Learn21's Weekly EdTech Update

December 11, 2025

From Why to How: The Untapped Power of Not-for-Profit Partnerships in EdTech

By Dr. Stacy Hawthorne and Kevin Ghantous

In education, we talk a lot about purpose, our why. Why we champion universal access. Why we advocate for strong data privacy protections. Why professional learning matters. Why technology must serve instruction, not overshadow it.

But as every district leader knows, purpose alone doesn’t move mountains. Impact depends on the how. How do we operationalize vision? How do we remove barriers? How do we build scalable support systems that strengthen entire ecosystems? In this moment of rapid change, not-for-profit organizations are uniquely positioned to transform states when they lean into the “how” with intention and creativity.

Across the country, nonprofits often serve as connective tissue: the bridge between national expertise and local needs, between policy and classroom practice, between innovation and implementation. But the organizations making the greatest difference aren’t simply convening conversations; they’re designing structures, services, and partnership models that help districts succeed at scale.

The Multiplier Effect of a Well-Designed Partnership

When a nonprofit shifts from “raising awareness” to “removing friction,” everything changes. Suddenly, districts and schools gain access to capacity they could never build alone.

Take, for example, what happens when a state-level organization brokers bulk memberships into national programs. A district that might never have joined on its own suddenly gains cybersecurity training, data privacy frameworks, AI governance guidance, and advocacy tools. Multiply that by tens or hundreds of districts, and a state begins to move in unison.

The significance of this move isn’t just about cost savings. It’s about leveling the playing field. It’s about ensuring that the same high-quality resources that support well-resourced districts are also available to the small rural district with a team of three people wearing thirty hats. It’s about building a statewide culture where leaders speak the same language, share the same frameworks, and push forward together.

Strength in Numbers and in Collaboration

For not-for-profits, one of the most powerful questions they can ask is:

How might we reduce complexity for districts so they can focus on teaching and learning?

When organizations make strategic decisions, like negotiating shared memberships, offering statewide professional learning, or standing up collaborative cohort models, they create a synergy that accelerates progress.

Districts don’t just get services. They gain:

Community: real peers solving real problems together
Consistency: aligned messaging, tools, and expectations
Capacity: expertise that districts can lean on when bandwidth is thin
Confidence: knowing they’re not alone in navigating cybersecurity, AI, interoperability, or compliance requirements

This is the magic of the “how.” It empowers not-for-profits to become force multipliers, amplifying impact far beyond their size.

The Ohio Example: Innovation at Scale

Ohio is a powerful case study in what happens when a not-for-profit organization leans fully into operational creativity. In just one year, a small but mighty CoSN state chapter grew its national membership from under 40 districts to nearly 400, an almost 10x expansion that fundamentally reshaped the state’s EdTech landscape.

This growth wasn’t accidental. It was the result of the leadership at the EdTech Leaders Alliance (ETLA) asking:

How do we make world-class resources available to every district, not just a select few?
How do we make membership frictionless?
How do we create value that feels communal, not individual?

The answers led to innovative partnerships, bulk purchasing strategies, and a commitment to “strength in numbers” statewide. It even inspired one Educational Service Center to pursue a similar approach for additional programs, proof that bold thinking catches on.

While Ohio’s model may be unique, the underlying strategy is both replicable and scalable for any state-level nonprofit willing to rethink what partnership can look like.

A Call to Action for Not-for-Profit Leaders

Not-for-profits have long played a critical role in shaping the EdTech ecosystem. But today’s landscape, marked by AI’s rapid rise, heightened cybersecurity threats, and increased scrutiny of technology use in schools, calls for an even more proactive approach.

If you’re a leader in a similar organization, consider this your invitation to move from why to how:

How can you lower the barrier to access for the districts you serve?
How might you broker statewide or regional partnerships that lift everyone?
How can your organization become an engine for coherence, capacity, and community?

The solutions don’t need to be flashy. They just need to be meaningful—and designed with districts’ realities in mind.

When nonprofits innovate not just in mission but in mechanism, they don’t just support a state.

They transform it.

Media Literacy Minute

The End of Kids on Social Media?

The Atlantic’s podcast episode, “Is This the End of Kids on Social Media?” discusses a landmark 2025 law passed in Australia that will ban children under 16 from holding accounts on major social-media platforms. The policy reflects growing concerns about risks to children’s mental-health, online safety, and the influence of social media on youth. The episode explores how banning children under 16 from social media might reshape youth digital habits and prompts educators, parents, and policymakers to rethink what it means to support healthy digital citizenship in a changing world.

Stop Conflating Journalism With Mass Media

In this commentary for Cascadia Daily News, the author argues that collapsing all media—from social feeds to entertainment to news—into one category undermines trust in legitimate reporting. The piece calls for renewed media literacy efforts that help the public distinguish between reputable journalism and the broader universe of information, emphasizing that democracy relies on an informed, discerning audience.

