Digital Literacy, AI Readiness, and the New Portrait of a Graduate: A Conversation with Lisa O’Masta, CEO of Learning.com

sschuller — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 21:23:07 +0000

Hot Topic

Top Stories

sschuller Fri, 11/21/2025 - 13:23

Digital Literacy, AI Readiness, and the New Portrait of a Graduate

November 21 2025

Author

Rich Portelance

In the latest episode of the EdGate Powers Education podcast, host Rich Portelance sat down with Lisa O’Masta, CEO of Learning.com, to explore the rapidly shifting landscape of digital and AI literacy—and how states, districts, and edtech companies are working to prepare students for a world that changes faster than policies can keep up.

A 25-Year Mission Aligned With Today’s Urgency

Learning.com has been focused on digital literacy for more than two decades, long before it became a national priority. Today, AI literacy falls naturally within that mission. As O’Masta noted, the company must think about AI holistically—its impact on internal operations, product development, teaching practices, and student learning.

This integrated view has placed Learning.com at the center of a broader national conversation about what it means to be “future ready.”

Connecting Digital Literacy to the Portrait of a Graduate

Across the country, states are redefining the skills students need to thrive after graduation. The “portrait of a graduate” movement emphasizes durable, human-centered skills: critical thinking, ethical decision-making, adaptability, and digital citizenship.

According to O’Masta, these outcomes map directly to the work Learning.com has championed for 25+ years. Digital literacy is no longer a siloed course—it’s the “connected tissue” bridging core academics and CTE, enabling students to see real-world career applications from kindergarten onward.

Redefining Future-Ready Skills

Being “future ready” is no longer about mastering tools. It’s about mindset:

digital discernment
adaptability
safe and ethical online behavior
continuous learning

Students must understand how technology influences the world around them—and how their own actions online shape their personal and professional futures.

Supporting Durable Skills Through EdTech

O’Masta emphasized that edtech companies have a responsibility to lead with integrity and research-based design. Learning.com focuses on solutions that reduce complexity for teachers, connect digital competencies to workforce needs, and expand career awareness starting in early grades.

Standards alignment remains a challenge, especially in CTE pathways where state requirements differ widely. O’Masta highlighted EdGate’s role in helping Learning.com rapidly map to evolving state frameworks, including Texas’s TEA initiatives and new digital/AI literacy competencies.

Compliance as the Floor—Not the Ceiling

Innovation and compliance often clash. O’Masta described Learning.com’s philosophy:
meet standards fully, but innovate far beyond them.
Interactive and scenario-based lessons allow students to practice digital discernment, troubleshoot real-life problems, and understand the implications of their choices online.

Integrating AI Literacy into Everyday Learning

AI can’t be something students learn about—it must be something they learn through.
One example: a sixth-grade lesson where students analyze a TikTok license agreement using AI tools. By seeing how their data is used, students gain a new level of awareness and responsibility.

“If students know better, they do better,” O’Masta explained.

Measuring Growth in Future-Ready Skills

Traditional assessments can’t capture changes in judgment, online behavior, or digital citizenship. Learning.com is exploring:

sentiment scoring
scenario-based assessments
tracking cyberbullying trends
reductions in technology monitoring
improvements in campus culture

These signals can reflect growth in ways test scores cannot.

Collaboration and Public-Private Partnerships

No state can achieve AI readiness alone. O’Masta highlighted North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas as examples of states building strong partnerships to operationalize big goals like career-connected learning and digital citizenship.

The next wave of innovation, she believes, will come from companies and states working together toward common definitions and frameworks—not competing in silos.

Equity and the Digital Divide

O’Masta underscored that digital literacy is a foundational right, especially for rural, high-need, and remote districts. Ensuring all students have access to high-quality digital instruction is essential for reducing inequities.

Human-Centered Skills in an AI-Driven World

Despite rapid AI evolution, O’Masta believes that education must remain deeply human. Students need to know not only how to use technology, but when to put it away. Future curriculum must be adaptive, experiential, ethical, and grounded in empathy.

