Featured Resources
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As classroom technology and generative AI evolve at breakneck speeds, education leaders face a critical choice: rely on flashy, general-consumer tools or invest in secure, purpose-built infrastructure. The Project Unicorn Q2 Brief cuts through the digital noise to show why robust data standards, modernized data architecture, and evidence-based procurement are the ultimate guardrails for student safety and academic success.
Download the Q2 Interoperability Brief to equip your leadership, technology, and procurement teams with the standards-based toolkits, rubrics, and templates needed to build a safe, future-ready digital ecosystem.
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2026 Quarter 1 AI & Interoperability Brief Release
Interoperability is foundational to AI success in education, and building an underlying structure grounded in data standards and data maturity is key to implementing AI that will truly benefit schools and students.
The 2026 Quarterly AI and Interoperability Brief Series explores the intersection of interoperability and AI, highlighting the latest trends, case studies, and tools you can use to improve your educational technology ecosystem.
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Currently, the lack of standardized, national definitions for core service terms creates a systemic ‘transfer gap.’ This lack of clarity often results in significant delays for students waiting to receive comparable services in a new district. To address this, researchers convened an expert panel to establish a much-needed consensus on these terms.
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AI Data Use and Protection - Worksheet
In the rush to adopt an AI tool, don’t let data security become an afterthought. The AI Data Use and Protection Worksheet is designed to help cross-functional leaders—from the CISO to General Counsel—a clear, standardized vetting process.
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.
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Considerations for the School Districts in Considering Large Scale AI Model Deals
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. Procurement is no longer just about purchasing; along with AI literacy, it is the first line of defense in responsible AI governance.
The following slide deck is available for consideration and understanding.
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Considerations for the School Districts in Considering Large Scale AI Model Deals
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. Procurement is no longer just about purchasing; along with AI literacy, it is the first line of defense in responsible AI governance.
For years, Project Unicorn has championed the need for data to flow seamlessly and securely between systems to inform instruction and operations. Simultaneously, the EDSAFE AI Alliance has led the global charge on the SAFE (Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Efficacy) benchmarks for AI adoption in education.
Now, as "frontier models"—highly capable, large-scale AI systems—enter our schools, these two missions must converge. Procurement is the intersection where safety meets connectivity.
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.
Resource Database
Empower Learning - Case Study
Progress reports go out on Thursday and the teachers are up in arms because they can’t enter scores into their online gradebook. This isn’t because the internet is down or due to a device malfunction—it’s because the online gradebook isn’t able to share data with the student information system (SIS)...
Marisa Kaplan, EdSurge
Interoperability With MiDataHub and KReady - Case Study
Data should maintain its meaning as it gets passed between schools, districts, and even states. Interoperability standards assist in providing solutions for increasing concerns over linking student, teacher, school, and district data to create actionable outcomes.
Corey Matlack, No.Inc
Oklahoma's Interoperability Story - Case Study
“The Oklahoma SDE serves 512 traditional school districts, 28 charter school districts, 58 charter school sites, and over 1,795 schools. With over 693,700 students in the state, the OK SDE works hard to meet the challenging needs of students with educational technology.”
Ariana Bauer, CPSI, Ltd.
Denver Public Schools - Case Study
Naturally, robust reporting and analysis features play a key role in data-driven instruction. So when a tool isn’t as user-friendly as it could be, it behooves us to work with companies’ teams to incorporate our teachers’ feedback into product updates.”
Tim Leddy, Senior Product Manager
Achievement First - Case Study
There’s no secret sauce in terms of platform, reports or software; it’s about creating an interoperable ecosystem, developing the right habits and empowering teachers to accomplish lofty goals.”
Anthony Nevico, Former Senior Director of Systems & Data
Providence Public Schools - Case Study
Data interoperability is an imperative for multiple reasons. Regarding the high mobility rate within Providence Public Schools, it allows for students to have immediate access to the curricular tools and resources in their home school at the moment of entry, which ensures that there is no loss in learning time."
Cameron Berube, Director of Curriculum & Instruction
Reasoning Mind - Case Study
Is Meaning Lost When Data Is Exported? Why Reasoning Mind Takes a 'Wait And See' Approach
What you need in order for an API to work is for all districts to use the same set of standards to connect to vendors, but that is technically complicated.”
William McGuinness, Director of Product Management
Zeal - Case Study
Zeal CEO John Danner: Want to Make Data Actionable? Start With Building the Right Culture
The solution that’s been proposed is to roll up data from all systems and present it in a dashboard. Because the data isn’t well-aligned, it’s a ‘garbage in, garbage out’ problem.”
John Danner, Chief Executive Officer
Newsla - Case Study
Data Sharing Hasn’t Been a Concern for Most Newsela Customers—But Super Users Want More
When we see more adoption, we will work on automating and generalizing the approach. The tipping point will be when it is more efficient for us to build tools that give more control to administrative customers than it is to handle their requests manually”
Dan Cogan-Drew, Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder
Illuminate Education - Case Study
Illuminate Education Shines Light on Growing Need for Better Data Sharing.
This article is part of the guide What Does It Take to Make Interoperability Work in K-12 Education?
EdSurge
“We’ve been talking about interoperability since the beginning in 2009. It’s a key tenet of what we do... No one uses the word ‘Interoperability, but that’s what they [educators] are asking for.”
Mark Walls, Chief Product Officer
Lexia Learning - Case Study
DIY or Buy? How Lexia Learning Is Revisiting Data Integration
EdSurge
We are making progress constantly but the question is really, ‘Do users feel like we’re making enough progress fast enough?’”
Rob Paushter, Vice President of Product Development