The U.S. education market has always been complex—but in recent years, education publishers and EdTech providers have faced an increasingly fractured state-level approval environment. As states exert more control over curriculum standards, approval processes have become longer, more variable, and more nuanced. For content providers trying to scale nationally, this poses significant operational and strategic challenges.
But while the process has become more complicated, leading organizations aren’t sitting still. They’re turning to data-driven tools and proven frameworks to accelerate content alignment, track compliance, and uncover new market opportunities. At the heart of this shift is EdGate’s ExACT Standards Alignment System—a powerful standards management platform built to meet the needs of today's fragmented approval ecosystem.
The Challenge: Fragmentation of Standards and Approval Processes
Today’s publishers are no longer navigating a single roadmap. Instead, they must address:
Diverse state-specific standards
From Common Core derivatives to fully customized frameworks, each state may define academic proficiency differently.
Varied approval processes
Some states have formal adoption cycles; others rely on local district-level purchasing, each with their own requirements.
Increased documentation needs
States are demanding clearer evidence of alignment, instructional intent, and efficacy—often in differing formats.
Faster curriculum updates
The pace of change in learning standards, especially in STEM and career readiness fields, continues to accelerate.
This fragmented environment adds layers of time, cost, and risk to content development and go-to-market efforts—unless organizations rethink their alignment strategy.
The Solution: EdGate’s ExACT Alignment System
Leading education publishers and EdTech providers are adopting ExACT to bring structure, scalability, and speed to their standards alignment process. ExACT is a robust SaaS platform that centralizes and streamlines alignment across all content types—print, digital, and interactive.
Here’s how ExACT helps organizations stay ahead:
Gap Analysis for Strategic Planning
ExACT’s Gap Analysis tool gives product teams immediate insight into how well their content aligns with specific state standards. This is invaluable when preparing for a state submission or planning a new product launch. The system highlights areas of over-coverage or under-coverage—allowing teams to adjust content development plans proactively.
Publishers use this feature to:
- Identify where new lessons or modules are needed
- Make informed decisions on adapting vs. creating new content
- Better allocate editorial and instructional design resources
Automated Alignment with Human Oversight
With ExACT’s Auto Align feature, teams can significantly reduce the manual effort involved in matching content to standards. Using AI-assisted technology, ExACT pre-populates potential alignments, which internal teams or EdGate’s alignment specialists can then review for accuracy. This hybrid approach maintains quality while cutting alignment time by up to 70%.
Crosswalking for Multi-State Expansion
One of the most powerful features in ExACT is Crosswalking—the ability to compare and translate alignments across multiple states. This is a game-changer for companies expanding from one core state into others.
With Crosswalking, you can:
- Map existing aligned content to additional state standards with high fidelity
- Understand which standards overlap and where gaps exist
- Minimize redundant development across state lines
This feature not only speeds market entry but also reduces cost and preserves consistency in instructional quality.
Advanced Reporting and Custom Deliverables
States often require highly specific documentation during the adoption process. ExACT simplifies compliance by offering robust reporting capabilities tailored to individual state needs. Whether it's generating alignment matrices, correlation charts, or submission-ready documentation, ExACT ensures you can meet each requirement quickly and with confidence.
Partnership with Experts Who Know the Landscape
EdGate doesn’t just offer software—it brings two decades of experience in standards management. The EdGate team monitors standard updates in real time, supports content teams with expert alignments, and provides strategic consulting to help clients navigate changes in state policy or process.
Future-Ready Alignment Starts with the Right Infrastructure
In a fractured standards environment, success belongs to those who can move fast, stay flexible, and maintain accuracy at scale. The ExACT Alignment System gives publishers and EdTech providers a clear path through the complexity—automating what can be automated, surfacing insights where decisions matter, and helping teams reduce friction in every stage of the alignment and approval journey.
As the education landscape continues to evolve, EdGate remains committed to helping content providers deliver high-quality, standards-aligned resources to every learner, in every state.
Want to learn more about how ExACT can transform your alignment process? Contact EdGate today to schedule a demo or strategy session.