What is SEAMLESS?
The SEAMLESS project (Special Education Applications of Machine Learning to Enhance Student Success) is an innovative initiative from SRI’s Education division and AI Center. SEAMLESS features an AI-powered system that:
- Efficiently de-identifies sensitive information (e.g., names, addresses, ID numbers) from Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) using natural language processing and named entity recognition.
- Transforms de-identified IEPs into actionable datasets, enabling detailed analysis of trends, goals, and outcomes.
Our mission is to empower educators and administrators with streamlined access to IEP data for informed decision-making.
One goal of the SEAMLESS project is to offer more usable and meaningful data in significantly less time, with less funding, and with less human burden.
Schools, districts, and states are legally required to collect and report certain data on students with disabilities served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including the number of students served, their educational environments, and certain demographic information. Under the IDEA, each student with a disability receives an Individualized Education Program (IEP) outlining the type, nature, and intensity of their personalized program of special education services.
IEPs are a crucial roadmap to providing a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with disabilities, as well as evidence of whether that program of education is effective. Learn more about IEP data and the value of improved access to data here.