Advice for Leaders: Don’t Wait

O’Masta’s closing message to education leaders was simple:
Don’t wait for perfect policies or complete plans. Start building foundational AI awareness and digital literacy now.

Her vision: a future where students graduate confident, compassionate, digitally fluent, and thoughtful about how they engage with the world—online and offline

Insights from Hillary Knudson on Portraits of a Graduate

sschuller — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 16:26:31 +0000

Insights from Hillary Knudson on Portraits of a Graduate

EdTech

Hot Topic

Top Stories

sschuller Tue, 11/04/2025 - 08:26

Building the Future-Ready Learner: Insights from Hillary Knudson on Portraits of a Graduate

November 04 2025

Author

Rich Portelance

In the latest episode of EdGate Powers Education, host Rich Portelance spoke with Hillary Knudson, Vice President at Whiteboard Advisors, about how states are redefining what it means to be “ready” for the future.

Knudson explained that the Portrait of a Graduate movement emerged from clear feedback from employers: academic skills alone don’t ensure success. Students also need durable skills — communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and adaptability — that carry them through college, career, and life.

States Leading the Way

Knudson highlighted examples from Kentucky, which integrated its Portrait of a Graduate through the United We Learn initiative, and Indiana, which connects its Graduates Prepared to Succeed framework to real employment data through a statewide dashboard. These states, she said, are demonstrating how frameworks become meaningful when they are embedded in existing systems — not standalone policies.

The Role of AI and Emerging Competencies

As technology transforms the workforce, several states are now including digital literacy and AI competency in their portraits. Knudson emphasized that the goal is to make AI an additive part of learning — supporting creativity and problem-solving rather than replacing them.

Balancing Standards and Implementation

Aligning academic and CTE standards with durable skills is key to keeping high school learning relevant. However, Knudson cautioned that implementation must not add to teachers’ workloads. Instead, these skills should be integrated naturally through high-quality curriculum and instruction that already promote collaboration and critical thinking.

Assessing Future-Ready Skills

One of the biggest challenges is assessing these competencies meaningfully. Knudson pointed to initiatives like the Skills for the Future pilot — a multi-state effort involving ETS, Carnegie, and the XQ Institute — as promising models for evaluating non-academic learning outcomes.

Equity and Lifelong Readiness

Equity remains central to the Portrait of a Graduate framework. Knudson emphasized that durable skills should be developed from early grades through high school, ensuring every learner has access to meaningful, future-ready opportunities.

Looking Ahead

Rich Portelance closed the episode with an invitation to the upcoming December 17 webinar, where Knudson will join Keven Ellis, Member of the Texas State Board of Education, and Lisa O’Masta, CEO of Learning.com, to explore how these frameworks are evolving — and how states, educators, and EdTech partners can align to support them.

Listen to the full episode on the EdGate Powers Education podcast.

Read more and register for the December 17 webinar.

Navigating Perkins V Changes

sschuller — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 21:52:07 +0000

Navigating Perkins V Changes

Standard Updates

Top Stories

sschuller Wed, 10/15/2025 - 14:52

Navigating Perkins V Changes: What Content Providers and Educators Should Know

October 15 2025

Author

Naomi Morton

Each year under the Perkins statute, Congress appropriates $1.4 billion in state formula grant funds under Title I to help students strengthen their academic knowledge, technical skills, and employability through career and technical education (CTE) programs. To receive this funding, each state agency must prepare and submit a Perkins State Plan and, in subsequent years, revisions to that plan for approval by the Secretary of Education.

In December 2024, the U.S. Department of Education released two new information collections requiring state and local CTE providers to revise their Perkins V State Plans outside of the traditional five-year process and meet additional reporting requirements as part of their Consolidated Annual Reports. The CTE community raised concerns about the short turnaround and added administrative burden, and by February 2025, the Department reversed the additional regulatory reporting guidelines.

Even with that reversal, the pressure to demonstrate measurable results under Perkins V remains high. Perkins recipients must show that their Career Connections programs produce strong outcomes, including:

Deep knowledge in a particular career field
Opportunities for students to earn industry-recognized and safety credentials
Work-based learning experiences tied to real-world career paths

Programs must also ensure equal access to enrollment and meet 11 required criteria such as providing technical skill proficiency, creating secondary-to-postsecondary linkages, meeting performance targets for core indicators, and aligning to current labor market demand.

