IMS Global Learning Consortium Announces Initiative to Advance K-12 Digital Transcripts

USA - English

• USA - English

LAKE MARY, Fla., Oct. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global/IMS), the world-leading non-profit collaborative advancing educational technology impact, announced today at the OESIS Boston symposium a new initiative to enable modern and more relevant academic transcripts in K-12 education.

Sponsored by IMS Global Learning Consortium and the OESIS Network, the PIVOT project provides support and resources for K-12 districts and schools across the United States to accelerate the adoption of emerging models of competency-based, holistic education that enable diversity in conjunction with better capturing of student mastery and achievement. The IMS Global and OESIS partnership brings together an expansive and committed community of stakeholders to collaborate and advocate for K-12 schools that want to "pivot" from the traditional transcript.

The project will deliver a variety of pilot implementations in phases. These phases include developing district or school-specific plans for capturing achievements, partnering with relevant digital technology providers to implement, and enabling colleges and employers to consume the learner-controlled digital records. The pilots will be based on the IMS Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) standard. CLR is designed to capture a complete picture of a learner's academic and co-curricular competencies, skills, and experiences—at every stage of learning—in an equitable, secure, and transferable digital transcript. The CLR also enables the inclusion of verifiable achievements using the Open Badges 2.0 standard. A versatile transcript based on widely used open standards ensures the development of a robust and sustainable ecosystem of issuers and consumers, as well as provides the basis for AI and machine learning that may help realize better opportunities for students.

An executive board comprising leaders from school districts, state education agencies, and other educational institutions will promote PIVOT objectives and lead pilot implementations. Currently, members of the PIVOT Executive Board represent Broward County Schools, Chicago Public Schools, Edina Public Schools, Great Schools Partnership, Idaho Digital Learning, LRNG, Michigan Department of Education, Minnesota Department of Education, and Wisconsin eSchool Network.

As the initiative progresses, suppliers of learning management systems, student information systems, ePortfolios, badging platforms, and other learning tools—committed to implementing open standards that enable K-12 districts to more easily pivot to their own holistic transcripts without the expense of custom development—will be announced.

"With student equity in high focus, the time is right for us to take the vision of a Comprehensive Learner Record into mainstream acceptance and adoption in K-12," said Sanje Ratnavale, president, OESIS Network, and co-chair PIVOT. "Colleges are increasingly looking for more holistic validations of admission applicants, and schools are more determined than ever to capture growth in learning across the whole child experience, from leadership to academic achievement. We are excited to marshall the national OESIS Network behind this worthy public-private partnership."

"A next-generation digital transcript is a powerful tool to empower learners to represent their verifiable skills and competencies and to define their pathways for future educational and employment opportunities," said Rob Abel, chief executive officer, IMS Global Learning Consortium. "We are proud to partner with the OESIS Network to introduce and support a framework for enabling K-12 districts and schools to adopt IMS standards, such as CLR, that will have a significant impact on learner agency, equity, and growth."

For more information on the PIVOT project, visit http://www.imsglobal.org/k12pivot.

About IMS Global Learning Consortium
IMS Global is a non-profit organization that advances technology to scale and improve educational participation and attainment affordably. IMS Global members are leading suppliers, higher education institutions, K-12 districts and schools, and government organizations that are enabling better teaching and learning by collaborating on interoperability and adoption initiatives. IMS Global sponsors the Learning Impact Leadership Institute, an annual program focused on recognizing the impact of innovative technology on educational access, affordability, and quality while developing the leadership and ideas to help shape the future of educational technology.

SOURCE IMS Global Learning Consortium