PESC Announces 25th Annual Best Practices Competition

Winner(s) to be Announced at the October Data Summit

Washington, D.C. – August 15, 2024 The Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) is pleased to announce that the 25th annual Best Practices Competition is now open! This competition recognizes and promotes innovation and ingenuity in the application and implementation of interoperable data standards for business needs.  

ELIGIBILITY

This program honors organizations, institutions, and individuals across the education sector who are leading the charge in data standardization.

CATEGORIES

There are three separate categories for submissions:

  • By region
  • By role
  • By technology

AWARDS

Awards are presented by PESC each year in each category. The PESC Board Review Committee may determine that no award be made in a given year under one or more categories.  

JUDGING

All entries are judged by the PESC Board of Directors. Winners will be notified immediately, and a public announcement will be made in coordination with PESC’s October 2024 Data Summit. Recognition will take place during the Summit opening General Session.

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions will be accepted until close of business on Friday, September 20, 2024.

For more information on the competition, including eligibility criteria, submission guidelines, forms, and checklists, please visit https://pesc.org/awards-and-competitions/.


ABOUT PESC:

PESC Members come together to identify, research, develop and promote the adoption of interoperable data standards and methods across the postsecondary education P20W Ecosystem.

Our work includes the development and reuse of common data schemas leveraging XML, EDI, JSON and JSON-LD.

PESC advocates for the widespread adoption of automated connections that enhance data efficiency. These connections ensure secure and repeatable interchange across specialized administrative, financial, and academic domains.

PESC’s Annual Sponsors include  AcademyOne, National Student Clearinghouse, Parchment, EducationPlannerBC , AACRAO, and Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE).

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Collaborative Leadership: PESC and Partners Drive JSON-LD Advancements

by John Lovell, Technology Director, A4L Community

The A4L Community is excited to spotlight the groundbreaking efforts of the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC and their close collaboration with partners as they lead the charge in defining and implementing JSON-LD standards. PESC’s JSON-LD Task Force has been at the forefront of this initiative, establishing comprehensive guidelines and tools that are set to revolutionize data interoperability and validation across the education sector. Read more

Brigham Young University Joins PESC

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Strengthens Commitment to Educational Data Standards

Washington, D.C. – May 7, 2024 – The Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) is thrilled to announce Brigham Young University (BYU) as its newest member institution. BYU’s dedication to educational quality and its recognition of the importance of standardized data exchange is a natural fit for PESC’s mission.

“BYU recognizes the significant value in advancing the electronic exchange of academic data,” said Thad Brown, Sr. Business Analyst at Brigham Young University. “PESC is the leader in developing standards that facilitate the efficient and precise transfer of data, while also championing their adoption among higher education institutions.

PESC membership allows BYU to actively participate in shaping the future of educational data standards. Their expertise and dedication to this area will further strengthen the organization’s work in developing robust standards across postsecondary education.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Brigham Young University back into both the PESC family and the AACRAO SPEEDE Committee,” said Monterey Sims, PESC Board of Directors Vice Chair, AACRAO SPEEDE Committee member, and Director of Admissions and Evaluation at the University of Phoenix. “BYU’s long-time commitment to data exchange best practices aligns perfectly with our mission, and their participation will be instrumental in ensuring a more efficient and effective data exchange environment for institutions nationwide.”

About Brigham Young University (BYU):
Brigham Young University is a private research university founded, supported, and guided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in Provo, Utah, BYU offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs and seeks to provide an education that is spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, and character building, leading to lifelong learning and service.

For more information, please visit www.byu.edu/about. 

ABOUT PESC:

PESC Members come together to identify, research, develop and promote the adoption of interoperable data standards and methods across the postsecondary education P20W Ecosystem.

Our work includes the development and reuse of common data schemas leveraging XML, EDI, JSON and JSON-LD.

PESC advocates for the widespread adoption of automated connections that enhance data efficiency. These connections ensure secure and repeatable interchange across specialized administrative, financial, and academic domains.

PESC’s Annual Sponsors include AcademyOne, National Student Clearinghouse, Parchment, Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), and EducationPlannerBC.

For more information, please visit www.PESC.org.

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ACAT Secretariat/Learner Pathways of Alberta Advanced Education Joins PESC

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Ann Marie Lyseng Selected as GEO Code User Group Co-Chair

Washington, D.C. – March 7, 2024

The Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) is pleased to announce the addition of Alberta Council on Admissions and Transfer (ACAT) Secretariat/Learner Pathways as the latest Member of PESC.

Ann Marie Lyseng, Senior Manager of ACAT Secretariat/Learner Pathways, stated, Membership in PESC facilitates jurisdictional collaboration for electronic data standards, which supports learner mobility and pathways. Our team looks forward to continued dialogue and increased communication with the PESC community.

