In our quest to help networks better understand and improve their K12 school system's capabilities, we created the School Network Pledge. This pledge symbolizes secure access to student data, educates practitioners and families about student privacy, promotes equity, and ensures fiscal responsibility for edtech purchases. By signing this pledge, schools are signaling to other school networks, edtech vendors, and their community that they’re committed to helping students grow with interoperability.
To support edtech vendors in enhancing the use of educational data and improving teaching and learning practices for stronger student outcomes, we created the Edtech Vendor Interoperability Pledge. This pledge symbolizes the commitment to maximizing equitable access and availability through data interoperability. By signing the pledge, edtech vendors are signaling they are committed to enhancing their products' security, access, privacy, and interoperability. This enables educators, and families to be more involved in their student’s education, enhancing the effectiveness of their educational data. It also informs teaching and learning practices for stronger student outcomes.
A successful and modernized Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) should function as a dynamic tool empowering educators, principals, and decision-makers to directly impact student outcomes. Beyond the mere collection of data, the system must seamlessly transform information into actionable insights through intuitive dashboards. This evolution from data to information to knowledge to wisdom is crucial for informed decision-making at various educational levels.
Ready to uncover recommendations, resources, and success stories to enhance your journey to harness the full potential of SLDS (Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems)? Dive into Project Unicorns’s latest resource and learn how to use the strategy of federal funding braiding to secure federal funding sources and improve your implementation.
Stories from the Field, curated by Project Unicorn, provide a glimpse into the collaborative efforts between school systems and edtech solution providers, offering valuable insights into what's possible within an interoperable data ecosystem in education. These stories supplement the findings from the 2023 State of the Sector (SOTS) Report, offering a detailed analysis of K-12 school system capabilities related to education data, with input from 208 unique LEAs, Regional Education Service Agencies, and school systems. Explore Stories from the Field and the SOTS report to better understand the evolving landscape of education data.
The potential of cooperatives to build capacity for implementing Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) is vast. With the ability to foster interagency cooperation and strengthen the data ecosystem, this strategy presents an innovative approach. This resource provides suggestions and examples of incorporating cooperatives into your SLDS initiative. Learn about the key benefits, anticipate challenges, and explore recommendations for state leaders.
Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) can be crucial in education data management and data-driven decision-making. Some states have increasingly looked to make these connections to workforce development, such as California’s Cradle to Career system. These systems are designed to collect, store, analyze, and manage a wide range of data related to student performance, school information, demographics, and other relevant indicators in the education data curriculum. To ensure effective use and meaningful data analysis, interoperability is a key consideration in SLDS implementation.
As we work to provide physical infrastructure for our schools that is safe, healthy, and supportive for all students, the time has come to align resources towards creating a digital infrastructure that is equally safe, accessible, resilient, sustainable, and future-proof.
Protecting student data privacy is critical to implementing interoperable technology systems. Read this jump-start guide to learn about key education data privacy organizations and resources that support best practices in student data privacy during your interoperability journey.
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.
Please use the drop downs to search our database of resources.
Data integration platforms, products and services can help school systems seamlessly and securely bring together previously siloed education data, supporting advanced data analytics and reporting. This can help educators make better decisions to support students and save school systems time and money. Peruse our list of integration specialists to find the right provider and solutions for you!
Read MoreThe Standards Glossary by Project Unicorn is a directory that contains a list of Interoperability Standards in K-12.
Read MoreAre you a startup or early stage edtech company? Learn why data interoperability is so important in today's competitive market and how you can make it your market advantage. After all, what startup doesn't want to be a Unicorn? Read more below!
Read MoreData interoperability standards make possible the seamless, secure, and controlled exchange of data between applications. If you’re wondering “What’s the best data standard?” you may be asking the wrong question. Instead of thinking “what standards team should I pick” you should be thinking “what standards should I have on my team?” The answer will depend on the game that you’re trying to win. Read more below!
Read MoreWhoever told you to get your head out of the clouds was wrong! Now, more than ever, K12 school systems are expected to provide students and educators with seamless learning experiences powered by data interoperability, even while working remotely. Modernizing data infrastructure and migrating data systems to the cloud can help make this a reality.
Read MoreDistricts are increasingly expecting the edtech products they use to share data seamlessly and securely with other applications. This can reduce implementation time, help prevent errors introduced by manual data entry processes, and empower districts to better leverage their data. However, it’s not enough for vendors to integrate with an open data standard through an API - usability of the API matters too! Read more about best practices for open data standard API integrations.
Read MoreBeing certified to a data standard signals to customers that your product is truly interoperable. Certification gives buyers the confidence that their educational data will flow seamlessly and securely between their applications. Discover steps to certification for Ed-Fi Alliance, Access 4 Learning Community, and IMS Global here.
Read MoreWhen it comes to data interoperability, sometimes it's hard to know what is fact and what is fiction. This resource tackles some of the most common myths and misconceptions about interoperability. Discover the truth with this resource from the Project Unicorn Technical Advisory Committee!
Read MoreHow does your school network rank? Review the rubric to assess your tier of interoperability.
Read More
