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
Learn More About Data Interoperability
Watch this short video by Digital Promise to learn about what data interoperability is and how it makes education better.
CoSN Interoperability Toolkit
CoSN has developed this Interoperability Toolkit to help districts increase the interoperability of their academic and operational systems.
Standardizing School Innovation Data: Report and Recommendations
This report urges school innovation funders, intermediaries, and researchers to engage more proactively with standards bodies to integrate school design concepts into existing standards to maximize adoption, rather than pursuing a new standard
Ecosystem Empowerment Guide by A4L
This guide has been developed with input from CIOs/CTOs and is meant to address both data management and data privacy which are two major concerns that schools face each day.
A4L Sample RFP Language
Insert language from our partners at A4L in your requests for proposals so that your school or district procures only technologies that are interoperable.
EdSurge Research Guide in Interoperability
In this guide, you’ll find case studies from the perspective of educators and administrators, as well as a series of profiles that share how companies are thinking, planning and guiding their product development process to address these user needs.
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.
Grace's Path to Success
Check out this resource from our partners at DQC to see how critical information is to supporting a student's unique path to graduation.
CoSN Interoperability Report
Read why interoperability standards matter in K-12 education. CoSN has produced a report that showcases perspectives from district and school leaders and makes the case for data interoperability.
Scaling Access and Impact: Realizing the Power of EdTech
Read this report to learn more about the impact of equitable edtech and how it can improve edtech and learning at scale from Omidyar Network.
EdMatrix - Education Standards Directory
EdMatrix is a cooperative effort to create a directory of Education Standards. The emphasis is on Education Data standards but important Competency & Achievement standards and Design & Practice standards are also included.
Leveraging Data and Technology to Improve Student Outcomes (National PTA):
Protecting the safety of children and their school records online, while ensuring access to high quality digital educational opportunities, is critical in the 21st century. This issue brief outlines policies that ensure children’s identities are protected online, and families and students have reasonable control over the collection, storage and use of relevant personal education information.
Chief Privacy Officers: Who They Are and Why We Need Them
From the Center for Democracy and Technology, read this resource to learn more about the role of Chief Privacy Officer and why they are important to district teams.
Privacy, Security, and Interoperability Convening Read-Outs
Read major takeaways, lessons, and highlights from the event held by Project Unicorn and Future of Privacy Forum in December 2018.
Parents Value, Trust, and Rely on Education Data (DQC)
On behalf of the Data Quality Campaign, Harris Poll surveyed 914 US parents with children ages 5–17 about their attitudes toward data collection and data use in schools. This infographic displays key findings from the 2018 poll, demonstrating that parents value, trust, and rely upon publicly reported education data and individual data about their child to make important decisions to support their child’s educational success.
Parents: Raise Your Hand and Ask Schools How They Protect Student Data (FPF)
With all of the new educational technology in classrooms, it can be hard to know what questions to ask. Here are the 7 most important questions that parents should ask about student privacy during this school year.
Parent Resource on Education Data (NPTA/DQC)
In partnership with National PTA and DQC, this one-pager offers parents a set of questions to ask school leaders about their student's education data and its collection and use in schools.
In Partnership with Providers: The Importance of the Vendor Community
From Ed-Fi Alliance, join Troy Wheeler as he discusses the value and role of technology providers in the larger movement towards interoperability.