This study examines the state of Nebraska’s education data systems, analyzing their ability to meet the needs of teachers, researchers, and policymakers. Informed by over 200 state education leaders, the resource explores system costs, administrative interrelationships, and data accessibility. It provides a strategic one, three, and five-year plan to upgrade and modernize the state's data infrastructure for improved school performance and accountability.

This follow-up study compares the actual ROI of the Michigan Data Hub (MiDataHub) against its original 2016 estimates. With a total state investment of $23.7 million, the report reveals significant efficiency gains: while standard integrations cost $7,532, MiDataHub integrations average just $3,711. Learn how an annual investment of only $3.47 per student has optimized data system integrations and delivered measurable value to Michigan districts and taxpayers.

Managing K-12 data costs Michigan districts over $160 million annually. This study highlights how the Michigan Data Hub provides a standardized platform to eliminate duplicative efforts and automate compliance reporting, offering a clear path to reducing these costs by one-third. By leveraging shared tools and a common data infrastructure, the Hub demonstrates how districts can save at least $56 million per year while shifting from a compliance mindset to smarter, year-round data management.

The lack of standardized, national definitions for core special education terms creates a systemic transfer gap for military-connected students. When families relocate, this lack of clarity often leads to significant delays in students receiving comparable services in their new school districts. To ensure the timely and consistent implementation of IEPs, researchers convened an expert panel to establish a national consensus on these essential service terms. Bridging this gap is critical to maintaining educational continuity and support for students with disabilities during military transitions.

Interoperability is the essential foundation for AI success in K-12 education. To implement AI that truly benefits schools, leaders must build an underlying structure grounded in mature data standards. The Q1 2026 Quarterly AI and Interoperability Brief explores this critical intersection, highlighting the latest trends, case studies, and tools needed to optimize your educational technology ecosystem for the AI era.

This worksheet allows teams to create a side-by-side risk matrix for every vendor, allowing them to make a safe, confident, and informed decision before entering a vendor agreement.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and frontier AI models rapidly reshape the educational landscape, school systems face a dual challenge: harnessing these tools' transformative potential while rigorously safeguarding student data, privacy, and well-being. The following slide deck is available for better understanding.

We developed this resource to bridge the gap between technical data governance and ethical AI implementation, responding to practical needs from our work leading 29 school district policy labs and 10 state policy labs. These questions are designed to help district and state leadership vet tools not just for what they can do, but for how they fit into a secure, interoperable, and learner-centered ecosystem. Whether you are evaluating a standalone AI app or integrating a large-scale frontier model, this guide can be part of your blueprint for responsible innovation.

To provide more insight and guidance into how edtech purchasing happens and consider how educators and leaders can work together to make more informed purchasing decisions, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and Project Unicorn have released Better Edtech Buying: A Practical Guide - Revised Edition.

Why One Supports the Other: Data interoperability is a helpful component to building and maintaining quality software. Interoperability isn't a panacea, but making intentional and informed choices about implementing an interoperability standard contribute to better development practice, better privacy practice, and better security practice. Here are 5 ways interoperability, privacy, and security enhance each other.

Clarity around how the Ed-Fi Alliance Standards and IMS Global Learning Consortium® Standards can be used in support of educators is a common and increasingly frequent request from the Ed-Fi Community. In many cases, Ed-Fi and IMS Global standards often seek to solve different problems, and therefore a better understanding of the tools and functionality available for various use cases is important to selecting the best solution for a given use case. Each organization’s technologies provide real, and distinct, value to users in their daily lives and work….

As local and state governments, businesses, and institutions across the country implement the first phases of reopening after weeks of lockdown, schools are beginning to plan for learning this fall…

This infographic illustrates that, when all the important people in their lives have appropriate access to information, individuals get the support they need to succeed.

Learn about the different organizations in K-12 that provide data standards to make Data Interoperability possible.

Learn more about why Data Interoperability matters to schools.

Learn more about starting your journey towards interoperability as a superintendent.

This issue brief shares state policy recommendations and action steps for policymakers who are supporting the redesign of educator workforce systems.

School District Administrators: If you are just getting started with interoperability, use these first practical steps to begin.

How does your school network rank? Review the rubric to assess your tier of interoperability.

Your customers are demanding interoperability. As more and more school districts commit to procuring interoperable EdTech products and platforms, it's important for vendors to stay ahead of the curve.