Project Unicorn is joining forces with edtech solution providers, state and local education agencies, and nonprofit groups to launch Moving with the Mission, a new initiative designed to empower seamless and secure Individualized Education Program (IEP) transitions for all military children, including a signed letter of collaboration between Project Unicorn and the U.S. Department of Defense DoDEA schools.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Today, Project Unicorn officially announced the launch of the Moving with the Mission Initiative. Project Unicorn is joining forces with edtech solution providers, state and local education agencies, and nonprofit groups to launch Moving with the Mission, a new initiative designed to empower seamless and secure Individualized Education Program (IEP) transitions for all military children, including a signed letter of collaboration between Project Unicorn and the U.S. Department of Defense DoDEA schools.

Students with disabilities, on average, wait 4.25 months for special education services to be implemented when they transfer schools as their military-connected parents and guardians move from assignment to assignment, according to Partners in PROMISE.

One barrier to students with disabilities receiving timely services is the lack of interstate data interoperability. Data interoperability is the seamless, secure, and controlled exchange of data between applications. Often, school districts experience a delay in getting the transfer of secure information about students’ needs and services contained within their IEP. Ensuring secure, safe, and interoperable data exchange would significantly reduce this service interruption while ensuring students’ strengths are recognized and educators have the right information to personalize instruction to meet students’ needs.

“Military families move on average every two to three years,” said Michelle Norman, Executive Director and Founder of Partners in PROMISE. “Our research shows that military-connected children in special education are waiting months for the new school to implement their Individualized Education Program (IEP). Military families cannot afford to wait, especially when their child requires an IEP to access an education. Moving with the Mission is a groundbreaking step in reducing the months-long delay. Partners in PROMISE is honored to support this initiative and deeply appreciative of Joining Forces, the Department of Education, and Project Unicorn’s commitment to address this unique challenge. By ensuring data interoperability, this collaboration brings hope for consistent and timely educational support for our most vulnerable military children.”

The First Lady highlighted this new effort at a Joining Forces event at the White House. Under the First Lady’s leadership through her Joining Forces initiative, the federal government, and private and non-profit sectors have taken critical first steps to ensure military children with disabilities, and all highly mobile students with disabilities can receive the services they deserve in a timely manner.

In August of 2024, the U.S. Department of Education held a summit on emerging technology where Project Unicorn facilitated a Problem of Practice Breakout session focused on the question of “How might we design technology standards and systems to support data interoperability and portability for high-mobility student populations?” Since the summit, Project Unicorn has gathered a group of parents, educators (State Education Agencies & Local Education Agencies), edtech industry leaders, administrators, and nonprofit and advocacy organizations to help us participate in a focus group to shape the development of tools and resources to empower military-connected students and families to navigate educational transitions with greater ease and confidence. DoDEA will be participating in this collaborative focus group aimed at seamlessly and securely transferring IEP-related data of students moving into and out of DoDEA’s federally operated school system. As the group works on the technical aspects of this initiative, nonprofit special education groups like the Council for Exceptional Students will lead efforts to tackle implementation and practice challenges, including a working group to normalize a shared data dictionary for special education interventions to help better define comparable services across state lines.

Stakeholders in the K-12 education space, including edtech providers, are working together with Project Unicorn to address this need for military families. Various edtech providers have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with InnovateEDU, committing to helping design solutions that make it easier for students with IEPs to transition smoothly between schools and districts.

“InnovateEDU is thrilled to introduce Moving with the Mission,” said Erin Mote, InnovateEDU CEO. “Our goal is to empower seamless Individualized Education Program (IEP) transitions for military children, addressing the average 4.25-month wait for special education services that many families experience. Ensuring our military families are taken care of and can thrive is vital to our national security. This initiative aims to provide timely and personalized support by focusing on secure and private data standardization and transfer of this vital information. Together, we can reduce service wait times, care for our military families as they serve, and ensure every child receives the support they deserve.”

Learn more: https://www.projectunicorn.org/moving-with-the-mission

About Project Unicorn

Project Unicorn is a national initiative coordinated by InnovateEDU and powered by a coalition of organizations representing stakeholders across the education sector focused on the goal to optimize and radicalize education data with interoperability, Project Unicorn leads the development of events, tools, and resources to educate K-12 buyers of edtech products, bring clarity to interoperability standards, help edtech vendors meet the demand for interoperability, raise awareness of the importance of interoperability for understanding all students’ paths to graduation regardless of income or zip code, and ultimately see how interoperability can create data magic for schools and students.

Media Contact

Laura McHugh, InnovateEDU, 1 3304178239, laura@innovateedunyc.org, InnovateEDU

SOURCE InnovateEDU