Additionally, Ann Marie Lyseng has been selected as a co-chair of the PESC GEO Code User Group. She will be leading this effort alongside current co-chairs, Matt Bemis, Associate Registrar of the University of Southern California (USC), and Carollin Ho, Business Intelligence Architect of Humber College.

“PESC Membership allows Canadian organizations like ACAT to participate in shaping standards that streamline student experiences across provinces,” said Ruth Blades, PESC Board Secretary and Executive Director of CATNS-CATNÉ. “We’re thrilled to welcome ACAT and Ann Marie’s expertise to the GEO Code User Group, further solidifying PESC’s commitment to supporting seamless learner mobility in Canada.”

ABOUT ACAT Secretariat/Learner Pathways, Alberta Advanced Education:

The ACAT Secretariat/Learner Pathways is a team of government employees in Alberta Advanced Education that provides operational leadership for the Alberta Transfer System and post-secondary learner pathways, and supports and administers the work of ACAT.

The Secretariat works collaboratively with post-secondary institutions/stakeholders and government in Alberta and Canada to provide Alberta Transfer System and learner pathways operational leadership, oversight, and support for post-secondary learner pathways, mobility, and formal and informal recognition of prior learning, with a focus on learners, admissions, and transfer. For more information, please visit https://acat.alberta.ca/.

ABOUT PESC:

PESC Members come together to identify, research, develop and promote the adoption of interoperable data standards and methods across the postsecondary education P20W Ecosystem.

Our work includes the development and reuse of common data schemas leveraging XML, EDI, JSON and JSON-LD.

PESC advocates for the widespread adoption of automated connections that enhance data efficiency. These connections ensure secure and repeatable interchange across specialized administrative, financial, and academic domains.

PESC’s Annual Sponsors include AcademyOne, National Student Clearinghouse, Parchment, Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), and EducationPlannerBC.

For more information, please visit www.PESC.org.

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Karen McCredie Appointed to PESC Board of Directors

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EPBC Executive Director Selected to Fill Open Board Seat, Enhancing Leadership in Student Success Initiatives

Washington, D.C. – October 10, 2023 – The Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) is delighted to announce the appointment of Karen McCredie to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Karen McCredie, currently serving as the Executive Director of EducationPlannerBC (EPBC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, brings a wealth of experience to PESC. With her appointment, the PESC Board now comprises twelve members.

As the new Board Director of Marketing and Communications, Karen McCredie will play a pivotal role in furthering PESC’s initiatives focused on student success and collaborative efforts with colleges, universities, vendors, and related organizations. Her extensive background includes past leadership within the British Columbia postsecondary sector for over 29 years, including nine years as Registrar at two institutions where she championed innovative solutions to enhance student services. Karen currently serves on a wide range of commitees (Digital Services Hub Steering Commitee, Micro-credential Advisory Commitee, BCCAT Admissions Commitee), councils (BCCAT Council), and working groups all in support of student mobility and achievement.

Karen brings a world of industry experience working with colleges and universities on collaborative initiatives focused on student success. I look forward to working with her as we address the leadership needed to scale and influence the adoption of best practices embracing community specifications and standards. In an age of specialization, Karen will help us realize positive changes can be adopted that address the balance between our common good and self-interests, said David Moldoff, PESC Board Chair. Monterey Sims, Vice Chair of the PESC Board, added, “Karen has worked hard to improve student services by building automated systems in an age of mobility. We are so pleased she has chosen to join us.”

I am so pleased to be part of the PESC Board at this exciting juncture in the history of PESC. Data standards have never been more important. Student mobility and its reliance on interoperability of trusted data sites is critical and PESC has always worked to support these aspirations, stated Karen McCredie.

Karen McCredie’s appointment is a testament to PESC’s commitment to fostering innovation, collaboration, and student success within the education sector. Her expertise in building automated systems and her dedication to improving student services align perfectly with PESC’s mission.

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After 20+ Years of Service, PESC Bids a Fond Farewell to Michael Sessa

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Washington, D.C. – The Board of Directors of the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) has announced that after over 20 years of his work within PESC and the education sector, Michael Sessa will be stepping down from his position as PESC President and CEO, effective September 11, 2023.

The PESC Board is grateful for his unwavering loyalty and will recognize his ongoing commitment to the work of PESC with an honorary lifetime PESC Membership and the new title of President Emeritus. Michael will continue to be a part of the PESC community as he seeks new opportunities outside of his PESC voluntary efforts.

Michael Sessa was instrumental in bringing the education community together to foster data exchange standards that are impacting every higher education institution and millions of learners each year. We are thankful for his leadership, dedication, and persistence leading our voluntary efforts to augment how we build interoperability into our data systems, said Francisco Valines, Director of Financial Aid at Florida International University and former PESC Chair and Vice Chair.

