PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC), the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced the next evolution of its AI platform with the launch of PowerSchool PowerBuddy™, an AI-powered assistant for everyone in education.
PowerSchool’s AI ecosystem founded on Responsible AI principles uniquely benefits all stakeholders crucial to a student’s educational journey. With their very own PowerBuddy, each student, parent, educator, counselor, and administrator will now have safe and secure access to individualized guidance, information, and resources at their fingertips, helping students receive the most optimal social, emotional, and academic support in a way never experienced before.
Unlike other one-off AI offerings, PowerSchool’s comprehensive AI ecosystem is purposefully engineered to “bring AI to data.” This distinctive approach upholds rigorous standards of privacy, ethics, and security establishing a modern method for responsible and innovative AI implementation in education.
PowerBuddy is a role-specific Conversational AI assistant being piloted now and will be available for the 2024-2025 school year to support student progress in and out of the classroom.
PowerBuddy will initially be incorporated into Schoology Learning offering students on-demand, one-on-one assistance with their assignments and tailored pathways transforming traditional learning into an immersive and engaging experience. Teachers will be able to use PowerBuddy to generate lesson plans, automate the creation of quizzes and assessments in Performance Matters, and personalize homework at scale, saving them time to focus on what’s most important – interaction with students. Additionally, it will offer individualized college and career guidance through Naviance CCLR for both counselors and students. Parents can leverage PowerBuddy in My PowerSchool to inquire about their child’s academic performance and other relevant information. They will receive proactive alerts if their child is falling behind, fostering transparency and empowering parents to participate in their child’s education. Additionally, PowerBuddy will offer personalized, district-approved academic and social-emotional learning resources from ContentNav to actively support them in their child’s learning. Furthermore, administrators can ask natural language questions about their data within Analytics & Insights and PowerSchool SIS to truly democratize information for decision-making. PowerBuddy will eventually be expanded across the entire PowerSchool ecosystem. It will be system-agnostic and will integrate with most education technology tools, including non-PowerSchool products.
“Today heralds an exciting chapter in the realization of personalized education – a milestone that was previously beyond reach, at scale, until now,” said Shivani Stumpf, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at PowerSchool. “In addition to supporting parents, teachers, and educators, PowerBuddy helps each child cultivate a genuine passion for learning, driven by the intentional design of safe, supportive, inspiring, and tailored experiences using AI.”
PowerSchool’s Unmatched AI Capabilities for the Education Ecosystem:
• Secure by Design: Like all AI implemented across PowerSchool’s platform, PowerBuddy was developed using responsible AI principles and fine-tuned specifically for K-12 education. Unlike other companies that require districts to share their data, PowerSchool brings AI to districts’ data, avoiding the pitfalls of other solutions that require data transportation to AI applications. This provides an unmatched level of security for protecting student information.
• Seamless Integration: Unlike other standalone applications, PowerSchool AI is integrated into products educators, students, and parents use every day so they will not be required to learn a new system when educators are already overwhelmed.
• Unparalleled Personalization: The AI integrates into PowerSchool products, widely used by millions of students and educators each day. This integration ensures users benefit from personalized support driven by a comprehensive 360-degree holistic view of student and educator data derived from PowerSchool’s integrated suite of products, unlike other one-off standalone AI solutions. Additionally, the company leverages its K-12 Data Platform, recognizing that the effectiveness of AI relies on complete data. The platform plays a crucial role in breaking down data silos, providing purpose-built, education-specific capabilities to enhance the overall functionality of the AI system.
• Delivery at Scale: Unlike other products on the market, PowerSchool has the proven capability to support districts of any size with an in-depth knowledge of the education ecosystem, including state, territory, and district-level requirements, all protected with industry-leading security protection and data privacy protocol.
• System Agnostic: Districts can leverage all the data from technology tools they already use to get the most accurate and holistic personalized insights and support.
“With PowerSchool’s vision to leverage AI capabilities to transform data into actionable goals that help achieve better student outcomes, we feel incredibly optimistic about our journey forward,” said Dr. Joseph Nettikaden, Chief Information Officer at Esol Education, UAE.
“PowerSchool is revolutionizing education on a global scale by leveraging AI designed specifically for K-12 education to empower our teachers and staff to change lives by helping young people design their future,” said Fr. Jose Alarico Carvalho, Director of Father Agnel School in India. “This AI-powered assistant will invigorate learning, foster collaboration and efficiency in ways we haven’t seen before. Our school has always pioneered change and I’m excited to partner with PowerSchool on this transformative endeavor.”