How States Are Allocating Perkins Funds

Funding allocations continue to vary widely across the country.

New York: In 2025, New York schools allocated $2,855,506 to 674 schools.
California: California allocated $51,802,686 to unified and union high school districts, $2,818,330 for adult schools and Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROCPs), $1,229,931 to six ROCP consortia, and $475,000 to three state institutions, including Corrections and State Special Schools.
Iowa: Iowa voted to approve its 2025-2029 Perkins V plan which reduces the ratio of allocations to community colleges and K-12 school districts from 53.5% to 46.5%. Allocations are a 60-40 split with K-12 receiving the larger portion.

However, change is on the horizon. The FY26 federal budget proposes a reduction in CTE and Adult Education funding from $2.18 billion to $1.45 billion and emphasizes greater state and local control while consolidating or eliminating over 50 federal education programs.

According to David Taylor, Ed.D. from Framework Consulting, this shift signals that district leaders will need to prepare for increased autonomy and rely on data-driven planning to prioritize interventions. For education technology firms, he adds, this means “pivoting from compliance-driven sales to value-based partnerships.”

What This Means for EdGate Clients

As states begin revising Perkins V plans ahead of the next funding cycle, new or adjusted CTE standards are likely to emerge sooner than expected. Publishers and content developers will need to realign materials quickly to ensure their programs remain relevant and compliant with state goals.

EdGate supports this work by helping content creators and CTE providers:

Map curriculum to updated CTE and workforce standards
Crosswalk existing alignments to meet new state plan requirements
Tag content to industry-recognized credentials and labor market data
Provide clear evidence of alignment for reporting and performance monitoring

With funding and reporting expectations changing, maintaining accurate and adaptable standards alignment is key.

Contact EdGate learn more about how we can help you stay ahead of CTE and Perkins V updates.

Insights on Managing Adoptions and Winning Contracts

sschuller — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 21:50:24 +0000

Insights on Managing Adoptions and Winning Contracts

Top Stories

sschuller Wed, 10/15/2025 - 14:50

Insights from Education Leaders on Managing Adoptions and Winning Contracts

October 15 2025

Author

Rich Portelance

Over the past quarter, EdGate brought together a powerful group of education leaders to unpack one of the most pressing challenges facing both states and vendors today: how to manage curriculum adoptions and secure contracts amid uncertainty and change.

Our Thriving Amid Uncertainty series featured voices from across the K–12 ecosystem — state technology leaders, district administrators, and EdTech advocates — all sharing how shifts in funding, standards, and innovation are reshaping the education landscape.

Ji Soo Song
SETDA

1. The State Perspective: Ji Soo Song on Leadership and Fracturing

In our first podcast, Ji Soo Song of SETDA offered a national view on how leadership is shifting from federal to state levels. He described the growing “fracturing” among states — some building robust edtech leadership programs, others scaling back — and what this means for vendors.

“We’re seeing a new kind of leadership at the state level,” Ji Soo noted. “It’s no longer about one-size-fits-all policy. States are experimenting — and that means vendors must adapt to 50 different ecosystems.”

Ji Soo also underscored the importance of return on relationships: that successful vendors are investing in long-term partnerships through networks like CoSN, CCSSO, and the EdTech Quality Collaborative.

Jill Pierce
Tennessee Educational Technology Association (TETA)

2. The District View: Jill Pierce on Needs, Fidelity, and Strategic Alignment

Jill Pierce, Technology Director for Putnam County Schools, reminded vendors that success begins with understanding district needs — not just showcasing products.

“Don’t show up with a solution looking for a problem,” she said. “Districts need partners who align with their strategic plans and can demonstrate long-term fidelity.”

Jill also discussed the growing importance of data privacy, interoperability, and cybersecurity — noting that these are now non-negotiable elements of every district’s procurement checklist.

