Company: PowerSchool, Folsom, CA
Nomination Submitted by: WE Communications
Company Description: PowerSchool is a leading cloud-based K-12 education software provider, supporting over 60 million students across 90+ countries and more than 18,000 customers, including 90 of the top 100 U.S. districts.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Education
Nomination Sub Category: Use of Artificial Intelligence in EdTech
 Nomination Title: PowerSchool's PowerBuddy
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated new or new-version product or service, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: If this is a brand-new product, state the date on which it was released. If this is a new version of an existing product, state the date on which the update was released:
PowerBuddy was launched January 2024. The newest update was announced in September 2024.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the features, functions, and benefits of the nominated product or service (up to 350 words):
Total 349 words used.
- PowerSchool is a leading cloud-based K-12 education software provider, supporting over 60 million students across 90+ countries and more than 18,000 customers, including 90 of the top 100 U.S. districts.
- In January 2024, PowerSchool launched PowerBuddy™, a secure AI assistant designed for teachers, students, families, and administrators. Built with Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Services, PowerBuddy enhances engagement and personalized learning by integrating across PowerSchool’s suite of products. Unlike traditional AI tools, PowerBuddy goes beyond being just a tutor and securely connects with district systems to assist educators in lesson planning, assist students with assignments and post-secondary planning, and provide parents with personalized updates.
- Guided by PowerSchool’s responsible AI principles, PowerBuddy ensures fairness, bias resistance, and age-appropriate interactions, offering a safe and meaningful learning experience.
- PowerBuddy for Learning: Embedded within the widely used Schoology Learning Management System, PowerBuddy securely delivers individualized guidance to create meaningful, relevant, and engaging learning experience for students. Through conversational AI, PowerBuddy provides students with contextually relevant prompts tailored to their grade level and assignments. Access to this information encourages them to explore topics more deeply and ensure they receive the guidance and district and state standards-aligned resources they need in a way that suits their personal learning style. PowerBuddy for Learning also helps save teachers time by helping them create grade-level educational content for use in assignments and discussions.
- PowerBuddy for Data Analysis: Simplifies data queries and visualizations, allowing educators and administrators to "talk to their data" and transform complex analyses into instant insights, fostering data-driven decision-making that helps accelerate learning.
- PowerBuddy for Assessment (Embedded in Performance Matters): Streamlines assessment creation by generating questions and passages aligned to grade level, standards and readability. This efficiency enables frequent student evaluations, supports dual language programs, and more.
- PowerBuddy for College and Career (Embedded into Naviance CCLR): Provides personalized guidance to help students explore careers, understand requirements, and make informed postsecondary decisions tailored to their strengths and goals.
- PowerBuddy for Community (Designed for district websites): Uses AI to analyze district-specific materials—such as policy manuals and student handbooks—providing accurate, approved answers while reducing search time and staff workload.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Outline the market performance, critical reception, and customer satisfaction with the product or service to date. State monetary or unit sales figures to date, if possible, and how they compare to expectations or past performance. Provide links to laudatory product or service reviews. Include some customer testimonials, if applicable (up to 350 words):
Total 311 words used.
PowerBuddy is integrated across platforms to generate the most personalized AI insights: PowerSchool integrates intelligent algorithms and data-driven insights across solutions so the AI can see the students wholistically and bring the most helpful personalized insights. This integrated approach enhances teaching, learning, and efficiency.
PowerBuddy brings AI to district’s data for the most secure AI in edtech: Unlike other AI vendors and solutions that require pushing data to external platforms, PowerBuddy operates on PowerSchool’s secure Data-as-a-Service platform called Connected Intelligence that brings AI to district’s data. This unique approach ensures that sensitive student data remains within a secure, district-controlled, environment that offers stringent data governance, security, and privacy controls to minimize risks associated with third-party data handling.
PowerSchool has heavily invested in optimizing PowerBuddy’s capabilities: Optimization has been done by implementing safeguards for content safety, detecting and protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII), identifying and addressing biases and hallucinations, alerting educators about time-sensitive issues like self-harm, and ensuring responses are age and grade appropriate. These measures also include district-level controls and additional features to support secure and responsible usage.
- Since its launch in January 2024, PowerBuddy has been used by more than 3 million students, across 490 districts around the world. More than 30,000 study sessions using the PowerBuddy tool have been logged, 15,000 test items have been generated and students have participated in more than 12,000 college and career readiness sessions.
-
“Thanks to PowerSchool's PowerBuddy for Assessment, we were able to save teachers' time by decreasing how long it takes to create a standards-aligned assessment item by two-thirds,” said Kylene Schneider, Colorado Springs Schools District 11.
-
“PowerBuddy for Data Analysis streamlines the process of building out data requests for our programmer analysts,” said Michael Marassa, Chief Technology Officer, New Trier Township 203. “By learning over time, PowerBuddy significantly increases our efficiency in handling these requests."
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 152 words used.
For an overview of AI at PowerSchool, including customer testimonials, see https://www.powerschool.com/powerschool-ai/
For an overview of PowerBuddy, see https://www.powerschool.com/powerschool-ai/powerbuddy/ and watch this product overview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4qh8FdnFv0&
For testimonials from customers using PowerBuddy for Learning in their classrooms to improve learning outcomes, see:
https://www.powerschool.com/video/powerschool-ai-colorado-springs/
https://www.powerschool.com/video/powerbuddy-learning-epic-charter-schools/
https://www.powerschool.com/video/upleveling-instruction-powerbuddy-learning-modesto-city-schools/
| Attachments/Videos/Links: |
|---|
|
