Friday, May 30, 2008
Perspectives on SOA
Joe McKendrick wrote a brief but thought provoking post at ZDNet regarding different perspectives on SOA. The title is "Looking at SOA through ESB-colored glasses."
NCES Releases "The Condition of Education 2008"
This is a re-post of an IES Newsflash from ed.gov:
The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released "The Condition of Education 2008," a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States. The 43 indicators included in this year's report cover all aspects of education, from early childhood through postsecondary education and from student achievement to school environment and resources. Among the report's findings:
* This year, public school enrollment is expected to approach about 50 million students. Total public school enrollment is projected to set new records each year from 2008 to 2017, at which time it is expected to reach 54.1 million.
* Minority students make up 43 percent of the public school enrollment overall and 48 percent in the South and 55 percent in the West.
* In 2005–06, about a third of Black students and a third of Hispanic students attended high-poverty schools compared with 4 percent of White students.
* Average reading scores of 4th- and 8th-graders were higher in 2007 than in 1992.
* Average mathematics scores increased 27 points for 4th-graders and 19 points for 8th-graders between 1990 and 2007.
* Among public high school students in the class of 2005, about three-fourths graduated on time.
* Since 1970, women's undergraduate enrollment has increased over three times as fast as men's. Currently, women make up 57 percent of undergraduate enrollment.
* In 2006, young adults with a bachelor's degree earned about $11,000 more than those with an associate’s degree, about $16,000 more than those who had completed high school, and more than twice as much than those who did not earn a high school diploma.
The full text of "The Condition of Education 2008," along with related data tables and indicators from previous years, can be viewed at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe .
The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released "The Condition of Education 2008," a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States. The 43 indicators included in this year's report cover all aspects of education, from early childhood through postsecondary education and from student achievement to school environment and resources. Among the report's findings:
* This year, public school enrollment is expected to approach about 50 million students. Total public school enrollment is projected to set new records each year from 2008 to 2017, at which time it is expected to reach 54.1 million.
* Minority students make up 43 percent of the public school enrollment overall and 48 percent in the South and 55 percent in the West.
* In 2005–06, about a third of Black students and a third of Hispanic students attended high-poverty schools compared with 4 percent of White students.
* Average reading scores of 4th- and 8th-graders were higher in 2007 than in 1992.
* Average mathematics scores increased 27 points for 4th-graders and 19 points for 8th-graders between 1990 and 2007.
* Among public high school students in the class of 2005, about three-fourths graduated on time.
* Since 1970, women's undergraduate enrollment has increased over three times as fast as men's. Currently, women make up 57 percent of undergraduate enrollment.
* In 2006, young adults with a bachelor's degree earned about $11,000 more than those with an associate’s degree, about $16,000 more than those who had completed high school, and more than twice as much than those who did not earn a high school diploma.
The full text of "The Condition of Education 2008," along with related data tables and indicators from previous years, can be viewed at http://nces.ed.gov/programs
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
XML Apologies
Kurt Cagle has written a great post at XML.com regarding the strengths and weaknesses of everyone's favorite declarative "meta-language." Here is an excerpt:
I think a part of the reason that people continue to insist on trying to encode things in XML that don’t belong there is that they have been trained that there is one and only one paradigm to data modeling - the Object Oriented Programming model.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
When Good XML Goes Bad
XML.com recently published an article titled "Bad XML." It is a good read for those of you that are interested in markup design. In SIF I think we do a fairly good job of not creating "Bad XML," but there is definitely room for improvement. Here is the link to the article.
SIF ERD Updated with Assessments
The SIF Data Model Entity Relationship Diagram has been updated to include the Assessment Data Objects. Again, please feel free to nominate what you would like to prioritize for inclusion in the diagram as I continue to update it.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
SIF Data Model ERD - Updated
The SIF Data Model Entity Relationship Diagram that I recently published as a Google Presentation has been updated to include two new areas: Special Programs and HR Finance. Assessments are likely to be next. Please feel free to nominate what you would like to prioritize. Enjoy!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
National Data Model
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has developed a conceptual data model for the pK12 domain. Its primary goal is to generate dialog regarding the collection, movement, and use of data within the education system among a broad set of constituents.
Vince Paredes, SIFA's Data Model Architect, has been involved in this project extensively. At various presentations Vince has mentioned that he was initially unsure as to whether or not this type of model could be built. After evaluating different techniques the team settled on the use of a semantic approach to constructing the model. Semantic models provide rich context for data elements, implementing relationships as "first class" objects.
The data model site provides background information on the data model and includes an online viewer. You may also download the data model from the site and utilize tools like Protege and Swoop for detailed analysis and manipulation. Development of the model took place using the Web Ontology Language (OWL). At this time the data model cross-references to the NCES handbooks, but not to the SIF Data Model.
Vince Paredes, SIFA's Data Model Architect, has been involved in this project extensively. At various presentations Vince has mentioned that he was initially unsure as to whether or not this type of model could be built. After evaluating different techniques the team settled on the use of a semantic approach to constructing the model. Semantic models provide rich context for data elements, implementing relationships as "first class" objects.
The data model site provides background information on the data model and includes an online viewer. You may also download the data model from the site and utilize tools like Protege and Swoop for detailed analysis and manipulation. Development of the model took place using the Web Ontology Language (OWL). At this time the data model cross-references to the NCES handbooks, but not to the SIF Data Model.
SIF, SOA, and WOA
The following article talks about the successes of Web Oriented Architecture (WOA) and the challenges of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). It is particulary interesting as SIFA embarks upon enriching its current messaging platform with new approaches to services.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/?p=168
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/?p=168
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