EdCircuit Staff 
Product providers committed to student data privacy, interoperability and accessibility can streamline purchasing for K12 and higher education
May 23, 2018
BALTIMORE, Maryland―LearnPlatform, the comprehensive edtech management and rapid-cycle evaluation system, has announced the launch of the new IMPACT-Ready designation, a way for edtech companies to demonstrate their commitment to driving positive student outcomes in several key areas. The announcement was made today at the IMS Global Learning Impact Leadership Institute in Baltimore.
“School, district and state administrators nationwide have made it clear that access to product usage data, student data privacy and accessibility are all primary considerations when they evaluate new tools and make edtech purchasing decisions,” said Karl Rectanus, Co-Founder and CEO of Lea(R)n, the creators of LearnPlatform. “In response to this need, we have created the IMPACT-Ready designation, which makes it easier for districts and product providers to work together. Districts will benefit from a streamlined procurement process and direct integration of their data, which will keep costs down, ensure that high-quality products get into the hands of students more quickly and save educators more time so they can keep the focus on learning.”
IMPACT-Ready is designed to encourage all product providers to attain the basic qualifications and enable them to clearly indicate their commitment to providing education organizations with utilization information. To achieve the designation, providers must commit to:
- Ensuring student data privacy and security.
- Data interoperability, by signing the Project Unicorn vendor pledge.
- Transparency into their accessibility, to demonstrate that there is equitable access to tools.
- Use of governed data sharing standards, such as those set forth by IMS Global Learning Consortium and the Ed-Fi Alliance, including sharing product use data with clients.
IMPACT-Ready will create a number of benefits and efficiencies for schools, districts and institutions. Purchasing agencies will have easy access to the documents, details and information required for any purchase, such as data sharing agreements, integration details and accessibility information of any tool, which can speed up procurement processes. The designation will not only provide information on tools earlier and more quickly, saving significant time and expense in the procurement process, but will also give districts more confidence in a product’s commitments and alignment with their goals.
“Any instructional technology we consider for Utah schools must demonstrate its ability to keep student data safe, to enable accessibility for all learners and to seamlessly and securely share data with the other tools in use,” said Sarah Young of the Utah State Board of Education’s Digital Teaching and Learning Team. “The IMPACT-Ready designation covers each of these essential factors and will be tremendously beneficial to our process for evaluating edtech. We will use this designation to verify that product providers have committed to excellence in the factors we value most highly.”
Through LearnPlatform’s technology, states and districts organize, streamline and rapidly analyze the use and impact of any education technology. In some cases, districts can save as many as eight weeks in their purchasing cycle by using the IMPACT-Ready designation to demonstrate key edtech qualifiers. Because the process is run in LearnPlatform, all information is secure and private. No student data is shared or needed for the IMPACT-Ready designation. The announcement also means districts will be able to leverage the IMS Caliper Analytics® standard for data sharing from their product providers, streamlining their own analysis of what’s working for their students, teaching practices and budgets.
In addition to the ways in which IMPACT-Ready provides important support to districts, there are also several benefits to product providers of any size. Schools and districts nationwide require basic information for purchasing, but also need visibility into product usage data from their edtech providers to inform instructional decisions. LearnPlatform is making it easier for companies to share this data in a computer-readable, disaggregated and securitized way, so providers and education organizations can partner more easily to focus on their impact. By making the IMPACT-Ready pledge, companies will signal their willingness to work with districts, states and organizations that require vendors to share this data. Providers will benefit from a streamlined procurement process and shorter selling cycle, as districts can reference IMPACT-Ready status to quickly vet products.
“As part of our procurement process, our district vets every edtech product for its ability to deliver,” said Marlo Gaddis, Interim Chief Technology Officer for Wake County Schools in North Carolina. “By having a single point of reference, where we can identify upfront whether a product meets our qualifications, we’ll benefit from a quicker, easier procurement process and will have the opportunity to focus our time and resources on teaching and learning.”
After making the commitment, companies will receive a digital IMPACT-Ready badge to display on their website and social media profiles, the opportunity to have LearnPlatform share the news on social media with #IMPACTReady and discounts on future services. Product providers ready to sign the IMPACT-Ready pledge can do so by filling out a 10-minute application at learnplatform.com/IMPACTReady.
About LearnPlatform:
LearnPlatform is the comprehensive edtech management and rapid-cycle evaluation system for educators and administrators to organize, streamline and analyze their classroom technology to improve instructional, operational and financial decisions. The SaaS edtech system of record gives education organizations the ability to inventory and select digital learning tools, establish and maintain regulatory compliance, and measure outcomes to gain meaningful, actionable evidence to ensure learning ecosystems are safe and cost-effective. K-12 districts, higher ed institutions and state education agencies use the research-based LearnPlatform to continuously improve standards of practice that drive blended and personalized learning at scale, expand equitable access to education technologies and increase student achievement.
Media Contact:
MindRocket Media Group
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Further Reading
- edCircuit – LearnPlatform Raises Series A Investment to Improve EdTech Management and Efficacy
- EdSurge – Why I’m Optimistic About the Next Wave of Education Technology
- Forbes – LearnPlatform Aims to Bring Transparency and Savings to Murky, $12 Billion EdTech Purchasing Market
Chaz Austin