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About History What is Interoperability? Our Team Steering Committee Technical Advisory Committee K-12 Advisory Board Emerging Leaders Cohort Moving with the Mission Every Day Counts Contact Us Interoperability Tools School System Data Survey State of the Sector Report Project Unicorn Rubric Interoperability Certification Certified Edtech Products The Pledge Why Sign the Pledge? School Network Pledge Edtech Vendor Pledge State Commitment to Principles Community Platform Resources Resources Stories from the Field K-12 Digital Infrastructure Brief Data Magic Podcast In the News Events
Project Unicorn

Featured Resources

 
Featured Resources
AI in Education: Negotiating for Our Future - A Worksheet for K12 Districts
Dec 18, 2025
AI in Education: Negotiating for Our Future - A Worksheet for K12 Districts
Dec 18, 2025

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.

Dec 18, 2025
AI in Education: Negotiating for Our Future - A Slide Deck for K12 Districts
Dec 18, 2025
AI in Education: Negotiating for Our Future - A Slide Deck for K12 Districts
Dec 18, 2025

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.

Dec 18, 2025
AI in Education: Negotiating for Our Future - A Checklist for K12 Districts
Dec 18, 2025
AI in Education: Negotiating for Our Future - A Checklist for K12 Districts
Dec 18, 2025

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.

Dec 18, 2025
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Sep 9, 2025
Advancing Data Interoperability in New York State’s Education and Workforce System
Sep 9, 2025

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is working to build a unified, interoperable statewide education and workforce data ecosystem that unlocks the full potential of data. As the public sector moves toward integrating education and workforce data, including grants to support this effort, New York provides an early model of how to tackle this challenge, supporting all learners in a seamless, secure, and interoperable manner.

Sep 9, 2025
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Sep 4, 2025
AI for Education: Keys to a Connected, Secure Future
Sep 4, 2025

Transforming Education Data for Literacy and Improved Student Outcomes for All explores Nebraska’s multi-year effort to make K–12 education data more accessible, actionable, and aligned with the needs of educators and students. Through the Nebraska Education Data Partnership (NEDP) and the state’s ADVISER system—built on the Ed-Fi Data Standard—Nebraska is connecting data across classrooms, districts, and Education Service Units to support better instructional decisions and improve literacy outcomes.

Sep 4, 2025
Transforming Education Data for Literacy and Improved Student Outcomes for All: Advancing Data Interoperability in Nebraska K–12
Jun 26, 2025
Transforming Education Data for Literacy and Improved Student Outcomes for All: Advancing Data Interoperability in Nebraska K–12
Jun 26, 2025

Transforming Education Data for Literacy and Improved Student Outcomes for All explores Nebraska’s multi-year effort to make K–12 education data more accessible, actionable, and aligned with the needs of educators and students. Through the Nebraska Education Data Partnership (NEDP) and the state’s ADVISER system—built on the Ed-Fi Data Standard—Nebraska is connecting data across classrooms, districts, and Education Service Units to support better instructional decisions and improve literacy outcomes.

Jun 26, 2025
How Education Providers Can Use OBC to Sustain Long-term and Efficacious Partnerships
Mar 27, 2025
How Education Providers Can Use OBC to Sustain Long-term and Efficacious Partnerships
Mar 27, 2025

Outcomes based contracting (OBC) offers an innovative approach to addressing the fundamental challenges in edtech procurement by restructuring how districts select, implement, and pay for edtech products and services.

Mar 27, 2025
How Districts Can Use OBC To Modernize Data Infrastructure & Procurement
Feb 26, 2025
How Districts Can Use OBC To Modernize Data Infrastructure & Procurement
Feb 26, 2025

Outcomes based contracting (OBC) offers an innovative approach to addressing the fundamental challenges in edtech procurement by restructuring how districts select, implement, and pay for edtech products and services.

Feb 26, 2025
TAC Series: Navigating the K-12 Education Procurement Landscape
Oct 10, 2024
TAC Series: Navigating the K-12 Education Procurement Landscape
Oct 10, 2024

Procuring educational technology (edtech) in K-12 education presents numerous challenges for both the buyer (school districts and states) and the seller (educational technology solution providers). These challenges necessitate more effective communication between the supply-side vendors and the demand-side consumers - local education agencies (LEAs). In an era when technology and education intersect, these tools must meet specific quality benchmarks around safety, usability, accessibility, interoperability, and evidence-based design to support informed decision-making in this space.

Oct 10, 2024
TAC Series: Safeguarding Student Data - Supporting Data Security and Privacy in K-12 Edtech
Aug 28, 2024
TAC Series: Safeguarding Student Data - Supporting Data Security and Privacy in K-12 Edtech
Aug 28, 2024

Privacy and security in K-12 have never been more critical. As technology matures and advances, the use of education technology and artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more widespread, the risks of attacks, human error, and other privacy and security concerns will only continue to grow. All roles involved in K-12 education must understand how to protect student data.

Aug 28, 2024

Resource Database

 

Please use the drop downs to search our database of resources.

 
Teachers Know Best
Teachers Know Best

Read this study from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on making data work for teachers and students.

Read More
EducatorsProject UnicornDecember 1, 2014PDF
Centralized vs. Distributed Educational Solution Architectures – Data Confederacies Compared to Data Unions
Centralized vs. Distributed Educational Solution Architectures – Data Confederacies Compared to Data Unions

Compare and Contrast: Multi-tier Educational Data Sharing Architectures

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District/School, Educators, VendorsProject UnicornFebruary 1, 2014Guide
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