BrighterBalance Earns Digital Promise's Responsibly Designed AI Product Certification

Duluth, GA — October 20, 2026 — BrighterBalance, a behavior documentation platform built for K-12 special education and MTSS teams, today announced that it has earned the Responsibly Designed AI Product Certification from Digital Promise, the education nonprofit. The certification covers the full BrighterBalance platform.

Digital Promise developed the certification with 39 district leaders, instructional technologists, school staff, and AI researchers. To earn it, a product team must submit evidence that:

• Its privacy policy explains what student data is collected, how long it is kept, and how it is used, including whether it is used to train AI models
• It publishes a data security policy, including how it responds to incidents and the privacy laws it follows, such as FERPA and COPPA
• It has documented how it works to acknowledge and reduce bias in its AI, from development through implementation
• AI-generated content is labeled in the product
• Educators can override AI decisions and recommendations

BrighterBalance takes behavior documentation off teachers' plates. A teacher records what happened with a voice memo, a photo of a handwritten note, an email, or a quick tap, in about five seconds on average. AI turns that into a structured behavior log, then builds the Behavior Goal reports, trend lines, and ABC summaries teams need for MTSS meetings and IEP reviews. No one re-enters data or builds a graph by hand.

Teachers also get the AI Advisor, which suggests evidence-based strategies for a specific student when they need help in the moment. The Advisor draws on a curated evidence base built from IRIS Center modules, PBIS, and special education practice, along with that student's own logged data. It does not diagnose students or determine the function of a behavior. Teachers decide what to do with every suggestion.

Student data is never used to train AI. BrighterBalance's AI providers operate under zero-data-retention agreements that prohibit training on the data, keeping it, or using it for any other purpose.

"District leaders are being asked to approve AI tools faster than most review processes can keep up. We wanted them to have an independent check they can rely on. We built BrighterBalance so teachers stay in charge of every decision about their students, and so student data is never used to train AI. We're glad to have that work reviewed by Digital Promise."

— Jerry Henley, Co-Founder and CTO, BrighterBalance

The certification follows BrighterBalance's approval earlier this month as a signatory to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) Secure by Design pledge, a voluntary commitment by software makers to build security into their products. Together, they give district leaders an independent review of how BrighterBalance designs its AI and a public commitment to building security in.

BrighterBalance is also 1EdTech Data Privacy Certified, OneRoster 1.2 certified, and a ClassLink Certified Partner.

About Digital Promise

Digital Promise is a global nonprofit working to expand opportunity for every learner. We work with educators, researchers, technology leaders, and communities to design, investigate, and scale innovations that support learners, especially those who've been historically and systematically excluded. Our vision is that every person engages in powerful learning experiences that lead to a life of well-being, fulfillment, and economic mobility. For more information, visit digitalpromise.org and follow @digitalpromise for updates.