Mindy Fiscus
Learning Technology Center of Illinois

3. The Statewide Lens: Mindy Fiscus on Free Choice, AI, and Cybersecurity

From Illinois’ perspective, Mindy Fiscus emphasized how decentralized procurement in “free choice” states creates both opportunities and challenges for vendors.

“In Illinois, districts have autonomy — which means vendors need to build relationships district by district,” Mindy said. “That’s not a barrier; it’s an opportunity for deeper engagement.”

She also drew parallels between AI today and calculators in the 1990s — tools that can’t be banned but must be used responsibly. Her call to action: for vendors to “use their words” and participate in advocacy to shape policy around AI, cybersecurity, and digital equity.

4. The Capstone: Webinar Takeaways

Our live webinar brought these threads together under one unifying message: to thrive in uncertainty, vendors must deeply understand how states and districts are redefining what success looks like.

Panelists agreed that:

Funding flexibility at the state level is creating a new wave of innovation — but also new complexity.
Strategic alignment and interoperability will determine which solutions endure.
AI and digital safety policies will heavily influence future procurement decisions.

As Jill Pierce summarized during the webinar:

“It’s not enough to be innovative; you have to be aligned. The winners will be those who fit into the district’s ecosystem and prove they can grow with it.”

Looking Ahead: The Paradigm Shift Continues

The insights from Thriving Amid Uncertainty set the stage for EdGate’s upcoming Q4 campaign, “Paradigm Shift: States Redefining Standards and Funding.”
This next phase will explore how states are taking the lead in defining standards, funding programs, and setting priorities for innovation in K–12 learning.

Stay tuned for new podcasts, a December 17th webinar, and a deep dive into how these evolving strategies are shaping the future of education.

What Publishers Should Know About the Upcoming Texas IMRA Cycles

sschuller — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 21:47:08 +0000

What Publishers Should Know About the Upcoming Texas IMRA Cycles

Hot Topic

State Highlight

Top Stories

sschuller Wed, 10/15/2025 - 14:47

What Publishers Should Know About the Upcoming Texas IMRA Cycles

October 15 2025

Author

Katie Colina, Ed.D. - STRIVE Public Policy Resources, LLC

The Instructional Materials Review and Approval (IMRA) process continues to shape the instructional materials landscape in Texas, setting expectations not only for publishers working in the state but also for curriculum providers nationwide. Established under House Bill 1605, the IMRA process is designed to expand access to high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) for Texas classrooms. With the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) guiding the process, IMRA ensures that classroom resources meet TEKS requirements, comply with legislative mandates, and provide transparency for families and educators alike.

Why Texas IMRA Matters

As one of the largest education markets in the U.S., Texas wields significant influence over publishing priorities. Its size and the distinctiveness of its review process mean that what happens in Texas often sets a precedent or signals shifts that ripple across the country. For publishers, preparing for IMRA is not just about meeting requirements — it is about aligning with a state that sets the bar for instructional materials review.

The IMRA process not only impacts publishers competing in Texas but also signals broader national trends, from alignment practices to digital transparency.

SBOE Updates

At the September 2025 SBOE meeting, members addressed several items shaping the future of instructional materials in Texas:

Confirmation of changes from the 2024 IMRA cycle, reinforcing continuity in the process.
Approval of quality rubrics for the 2026 IMRA cycle (motion carried 9–1), giving publishers a clear framework for future submissions.
Action on the Social Studies TEKS framework, which will guide long-term instructional design in that subject area.
Ongoing discussion of innovative courses, particularly the large share tied to CTE, and their relationship to TEKS-based offerings.

These actions signal both stability and forward momentum, with the 2026 rubrics now set and innovative course pathways remaining a topic of interest.

Closing the 2025 Cycle — Opening the Next

The 2025 IMRA cycle will conclude in November 2025, finalizing approvals and providing clarity for districts preparing to adopt reviewed materials. Attention will shift to the 2026 IMRA cycle, which is already guided by the newly approved rubrics. Publishers should begin aligning with these quality criteria now rather than waiting for November.

