Illuminations and Insights

In this blog, CEO Andrew Rice reflects on the new vision document from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences. In the blog, Andrew shares how strongly the vision resonates with the work EA's been building toward for years—especially the call to move education data from a static snapshot to a continuous stream. Real modernization requires shared, durable software. It requires governance, engineering capacity, and cross-state collaboration through models like state consortia. It requires equipping researchers with data engineering skills alongside statistical expertise. Andrew reflects on what it will actually take to make the IES vision a reality—and why this moment matters.

Get to know Monica Bhatt, Education Analytics (EA) Board Member and Senior Research Director at the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Education Lab, in the latest blog on our website. In conversation with EA CEO Andrew Rice, Monica discusses the day-to-day responsibilities of her role, what drew her to serve on EA's Board of Directors, how she thinks the education research field will evolve in the coming years, and the challenges that are still ahead for the field.

Efforts to modernize organizational operations often center on a familiar triad: people, process, and technology. More recently, data has become a fourth, indispensable dimension, woven into every aspect of how organizations operate. At Education Analytics (EA), we've seen firsthand how beginning modernization with any single dimension — and addressing the others in a linear sequence — creates a Gordian knot. Each attempt to optimize one strand tightens the others, stalling progress and increasing friction. In our latest blog, CEO Andrew Rice and COO Libby Pier share EA’s approach to a parallel, people-centered model of governance--one that treats data, software, and process as interconnected and equal pillars of modernization. They introduce the prism model, a framework that can help districts and states accelerate their digital transformation efforts--and that has helped us begin to untangle our own Gordian knot as an organization. By managing these dimensions together through creativity, collaboration, and conflict resolution, people drive meaningful and lasting progress.

At EA, we’re trying to do more than just “bridge the gap” between research and technology—we’re trying to create a new kind of organization that leverages the strengths of each field to solve the most pressing problems in public education. In our latest blog, CEO Andrew Rice and Chief of Staff Libby Pier share some of the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve worked to build a technology-enabled research organization. They discuss the cultural differences that can cause researchers and technologists to talk past each other, and highlight the commonalities across these fields that when leveraged, can help transform education into a truly information-rich, evidence-driven industry.

Two years after the release of ChatGPT, EA CEO Andrew Rice reflects on how generative AI can serve education and maintain public control. He calls for collaboration among educators, technologists, and policymakers to build publicly-owned, unified data structures and AI tools that prioritize privacy and interoperability. Andrew advocates that we can prevent data fragmentation, streamline AI tools, and protect student privacy, ensuring that the benefits of AI in remain with public institutions.

From March 3 - 7, several Education Analytics’ staff had the opportunity to attend and present at SXSW EDU in Austin, TX. CEO Andrew Rice and EA Board President Richard Bowman (Chief Information and Strategy Officer at Albuquerque Public Schools) presented the session, “Data Interoperability & AI: Veggies Before Dessert.” Also in attendance at SXSW EDU was Development Strategist Ben Dederich, Director of Brand & Communications Marlena Holden, and Chief of Staff Libby Pier. In this blog, the group reflects on their time at SXSW EDU and highlights their key takeaways from the conference.