Visual Thinking as a Tool for Spotting Misinformation

In The Conversation’s article, “Visual Thinking: The Strategy That Could Help You Spot Misinformation and Manipulated Images,” the authors explain how structured visual-thinking routines can strengthen people’s ability to evaluate digital images. The piece outlines how asking guided questions helps slow down automatic reactions, making it easier to identify misleading visuals and build critical media-analysis skills.

Using Data Responsibly: Revisiting the Student Data Principles

By Mike Porter

This article continues a series exploring data use, misuse, and governance in K–12 education. The Student Data Principles—originally developed by CoSN and the Data Quality Campaign in 2014 is still a critical set of tenets to help guide educational decision-makers. Each installment will present the principles, offer current insights, pose key questions for leaders, and suggest practical steps districts can take to strengthen their data governance practices.

Why Revisit the Student Data Principles?

The Student Data Principles , despite being over a decade old, are still highly relevant in today’s rapidly evolving EdTech landscape. Current innovations, such as generative AI, cloud platforms, and advanced analytics, represent new ways of collecting and utilizing data. Therefore, robust data governance is evermore crucial.

So far, we have covered these foundational Principles

Student data should be used to further and support student learning and success.
Student data is most powerful when used for continuous improvement and personalizing student learning.
Student data should be used as a tool for informing, engaging, and empowering students, families, teachers, and school system leaders.
Students, families, and educators should have timely access to information collected about the student.
Student data should be used to inform—and not replace—the professional judgment of educators.
Students’ personal information should only be shared, under terms or agreement, with service providers for legitimate educational purposes; otherwise the consent to share must be given by a parent, guardian, or a student, if that student is over 18. School systems should have policies for overseeing this process, which include support and guidance for teachers.
Educational institutions, and their contracted service providers with access to student data, including researchers, should have clear, publicly available rules and guidelines for how they collect, use, safeguard, and destroy data.

These tenets anchor a broader vision for responsible data use, prioritizing transparency, deep partnership, and educators' vital role in data interpretation.

Now, we look at the next two Principles.

Educators and their contracted service providers should only have access to the minimum student data required to support student success.
Everyone who has access to students’ personal information should be trained and know how to effectively and ethically use, protect, and secure it.

Key Questions for Reflection

What data elements are we sending to software companies? And, as importantly, why?

Emphasize data minimization in EdTech contracts. District leadership must provide only the minimum data required for the product to function. Question the necessity of details like home addresses and parent names. While excessive stripping might hinder future analysis (e.g., efficacy by gender, race), such analysis could be done internally. In that case, securely deliver anonymized and aggregated reports to leadership.

Who has access to Free and Reduced Lunch status for your families? And, as importantly, why?

Review policies and practices for how all staff (admin, coaches, food services, community partners) access and use data. For instance, who accesses free and reduced lunch status, and why? While educators aim to serve students thoughtfully, privacy can be protected by allowing families to opt in to services for the most vulnerable.

Action Steps for Leaders

Audit your DPA’s with key vendors, and take a razor to the data elements. Start with the biggies: food services, transportation, assessment and IEP systems. Think before you cut though, and discuss the implications with stakeholders.
Take the one data element of free and reduced lunch and conduct a data governance exercise. Walk all the way through how the information is collected, stored, distributed and reported. Again, apply a scalpel to each step, with the goal of minimizing data sprawl. Hint, if your staff are storing free and reduced lunch status in clear text spreadsheets, you have an opportunity.

Closing Thoughts

Data is truly a double edged sword–it informs instruction, programming and helps us get the right resources to the right kids. At the same time, privacy is critical. Stay informed on best data governance practices. Remember, it’s easier to add data elements or extend access than it is to pull data back, or close down access. Find that sweet spot in your district through collaboration.

Big Ideas

Space Radiation Ate My Homework

Major airlines recently grounded some of their planes to fix corrupted software, which was damaged by cosmic rays. The phenomenon is called “bit flip,” and causes software, and in some cases, hardware failure. Luckily, the fix is a pretty easy software refresh to get planes back in the air fast. Also, thankfully, bit flips are rare. More here.

Just in Time for the Holidays

Many of us recall the halcyon days of 2007 when the iPhone came out. The idea of music, cameras, cat videos and, oh yeah, a phone all in one pocketable device was revolutionary. Since then, while we’ve seen incremental changes in battery life, camera quality, and screen size, the smartphone has not changed significantly. Now we’re seeing new phone form factors (say that three times fast!) in the shape of foldable phones. This article details those emerging innovations, including Samsung’s tri-fold phone.

Another Take on Australia's Social Media Ban

As we shared in Media Literacy Minute this week, Australia is instituting a ban on social media for minors under the age of 16. This ban, starting December 10th, has drawn attention from supporters and critics which is why we are sharing it twice in one newsletter! For another take on the issue you can read one student’s perspective and legal challenge here.