Key Takeaways for Publishers

The September 2025 SBOE meeting underscored attention to CTE, Social Studies TEKS, and innovative course pathways.
2026 IMRA rubrics are approved, providing publishers with clear direction for the next cycle.
November 2025 will mark the closure of the current cycle and likely bring additional clarity on implementation and timelines.
CTE, transparency, and compliance with TEKS requirements and legislative updates remain priorities for publishers.

The IMRA process reflects Texas’ commitment to rigorous TEKS expectations and transparent curriculum practices. For publishers, understanding and planning around these Texas-specific requirements is essential to supporting classrooms in the state and ensuring readiness for future IMRA cycles.

For additional details on IMRA timelines, rubrics, and meeting updates, visit the TEA Instructional Materials page.

Special thanks to Katie Colina, Ed.D. - STRIVE Public Policy Resources, LLC for contributing to this month's EdGate Newsletter.

Deeper Insights with Semantic Matching in ExACT

sschuller — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 21:50:28 +0000

Deeper Insights with Semantic Matching in ExACT

ExACT

EdGate Services

Top Stories

sschuller Tue, 07/29/2025 - 14:50

Deeper Insights with Semantic Matching in ExACT

July 29 2025

Author

Sharla Schuller

If you're a curriculum publisher, EdTech provider, education agency, or district leader, you are likely managing multiple sets of academic standards. These may vary across states, subjects, grade levels, and sometimes even languages. You need more than surface-level comparisons to align content accurately and with confidence.

Semantic Matching in the ExACT Standards Alignment Platform was built to solve that exact challenge. Built for organizations that need to compare standards with precision, this feature allows you to understand not just where standards overlap but what they actually mean.

Unlike basic keyword tools, Semantic Matching uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the intent behind each standard. This makes it possible to go beyond how standards are written and focus on what they are really asking students to know or do.

Align Across Languages with Confidence

With Semantic Matching, standards written in other languages can be compared to English frameworks, and the reverse is also possible. These semantic translations account for meaning, not just word-for-word equivalents, making it possible to align content across language barriers with precision.

This feature supports broader and more inclusive alignment work, making it easier for organizations to align across states, countries, and languages using a single, unified platform.

Custom State-to-State and International Comparisons

ExACT users already have access to national benchmarks, such as comparing state standards to Common Core or NGSS using EdGate’s proprietary Concept Index. With Semantic Matching enabled, clients can take this further and generate comparison reports from state to state, from legacy to updated standards, or from U.S. standards to international frameworks.

This added flexibility is especially useful for publishers working across multiple jurisdictions and for agencies conducting standards reviews or preparing for upcoming adoptions.

A Premium Feature for Deeper Insight

Semantic Matching is a premium feature within ExACT. Once enabled, it allows your team to create custom comparison reports, work across languages, and export results in several formats.

More than just a comparison tool, our Semantic Matching is an asset that helps you uncover alignment insights you can act on. For organizations that depend on accuracy and scaling, EdGate provides one of the most advanced standards alignment platforms available.

Leading the Way in Standards Alignment with Semantic Matching

For more than 20 years, EdGate has been a trusted source for academic standards data, crosswalks, and alignment services. Our subject matter experts and proprietary tools, including the ExACT platform and Concept Index, continue to set the bar for quality and precision in standards comparison.

Explore our free online comparison tools to see how state standards compare with Common Core across subjects and grades. To unlock full access to Semantic Matching and build your own comparison reports contact us to get started.

Webinar Recap: Streamlining State‑Level Curriculum Adoption

sschuller — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 21:48:14 +0000

Webinar Recap: Streamlining State‑Level Curriculum Adoption

Hot Topic

Top Stories

sschuller Tue, 07/29/2025 - 14:48

Webinar Recap: Streamlining State‑Level K‑12 Curriculum Adoption

July 29 2025

Author

Rich Portelance

Curriculum misalignment is a major obstacle for EdTech companies trying to scale in the K-12 space. In our recent webinar, a panel of experts discussed how innovative tools and smarter workflows are helping publishers and providers overcome these barriers, streamline state-level alignments, and improve approval timelines.

