Outcomes-Based Contracting: Linking Investment to Student Success
K-12 districts continue to wrestle with how to ensure technology investments directly support student learning. Traditional procurement often reinforces fragmented decision-making and inconsistent implementation, leaving districts with tools that fail to meet expectations. Outcomes-Based Contracting (OBC) offers a new approach by tying financial investment to measurable results. In this model, at least 40 percent of provider payments are contingent upon achieving clearly defined student outcomes.
OBC requires districts and providers to set targets upfront, align implementation strategies, and share accountability for results. The process not only modernizes procurement but also strengthens partnerships, moving from transactional vendor relationships to collaborative efforts focused on student success.
Nebraska provides an example of how these ideas are taking shape at scale. The Nebraska Education Data Partnership brought together multiple service units and the state to improve data infrastructure and support literacy outcomes. By investing in interoperable systems and aligning expectations across districts, Nebraska created the conditions for OBC-style accountability. Their work demonstrates how intentional collaboration and modern data systems can enable districts to measure impact, improve implementation fidelity, and build sustainable procurement practices.
Early results from Nebraska and other districts show that OBC can catalyze improvements in both vendor relationships and infrastructure, creating a feedback loop where better data drives stronger decision-making. By reframing procurement around outcomes, OBC ensures public dollars are linked directly to student learning — delivering on the promise of technology in education.¹
¹ Project Unicorn. (2024). Stories from the field: ESU 6. Project Unicorn. https://www.projectunicorn.org/resources/ stories-from-the-field-esu6
This Story from the Field is a supplement to the 2025 Project Unicorn State of the Sector Report which analyzes K-12 school system capabilities and infrastructure for leveraging education data. Read the full report.
