CASE STUDY

Education Super Highway

Transforming Broadband Access for 50 Million Students

Role: Lead Product Designer (via Presence)
Timeline: 4 Months (Extended from 2-week "touch up")
Collaborators: Data Scientist, 4 Engineers, PM, Obama Administration
Impact: Mission goal achieved ahead of schedule (2020)

1. The Challenge: Data Without Direction

In 2015, Education Super Highway (ESH) faced a critical roadblock. While they had a massive dataset regarding school internet costs and infrastructure, their portal application was struggling with technical hurdles and a lack of design strategy.

The Problem: The original portal was a complex database that failed to provide actionable insights for district administrators and IT staff.
The Stakes: Without clear data visualization and clear guidance, district administrators couldn't negotiate with ISPs, and governors couldn't identify which districts were being left behind.

2. The Pivot: From "Touch Up" to Transformation

Originally hired for a two-week visual "clean up," I quickly identified that the issues were structural, not just aesthetic. After presenting a vision for a user-centric data platform, ESH extended my contract to four months to lead a total redesign.

3. The Process: Turning Data into Advocacy

To move from a spreadsheet-style interface to a powerful advocacy tool, I collaborated with an in-house Data Scientist to simplify the "Information Overload."

User Research: Conducted interviews with school district administrators to understand their negotiation pain points.
Prototyping & Testing: Built and iterated on early prototypes to ensure that federal and state stakeholders could interpret complex ISP pricing in seconds.
Design Strategy: Focused on Geographic Visualization. By mapping data trends geographically, we enabled governors to see "connectivity deserts" instantly.

4. The Solution: A Triple-Threat Ecosystem

We delivered a suite of tools designed for three distinct audiences:

The Connectivity Portal: A dashboard for district admins to compare their rates with neighbors, providing the leverage needed to negotiate better ISP contracts.
Fiber Assessment Toolkit: A step-by-step guide for districts to assess their long-term infrastructure needs.
State of the States Report: A high-level, responsive web experience for the public and governors to track spending and progress.

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5. The Outcomes: Mission Accomplished

The redesigned portal provided the clarity and "Call to Action" necessary to mobilize national change.

✅ Accelerated Goal: The mission to close the classroom connectivity gap was reached ahead of the 2020 target.
✅ Universal Reach: The tools were adopted by thousands of administrators and used by state and federal policymakers to direct billions in funding.
✅ Scaled Impact: My work expanded into a multi-year partnership, resulting in three major initiatives that streamlined national education infrastructure.