Meet the Panel

The session was moderated by Rich Portelance, Senior Consultant at EdGate, and featured insights from:

Melissa Quinn, Education Specialist at News-O-Matic
Ashli Denton, Manager of Catalog Operations at Edmentum
Heather Talbot, Business Development Executive at EdGate

Together, they offered a grounded look at what’s working, what’s not, and how forward-thinking teams are handling the growing complexity of curriculum alignment.

The Core Challenges

Curriculum providers today face a mix of logistical and procedural challenges when aligning to state-specific standards. Panelists highlighted a few key hurdles:

Varied standards across states make multi-jurisdictional alignment a moving target
RFP response timelines are tight, but manual alignment slows teams down
Incomplete or outdated alignments can result in lost opportunities and delayed approvals

How Technology is Making a Difference

One of the main themes of the discussion was how technology, especially technology-assisted alignment tools, can remove much of the friction from the process. Tools like EdGate’s ExACT Standards Alignment Platform use data-driven frameworks to speed up alignment, automate tagging, and generate cross-state coverage with far more accuracy than manual methods alone.

This isn’t just theory, panelists shared real-world examples from News-O-Matic and Edmentum, showing how these tools helped reduce manual lift, improve consistency, and respond to state requirements faster and more effectively.

Strategic Moves for Alignment Success

If your team is working through the challenges of state-level adoption, the panel shared a few important takeaways:

Choose platforms that are built for multi-state standards management
Regularly update standards data to stay in sync with state-level changes
Use analytics to identify and close gaps in your content proactively

Why It Matters

For publishers and EdTech companies, faster alignment means lower costs and a shorter path to market. For educators and districts, it means confidence that the content they are using truly aligns to the standards they are required to meet. Everyone benefits when the process is more efficient and precise.

What’s Next

You can watch the full webinar recording to hear directly from the panelists and see how these strategies are playing out in practice. Or follow our Powers Education Podcast for more insights.

If your team is looking to gain a competitive edge in curriculum adoption, explore EdGate’s ExACT to learn how multi-state alignment, gap analysis, and streamlined standards management can support your goals.

Coming Soon

Mark your calendar: Our next webinar, "Thriving Amid Uncertainty: Manage Adoptions and Win Contracts", is scheduled for September 10, 2025.

What’s Next for STAAR? Texas Testing Reform on Hold for Now

sschuller — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:41:20 +0000

What’s Next for STAAR? Texas Testing Reform on Hold for Now

State Highlight

Teaching Trends

Top Stories

sschuller Thu, 07/03/2025 - 10:41

What’s Next for STAAR? Texas Testing Reform on Hold for Now

July 03 2025

Author

Bryan Ford

Summary: STAAR will continue for 2025–2026

Texas House Bill 4 (HB4), which proposed replacing STAAR with three shorter assessments throughout the school year, failed to pass in June 2025. As a result, STAAR will continue for the 2025–2026 school year, and no new assessments will be introduced yet. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) plans to spend the upcoming school year reviewing data from recent pilot programs before making future recommendations.

Current Timeline

Introduced to the Texas House of Representatives on February 25th, 2025, Texas HB4 proposed ending the use of STAAR tests in the curriculum. In its place, the bill suggests that schools give students three shorter tests at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. These proposed tests aim to act as “learning checkpoints” to examine student progress throughout the year. If passed, the bill proposed administering the tests as early as the start of the 2026 spring semester.

Although HB4 passed through both legislative chambers, it ultimately failed due to disagreements about implementation, such as when tests would be given, whether they would be norm- or criterion-referenced, and how performance would be rated. The Texas House and Senate were unable to reach a final compromise before the end of the 89th Legislative Session on June 2, 2025

What Does This Mean For The Future of Texas’s Standardized Testing?

The Texas Education Agency confirmed that STAAR will continue to be administered during the 2025–2026 school year.

Despite HB4 being unsuccessful, the TEA is working to develop a potential replacement for STAAR tests, the Texas Through-Year Assessment Pilot (TTAP). The TTAP tests are not planned to be administered during the 2025-2026 school year. Instead, as per the Texas Education Agency, the organization will be using the duration of the school year to analyze test data collected over the past three years. After this, TEA plans to gather feedback and create new, replacement testing materials accordingly.

