About PESC

Advocacy & Guiding Principles

Advocacy

PESC is working to become the voice for the efficient and secure exchange of student data from initial access of the student from high school into the college environment through successful completion of the education experience.

PESC is driving the alignment of data across disparate systems, across sectors and eliminating incompatible interfaces that present barriers to students and that inflate costs for institutions struggling to keep up with the demands of technology and real-time data exchange while maintaining competitive tuition rates.

PESC is building a core competency in XML architecture and data modeling and serves as a data standards-setting body for higher education.

PESC is collaborating throughout education and with the strength it derives from the actions and involvement of its membership, PESC is activating interoperability in higher education.

PESC Guiding Principles

No single law or mandate can standardize higher education in its entirety
Collaboration - our cornerstone principle - through PESC, a neutral objective third party, levels the playing field and allows a trusting environment
"Coopetition", creation of an environment of "cooperation among competitors" for the greater common good, emerges as the unifying value
PESC community agrees to not compete on data exchange...that the education network/super highway is a necessary commodity
Standards development is consensus-based and implementation is voluntary
PESC community agrees to compete on price and service
PESC itself does not benefit from the national standards agreed upon by the education community
Ability to rely on consistent, accurate data standards saves time, money, and frees administrators up to focus on the needs of students

Shifting Paradigms Affecting Data Standards

Major characteristics of students including the length of time for study among other traditional aspects are no longer the majority factors
Each year the rates of transfer students, adult learners, and dually enrolled and simultaneously enrolled students are increasing
Policy makers are promoting the need and importance of data driven decision-making
To facilitate student achievement, barriers preventing easier access to longitudinal data and data alignment along the entire student lifecycle PK20 must be overcome
Real-time data exchange and inquiry demands are emerging