SPEEDE began in the late 1980s in response to a need for standardized electronic transcripts. The first EDI specification was released in 1990. In 1995 the University of Texas at Austin launched a free service facilitating the exchange of electronic transcripts. The service was widely used and in 2011 its operation was taken over by National Student Clearinghouse. Since it's inception the SPEEDE server has received and delivered more than 50 million electronic transcripts.
Today the SPEEDE Committee is an all volunteer sub-advisory group of the AACRAO Technical Advisory Council (ATAC) that represents the interests of the AACRAO community in developing and promoting the implementation of standards for electronic exchange of student education data. To accomplish these goals the group members facilitate webinars, sessions, workshops and roundtables at the AACRAO Annual Meeting, Technology and Transfer Conference and Regional AACRAO Conferences. Committee members are actively engaged in various PESC workgroups focused on creating new standards, updating existing standards and identifying opportunities to increase interoperability and adoption.