Michigan Launches Cloud-Native Data Lake to Transform Education

The Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA) is spearheading a significant change in educational data management by developing a statewide, cloud-native data lake. This initiative aims to provide educators and school districts with a unified, secure platform designed to enhance student success from prenatal stages through to workforce readiness. MAISA received a prestigious 2025 Amazon Web Services (AWS) Award in July for its efforts in transforming the state’s educational data architecture.

While Michigan has made strides since 2013 in standardizing and distributing critical data to school districts, the existing hub has several limitations. It lacks the capacity for statewide or cross-agency use and does not support advanced tools such as artificial intelligence that facilitate predictive or personalized insights. The new data center, set to launch in late August 2024, is intended to address these constraints and allow schools to transition from reactive to proactive strategies. This shift aims to improve outcomes for all students, regardless of demographics.

Barriers to actionable data have prompted Michigan to revamp its educational data systems. As Tammy Evans, project development director for MAISA’s Michigan IT, explained, a survey conducted in spring 2024 revealed fragmented data systems that hinder districts’ ability to fully utilize their data. “In this initiative, what we were trying to do was modernize the way in which we could gather structured and unstructured data into a statewide platform,” Evans stated. “We wanted to give our educators and students a more accurate reflection of everything.”

The initiative is currently in the early stages of implementation and will initially involve about 100 of Michigan’s approximately 875 school districts as a proof of concept. Once established, the program will aim for statewide expansion, focusing on linking student information from multiple sources to support predictive analytics, equity initiatives, and long-term planning.

In order to ensure the system’s success, effective training and ongoing support for educators are essential. Doug Leisenring, project director for Michigan Data Lake, emphasized the importance of incorporating classroom teachers’ needs into the design process. “How do we get data to the classroom to improve instruction for kids? What do your teachers need?” Leisenring asked. “When you start with those questions as your baseline, if you focus on the classroom, the systems will follow.”

Michigan’s approach reflects a nationwide trend toward prioritizing centralized educational data management. Other states, including Indiana, North Carolina, and Connecticut, are also investing in similar statewide educational data systems. For leaders in education across the country, Michigan’s initiative serves as a valuable case study in what can be achieved through centralized and modernized data systems.

The goal extends beyond merely improving information access; the objective is to derive actionable insights that can inform proactive interventions, enhance equity, and support long-term educational planning. “While we’re nowhere near this now, in five to ten years, the long-term goal is to have one data storage solution for the educational system of Michigan,” Leisenring noted. “Other states will be able to learn from that.”

Collaboration and shared learning are vital components of this initiative. “We’ll be able to learn together, which I think is the most powerful part of education,” Leisenring added. “People figure things out and they share it. Once a few of our states get rolling with this, there will be a model for others to follow.” As Michigan embarks on this ambitious project, the educational landscape may soon witness a transformation in how data is utilized to foster student success.