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.

K-12 has lived through many “next big things” in edtech. Some have delivered real value, especially in large-scale data collection and adaptive learning. But across states and districts, student outcome progress and gaps remain stubborn, and leaders are rightly skeptical that a new wave of AI tools alone will change that. This is not simply a failure of technology. It reflects a basic fact: no algorithm can solve challenges rooted in resource inequities or social conditions. What AI can do is help educators, policymakers, and researchers reason more clearly with the information they already have. That only works if the data are accurate, standardized, and connected, and if the people closest to students remain in charge of how those data are used. In this blog, Vice President of Data Science Dan Jarratt discusses how, in order to ensure that AI systems that are effective, auditable, and equitable for students, we must start with something more basic: open, interoperable, standardized data infrastructure that public agencies can govern and sustain.

The conversation about AI in education has been dominated by the power and potential of AI to further galvanize ed tech usage and impact in classrooms. It’s time for that conversation to expand to focus on the opportunity—and the need—for staff at Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and State Education Agencies (SEAs) to embrace AI literacy. In this blog, we highlight three focus areas with action steps that agencies can take to build up their AI literacy to ensure they are well positioned to navigate and embrace AI usage within their agency.

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.