For decades, technologists have promised an education revolution. Instead, many vendors lock schools into antiquated, proprietary solutions that increase cost, block competing products and limit control over technology and data.

The Solution

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Slate is the open-source infrastructure that improves schools' access and control of education technologies.

What this Means for Schools

  • Centralize data for easier access and analysis
  • Streamline setup and management of new tools
  • Replace expensive, proprietary technologies with cheaper, open alternatives
  • Co-invest with other schools and districts
  • Own your software and data
  • Reduce dependencies on vendors

The History

Slate was built through a partnership between Jarvus Innovations and Science Leadership Academy (SLA), a nationally awarded public magnet school in Philadelphia.

From the very beginning, SLA's principal, Chris Lehmann, knew that one of the problems they faced was access to the numerous tools their project-based model required. No existing system allowed them to integrate all these tools while giving the control needed to confidently plan long term. So he turned to Chris Alfano, who was running SLA's tech department at the time, to build an open-source infrastructure that could be shared with other schools.

From this core need, Slate expanded its role in supporting SLA over the years. In addition to the core products of single sign-on and data dashboards, SLA was instrumental in implementing and testing our student information system (SIS), narrative, standards-based, and interim reporting, student and class blogging, progress notes, and integrations with tools such as Google Apps for Education, Moodle and Canvas.