Center for Digital Education Announces 2026 Education Experience Award Winners

Center for Digital Education Announces 2026 Education Experience Award Winners

Inaugural awards recognize K-12 and higher education institutions using technology to support student success, expand access, and serve families and educators

The Center for Digital Education (CDE), a trusted brand of e.Republic, announced the winners of the inaugural Education Experience (EdX) Awards, honoring 11 public K-12 and higher education institutions using technology to improve how students learn, families access services, and educators support student success.

The awards recognize projects that go beyond technology adoption to address real challenges in education, such as barriers to enrollment, limited access to courses, and difficulties keeping students on track to graduate. The winning initiatives demonstrate how technology can help schools and colleges tackle these challenges and better serve their communities.

Meaningful Improvements Across K-12 and Higher Education
Across this year's winning projects, several common themes emerged. Institutions are simplifying school enrollment, expanding access to courses, helping students stay on track to graduate, and giving educators better information to identify and respond to student needs.

Artificial intelligence is also playing an increasingly important role, with seven of the 11 winning projects incorporating AI as a significant part of their approach. Institutions are using AI to support classroom instruction, strengthen cybersecurity, improve access to information, and reduce time spent on administrative tasks, freeing educators and staff to focus more of their time on students and the work that matters most. The projects also highlight the importance of responsible AI implementation.

2026 Education Experience Award Winners

K-12 Category

• Vail Unified School District
  Responsibly Implementing AI to Elevate Student Engagement & Higher-Order Thinking Across Vail School District

• Jeffco Public Schools
  EnrollJeffco: Empowering Families Through Equitable School Access

• The School District of Palm Beach County
  ServiceNow ESM & AI Chatbot for an Improved Customer Experience

• NYCPS Division of Instructional and Information Technology
  Better Experience for All: Modernizing Technology Support at NYC Public Schools

• Khan World School @ ASU Prep
  From Data to Dialogue: A Student Success and Family Engagement System

Higher Education Category

• Columbia University in the City of New York
  The AI Imperative: Building an AI-Ready University

• Merced Community College District
  The Merced College Model: AI-Driven Cyber Resilience Through an Integrated Autonomous Defense Ecosystem

• College of Staten Island (CSI; CUNY)
  College of Staten Island's AI Task Force: Let's Address the Challenges!

• The Friday Institute at North Carolina State University
  AI with the Friday Institute (#AIwiththeFI): Building Responsible AI Capacity Across Education Systems

• University of Hawaiʻi System
  STAR GPS (Guided Academic Pathway System)

• The Technical College System of Georgia
  TCSG Connect

"These projects show what is possible when technology decisions start with the needs of students, educators, and families," said Brian Cohen, Vice President of the Center for Digital Education. "At a time when schools and colleges face growing demands, limited resources, and increasing expectations, these winners are finding ways to make education work better for the people they serve. Their achievements deserve recognition not simply because they're innovative, but because they're delivering results that other institutions can learn from."

Learn more about the winners and their projects here.

About the Center for Digital Education
The Center for Digital Education is a national research and advisory organization that provides events, content, and communities focused on technology policy and best practices in K-12 and higher education. Learn more at https://www.govtech.com/cde.

The Center for Digital Education is a trusted brand of e.Republic.

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