Outside of TEA, discussions regarding what should be done about the STAAR testing format continue. In the meantime, STAAR continues to act as Texas’s forefront testing initiative for measuring student progress and readiness. The development of future adjustments will also proceed as planned, with TEA’s research also going towards STAAR test refinement.

As this situation unfolds, EdGate will continue to monitor all developments to keep your curriculum tools and alignments up-to-date.

Navigating the Fractured State Education Landscape

sschuller — Tue, 06 May 2025 21:07:40 +0000

Navigating the Fractured State Education Landscape

Client Solution

Top Stories

sschuller Tue, 05/06/2025 - 14:07

Navigating the Fractured State Education Landscape: How Leading Publishers and EdTech Providers Stay Ahead

May 06 2025

Author

Rich Portelance

The U.S. education market has always been complex—but in recent years, education publishers and EdTech providers have faced an increasingly fractured state-level approval environment. As states exert more control over curriculum standards, approval processes have become longer, more variable, and more nuanced. For content providers trying to scale nationally, this poses significant operational and strategic challenges.

But while the process has become more complicated, leading organizations aren’t sitting still. They’re turning to data-driven tools and proven frameworks to accelerate content alignment, track compliance, and uncover new market opportunities. At the heart of this shift is EdGate’s ExACT Standards Alignment System—a powerful standards management platform built to meet the needs of today's fragmented approval ecosystem.

The Challenge: Fragmentation of Standards and Approval Processes

Today’s publishers are no longer navigating a single roadmap. Instead, they must address:

Diverse state-specific standards

From Common Core derivatives to fully customized frameworks, each state may define academic proficiency differently.

Varied approval processes

Some states have formal adoption cycles; others rely on local district-level purchasing, each with their own requirements.

Increased documentation needs

States are demanding clearer evidence of alignment, instructional intent, and efficacy—often in differing formats.

Faster curriculum updates

The pace of change in learning standards, especially in STEM and career readiness fields, continues to accelerate.

This fragmented environment adds layers of time, cost, and risk to content development and go-to-market efforts—unless organizations rethink their alignment strategy.

The Solution: EdGate’s ExACT Alignment System

Leading education publishers and EdTech providers are adopting ExACT to bring structure, scalability, and speed to their standards alignment process. ExACT is a robust SaaS platform that centralizes and streamlines alignment across all content types—print, digital, and interactive.

Here’s how ExACT helps organizations stay ahead:

Gap Analysis for Strategic Planning

ExACT’s Gap Analysis tool gives product teams immediate insight into how well their content aligns with specific state standards. This is invaluable when preparing for a state submission or planning a new product launch. The system highlights areas of over-coverage or under-coverage—allowing teams to adjust content development plans proactively.

Publishers use this feature to:

Identify where new lessons or modules are needed
Make informed decisions on adapting vs. creating new content
Better allocate editorial and instructional design resources

Automated Alignment with Human Oversight

With ExACT’s Auto Align feature, teams can significantly reduce the manual effort involved in matching content to standards. Using AI-assisted technology, ExACT pre-populates potential alignments, which internal teams or EdGate’s alignment specialists can then review for accuracy. This hybrid approach maintains quality while cutting alignment time by up to 70%.

Crosswalking for Multi-State Expansion

One of the most powerful features in ExACT is Crosswalking—the ability to compare and translate alignments across multiple states. This is a game-changer for companies expanding from one core state into others.

With Crosswalking, you can:

Map existing aligned content to additional state standards with high fidelity
Understand which standards overlap and where gaps exist
Minimize redundant development across state lines

This feature not only speeds market entry but also reduces cost and preserves consistency in instructional quality.

Advanced Reporting and Custom Deliverables

States often require highly specific documentation during the adoption process. ExACT simplifies compliance by offering robust reporting capabilities tailored to individual state needs. Whether it's generating alignment matrices, correlation charts, or submission-ready documentation, ExACT ensures you can meet each requirement quickly and with confidence.