Michael has led hundreds of workgroup and user group meetings, posted and published hundreds of articles on blogs, newsletters and initiatives hosted by major industry convenings and private foundations, and participated in CEDS, Credential Engine and T3 convergence between education and workforce stakeholders. Michael has also advocated for Data Standards United (DSU) with the Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community, bringing together standards bodies to consider partnerships and joint efforts. He is a trailblazer, no doubt! summarized Doug Falk, former PESC Chair and CIO of National Student Clearinghouse. 

The PESC Board Leadership, made of David Moldoff as Chair, Monterey Sims as Vice Chair, Ruth Blades as Secretary, and Kristi Blabaum as Treasurer, will continue; as will Jennifer Kim as Director of Membership Services. PESC will be supported by the team at AcademyOne for business management (Joyce Selke), website support (Steve Mincer), marketing support (Michelle Thornal) and coordination across all services (Michael McIntyre), for the next six months as the Board reassess roles and activities aligned with the PESC mission and direction. 

Please join us in wishing Michael success in his future endeavors. 

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Advancing Education Through Digital Transformation: A4L and PESC Collaborating for Success

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Washington, D.C. – In a joint announcement, two well established education community standards bodies have agreed to develop a closer partnership with the goal of scaling K-12 and Postsecondary data standards efforts.

Started in 1997 by software vendors and schools collaborating, the Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community, and its special interest group the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC), is a unique, non-profit collaboration composed of schools, districts, local authorities, states, US and International Ministries of Education, software vendors, and consultants. The Community is Powered by SIF as its major technical tool to help manage learning data simply, securely and in a scalable, standard way regardless of platform. The SDPC is designed to address the day-to-day, real-world multifaceted issues faced when protecting learner information by setting common expectations between market providers and end users. The A4L Community has united these education technology end users and providers in an unprecedented effort to connect and secure effective learning ecosystems to give teachers more time to do what they do best: teach.

PESC, established in 1997 by higher education associations, software providers, and agencies, is an open standards-development and open standards-setting body (governed by a voluntary, consensus-based model). PESC is funded independently by membership, sponsorships, and special projects – enabling PESC to support, publish, and maintain PESC Approved Standards, Implementation Guides, and technical information, free and without charge. 

Through this new partnership A4L and PESC will have a tremendous impact on seamless interoperability of education data from early childhood through postsecondary and into the workplace, reports Dr. Benjamin Silberglitt, A4L Association Board co-chair. The privacy, security, and interoperability of education data is lifelong and demands greater cooperation between K-12 and higher education. Adds David Moldoff, PESC Board Chair, This partnership will ensure the data follows a learner-centric design emphasizing how all stakeholders can participate supporting the foundation of digital systems.

Watch for the announcement of a joint A4L/PESC Summit highlighting the opportunities and impact of this new partnership on the PK-20W+ ecosystem.

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What is CEDS and how can we use it?

The Common Education Data Standards initiative hopes to align colleges and universities on how they report student and faculty information.

Oct 07, 2022 by Andy Vilano

What is CEDS and How Can Universities Use It – Interview with Ross Santy, Associate Commissioner, Administrative Data Division, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education; and Michael Sessa, PESC President & CEO. EdTech Magazine 

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Outstanding Service Awards in PESC’s 25th Anniversary Awards Recognize Decades of Contribution & Leadership

Washington, D.C. ~ The Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) is pleased to recognize and honor Kristi Blabuam, Doug Falk, Doug Holmes, Susan McCrackin, David K. Moldoff, Michael D. Morris, Rick Skeel, Francisco Valines and Jennifer Kim with Outstanding Service Awards. With decades of experience, voluntary service and participation at every level within PESC, each was previously honored with Distinguished Service Awards.

“The collective knowledge this group brings to PESC, along with the contributions each has made over many, many years that benefit students and the education community, are truly invaluable,” states Michael Sessa, PESC President & CEO. “Interacting with PESC has become a right-of-passage and these individuals represent the best of the very best.”

KRISTI BLABAUM, SYSTEMS INTEGRATION ANALYST, ASCENDIUM; REPRESENTING NASLA
Kristi currently serves on the PESC Board of Directors as Treasurer and as Change Control Board (CCB) Chair. Kristi was first elected to the Steering Committee of the Standards forum for Education in 2009, and then appointed CCB Chair in 2010. In 2011, she was appointed to the PESC Board of Directors and has served as Treasurer since 2020. Kristi wrote and led the development of the Student Loan Portfolio Standard and participated in the development of Common Record and CommonLine, also PESC Approved Standards, and all financial aid initiatives within PESC. Ascendium is a PESC Data Summit Sponsor, and Kristi first received PESC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2010.

