Moving with the Mission

Empowering Seamless IEP Transitions for All Military Children

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 Individualized Education Program (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.

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.

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) in collaboration with the non-profit InnovateEDU and the Project Unicorn initiative announced a first-of-its-kind effort to participate in a working group with state and local education agencies and school data management software companies to seamlessly and securely transfer IEP-related data of students moving into and out of DoDEA’s federally-operated school system.

DoDEA and InnovateEDU signed a Letter of Intent to support the working group in its efforts to develop the processes, governance structures, and legal agreements needed to facilitate transparent and confidential data transfers with a goal of reducing gaps in special education services for military children resulting from challenges in transferring student records.  

Read this December 2024 report from Congress for additional background on this project.

Announcement from former First lady Dr. jill biden

On January 16, 2025, Joining Forces, along with the Department of Defense and Department of Education (ED), announced new actions to support military children with disabilities and ensure they receive the services they need when they move schools. Together, these actions will address delays in services due to issues with transferring special education records from one school district to another, often across state lines.

Read more in Project Unicorn’s press release.

Watch the former First Lady’s remarks from the event below:

Background information

For more background on Moving with the Mission, review the slides:

1. August 15, 2024 Session

2. September 6, 2024 Session

3. Review the proposed Data Schema

Focus Group and Council for Exceptional Students

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.

Participants of the focus group include:

• A4L

• Actionaly

• AEM Corp

• Aeries Software

• Alabama State Department of Education

• Authentica Solutions

• California Department of Education

• Clever

• Colorado Department of Education

• Digital Promise

• DoDEA

• Ed-Fi Alliance

• Education Analytics

• Infinite Campus

• Learning Technology Center of Illinois

• Michigan Data Hub

• Mindex

• Nelnet

• North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

• Partners in PROMISE

• PCG

• Saginaw Valley State University

• Siras Systems

• South Bend Community School Corporation

• The Texas Education Exchange

• University of Florida

• University of Oklahoma

• Utah State Board of Education

• Virginia Department of Education

• Washington State Department of Education

As the focus 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. Participants of this working group include:

• Kyena Cornelius, Ed.D  University of Florida

• Brittany Hott, Ph.D. University of Oklahoma

• David Bateman, Ph. D. American Institutes of Research

• Danielle Kovach, Ed.D  Hopatcong Board of Education, Hopatcong, NJ

• Jenna Kremkow, Ph.D Elmhurst University (also with Partners in PROMISE)

• Andy Markelz, Ph.D. Ball State University

• Jacqueline Rodriguez, Ph. D. CEO National Center for Learning Disabilities

• Mitchell Yell, Ph.D. University of South Carolina

Interested in learning more or have any questions? Email projectunicorn@innovateedunyc.org.