Partnership with Experts Who Know the Landscape

EdGate doesn’t just offer software—it brings two decades of experience in standards management. The EdGate team monitors standard updates in real time, supports content teams with expert alignments, and provides strategic consulting to help clients navigate changes in state policy or process.

Future-Ready Alignment Starts with the Right Infrastructure

In a fractured standards environment, success belongs to those who can move fast, stay flexible, and maintain accuracy at scale. The ExACT Alignment System gives publishers and EdTech providers a clear path through the complexity—automating what can be automated, surfacing insights where decisions matter, and helping teams reduce friction in every stage of the alignment and approval journey.

As the education landscape continues to evolve, EdGate remains committed to helping content providers deliver high-quality, standards-aligned resources to every learner, in every state.

Want to learn more about how ExACT can transform your alignment process? Contact EdGate today to schedule a demo or strategy session.

Questions Asked Most Frequently at ASU-GSV 2025

sschuller — Tue, 06 May 2025 21:05:37 +0000

Questions Asked Most Frequently at ASU-GSV 2025

EdTech

Top Stories

sschuller Tue, 05/06/2025 - 14:05

Questions Asked Most Frequently at ASU-GSV 2025

May 06 2025

Author

Gina Faulk

As always ASU+GSV in San Diego was buzzy and loud, air-conditioned to a state of uncomfortableness inside, but sunny and lovely outside. Education celebrities were circulating: Arne Duncan, Sal Khan, Colin Kaepernick, will.i.am and more. Old friends who have been in EdTech and traditional K-12 educational publishing for years could be found left and right. Newer companies with exciting new AI products were prolific.

U.S. Secretary of Education

Probably the highest profile event at ASU+GSV 2025 was the Tuesday morning interview featuring Linda McMahon, U.S. Secretary of Education. As evidence of its prominence, the building was secured with limited entrances/exits, secret service was in attendance, and a small group of protesters stood outside the conference venue. As is widely known, under the direction of the U.S. President, McMahon has been tasked with preparing to shut down the U.S. Department of Education. This executive order would require an act of Congress. As part of McMahon’s mission, she vowed to “return education to the states”, as declared during her February 2025 confirmation hearing and in her speech that can now be found on the U.S. Dept. of Ed. site.

What Does Return to the States Mean?

From our vantage point as the leading educational standards consulting company, EdGate has been pondering what this “return to the states” means for state curriculum standards/frameworks. Sure enough, the questions I received most often while at ASU+GSV were “What does this shift back to the states mean for learning standards?” and “Is Common Core dead?”

It’s widely known that every state already has its own standards (a.k.a. competencies). So the standards can’t be returned to the states; they are already authored and managed by the states. In fact, when our team is aligning K-12 education content to standards, we tend to think of the U.S. as fifty tiny countries. Although all states have adopted learning standards that basically teach the same concepts (adding fractions, verb tenses, photosynthesis, etc.) the emphasis put on individual concepts, the way individual standards are written and published, and at which grade level concepts are introduced differs from state to state. State standards often reflect the unique history, economy, and politics of each state. This is especially evident in subject areas like Social Studies and Career and Technical Education (CTE). For instance, some states emphasize healthcare or agriculture in their CTE standards, while others focus heavily on information technology—clearly aligning with the dominant industries and workforce demands within their regional economies.

A healthy share of companies that engage with EdGate come to us with their content already aligned to the Common Core standards. At that point, they have a good baseline to start with. After all, the Common Core State Standards were created in 2010 to establish consistent educational expectations across the fifty states, ensuring all students receive a comparable education in English language arts and mathematics. EdGate continuously links all of the state learning standards to a core taxonomy of concepts so we can take the existing Common Core alignments and map those Common Core alignments to the other 49 states. So is Common Core dead? No, but the states that have kept the Common Core verbatim are rare and after every state standard update cycle the standards become increasingly further removed from the original Common Core. Treating ELA and Math standards like social studies, where every state is bespoke, is closer to reality.

Helpful Resources

EdGate created a very useful and freely available state-by-state learning standards comparison visual on our website. Click on any state to see the differences between state standards and Common Core, NGSS, C3 and other widely used libraries. Check it out and see you next year at ASU+GSV!