DOUG FALK, VP & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, NATIONAL STUDENT CLEARINGHOUSE
Doug currently serves on the PESC Board of Directors. First appointed to the Board of
Directors in 2005. Doug served as Board Chair from 2015-2019. He has led and/or
participated in almost every PESC Group including PESC’s Data Privacy Task Force, GEO
Code & EdExchange. Doug helped write and participated in almost every PESC Approved Standard; and National Student Clearinghouse is among the largest users of PESC Approved Standards, including for student financial aid. National Student Clearinghouse won PESC’s 18th Best Practices in 2016 for Extending the Capacity of Higher Education to Scale the Output of Verified Workforce-Ready Graduates. National Student Clearinghouse is a current Diamond Sponsor, and Doug first received PESC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2017.

DOUG HOLMES, MANAGER, ETRANSCRIPTS, OUAC
Doug currently serves as Canadian PESC User Group (CanPESC) Co-Chair. Doug coauthored OUAC’s Model of an Electronic Standardization Initiative: Ontario Universities Electronic Transcript (OUETS) System winning PESC’s 1st Best Practices in 1999, making him one of PESC’s longest volunteer participants. OUAC is also among the largest users of PESC Approved Standards. Doug was appointed CanPESC Co-Chair in 2017 and has served as CanPESC liaison to ARUCC. He first received PESC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2014.

JENNIFER KIM, DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP SERVICES, PESC
Jennifer currently serves as Director of Membership Services at PESC. She joined PESC
in 2005 when PESC offices were located at One Dupont Circle in the National Center for
Higher Education. She has been instrumental in the development and production of PESC Data Summits held April and October each year with responsibilities ranging from hotel contract negotiation and management to registration and all social media, to all meeting and audio-visual logistics. Jennifer supports all Member communications and dues processes; and represents PESC at industry events, including AACRAO, GDN, & STATS-DC of the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

SUSAN MCCRACKIN (RETIRED), SR.DIRECTOR FOR FINANCIAL AID METHODOLOGY, COLLEGE BOARD
Susan currently serves as Steering Committee Chair of the Standard Development Forum for Education. First elected to the Steering Committee of the Standards Forum in 2009, Susan was then appointed as Chair in 2010. She first received PESC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2013.

DAVID K. MOLDOFF, CEO & FOUNDER, ACADEMYONE
David currently serves as PESC Board of Directors Chair. First appointed to the PESC
Board of Directors in 2003 representing SCT Corporation, David continued on the Board in 2005 representing AcademyOne, and has also served as Board Treasurer. He has led and/or participated in almost every PESC Group including GEO Code & EdExchange & represented PESC in the Rome Student Systems & Standards Group (RS3G). AcademyOne won PESC’s 17th Best Practices in 2015 for Automating Reverse Transfer for the State of Tennessee and won PESC’s 12th Best Practices in 2010 for SC-TRAC Transfer & Articulation Center. AcademyOne is a current PESC Diamond Sponsor, and David first received PESC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2009.

MICHAEL D, MORRIS. SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER IN TEST, ACT
Michael currently serves as PESC TAB Chair and JSON-LD Task Force Chair. First
appointed to the PESC TAB in 2008 as Chair, Michael has supported the development and production of every PESC Approved Standard, has written several critical PESC Technical Specifications (XML Technical Specification and PESC Compliant JSON), serves on the Standards Forum for Education’s Steering Committee, and with 40+ years experience, is leading PESC on JSON-LD. He first received PESC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2010.

RICK SKEEL (RETIRED), PRODUCT MANAGER, ELLUCIAN
Rick currently serves as JSON-LD Transcript Development Workgroup Chair. First elected to the Board of Directors in 2005 representing AACRAO (University of Oklahoma), Rick returned to the Board over his career representing the Kuali Foundation and Ellucian. He served as Board Chair from 2021-2022, with 40 years experience wrote and/or participated in almost every PESC Approved Standard, and first received PESC Distinguished Service Award in 2017.

FRANCISCO VALINES, DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL AID, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Francisco currently serves on the PESC Board of Directors. First appointed to the Board
of Directors in 2007 representing NASFAA. Francisco continued on the Board in 2009
representing Florida International University, served as Board Chair from 2010-2015, and serves as student aid expert and invaluable resource with 40+ years experience. He first received PESC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2016

About PESC Awards
Many volunteers from the PESC Membership and education community have helped shape PESC into the strong organization it is today. Based in openness and transparency, together we support a neutral and welcoming environment with a seat at the table for everyone. The success of PESC is due primarily to the valuable output (from white papers to development, approval and maintenance processes of standards) all produced through workgroups and committees that are staffed and run by these volunteers. Certain individuals, who exemplify these values and who have performed for PESC above and beyond the call of duty, are recognized by PESC each year with Distinguished Service Awards. PESC Distinguished Service Awards serve as our opportunity to say thank you for being a leader and for making a positive impact on education.

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