN), this Ed-ID serves as a unique identifier for teachers, educators, and other provider staff members serving children through their professional career in Indiana. Indiana licensed staff already have and will continue to obtain/maintain their Ed-ID for staff via the Licensing Verification and Information System (LVIS).
When an Ed-ID is used:
Identifies all students and staff for state and federal reporting.
Used as a unique identifier in data shares with other state agencies.
Used as a unique identifier with assessment vendors.
Identifies staff for the purposes of state licensing.
Can be used as unique identifiers in a local entity’s own systems.
Additional uses permitted or required by state or federal law.
API Integration
Ed-ID now allows for automation through a school corporation’s student information system (SIS) via an Application Programming Interface (API), or accessed via the Ed-ID portal. Additionally, this policy is intended to govern all other state users’ access to Ed-IDs.
This could include, for example, the INKids program, the early childhood integrated data system under development at the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), or similar state systems.
SIS and other state agency systems can connect through the Identities API to the Identities system. This is the preferred connection, especially for bulk requests. Access and permissions to local systems are determined by the local administrators. SIS access to the Identities API is governed by the rules for the Data Exchange program, outlined here.
Restrictions on the use of Ed-IDs
Privacy rules (such as FERPA) and information security practices regarding student and staff records apply to Ed-IDs. Restrictions on the usage of STNs and SPNs include (but are not limited to):
Ed-IDs should not be created for individuals who do not meet the definitions of student or staff member (for example, a parent of a child).
Ed-IDs can only be used as an identifier for those purposes authorized or permitted by state and federal law.
Ed-IDs should only be shared with staff that need them to fulfill their official duties, whether they are employed by local, state, or third-party contractors (such as assessment vendors).
State agency division of duties:
Development and maintenance of the core Ed-ID system rests with IDOE.
For student IDs (STNs) requiring human review:
IDOE will resolve requests for children ages five and above.
Requests related to children between the ages of three and five will be resolved by IDOE when the request originates with a school corporation, otherwise they will be resolved by FSSA.
FSSA will resolve requests for children from birth and under three years of age when the request originates from FSSA.
For Ed-IDs (SPNs) requiring human review, IDOE will resolve all requests related to licensed educators.
IDOE will provide training and troubleshooting support to school corporations.
FSSA will provide training and troubleshooting support to child-care providers, out-of-school learning programs, and early intervention service providers.