Northern Indiana Education Alliance
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We expand access to literacy, GED preparation, and career-ready education for Indiana learners underserved by traditional pathways — through high-quality digital learning tools built to reach every learner.
Our purpose
We focus on learners and communities that too often encounter distance, cost, circumstance, or traditional systems as barriers to educational progress.
The Northern Indiana Education Alliance expands access to literacy, GED preparation, and career-ready education for Indiana learners underserved by traditional pathways — through high-quality digital learning tools built to reach every learner.
An Indiana where every learner — regardless of background, circumstance, or zip code — has access to the education that unlocks their future.
Who we serve
Our work centers people facing significant barriers to education and advancement, with a particular commitment to communities across Indiana that have fewer intensive literacy and GED resources.
Programs & initiatives
Our programs connect foundational learning with practical next steps — from literacy and middle school mathematics to GED preparation and workforce readiness.
AI-Learn is NIEA's affiliated education technology initiative: a self-contained, AI-supported digital learning platform built to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. Product revenue supports the nonprofit's mission.
Accessible digital delivery
Digital instruction across all four GED subject areas, designed to give adult learners a structured path toward a high school equivalency credential.
An NRS-aligned literacy track for adult learners reading below grade level, building the foundation for continued education and work.
Indiana vendor registration is underway to bring AI-Learn programming into state correctional facilities as part of a reentry and workforce pathway.
Middle School Math is available as a $14.95 digital program for families and middle school students. A complete ratios lesson is available free.
Our model
NIEA is a new organization, and we publish our model openly so funders and partners can see the chain we are building — and hold us to it. Every end state below is a target we are working toward, not a result we claim: NIEA has not yet completed a funded cohort and reports no outcome statistics.
Adult learners without a credential, Spanish-speaking learners, and teachers carrying heavy documentation loads — people traditional pathways too often leave out.
Digital, self-paced programs through AI-Learn, NIEA's program line: GED preparation — including Spanish-language GED preparation — foundational math and literacy, teacher licensure test preparation, and the IEP, ILP and 504 Writing Assistant.
Our target is that learners and educators enroll, stay engaged, and complete their programs. Completion is the first evidence that the model works.
We aim for credential attainment for learners, stronger classroom practice for the educators we support, and a clearer path into work and further education.
Indicators we will report
Beginning with our first funded cohort, we will report the same three measures for every program we run. They are commitments, not results — no figures exist yet, and none will appear here until a real cohort produces them.
We will update these indicators after each cohort completes, and share a cohort report with our funders at the midpoint and close of every funded cohort. Outcomes reporting is owned by NIEA's founder and executive director, and the figures will be published here as each cohort's reporting is finalized.
Book & video series
Explore a practical framework for educators committed to better outcomes for Black and other minority students. Read the book, then continue with videos that turn its core ideas into focused professional learning.
Partners & supporters
NIEA was founded in May 2025 and is building its first partnerships now. We list only organizations with a real, current relationship to this work — this page will grow as partnerships are confirmed, and it will never carry names we have not earned.
Our first institutional funders will be recognized here. NIEA's first foundation grant applications are in progress; we recognize funding once it is awarded, not when it is requested.
AI-Learn is NIEA's affiliated education technology initiative and the source of our digital program line — GED preparation, math foundations, educator test preparation, and the IEP, ILP and 504 Writing Assistant.
Our founding community sponsor, featured on our sponsors page. Individual founding supporters give through our Givebutter campaign and, with their permission, will be recognized here as well.
Interested in funding, delivering, or supporting this work?
Become a partnerBecome a partner
Tell us a little about yourself and how you would like to partner with NIEA — as a funder, a program partner, or a supporter — and we will follow up.
Prefer email? Write to us at partnerships@northernindianaeducationalliance.org.
News & milestones
We post each real milestone as it occurs — and we label applications as submitted until a funder decides. Nothing is announced here before it is true.
Announced October 19, 2026: on Giving Tuesday, NIEA will launch its Second-Chance Seats campaign with a goal of $5,000 — fifty Second-Chance Seats at $100 each. Visit the campaign on Givebutter.
NIEA submitted its registration with Microsoft for Nonprofits, including the Azure grant program for eligible nonprofits. The registration is under review.
A free sample lesson from the AI-Learn GED Preparation program launched, giving adult learners a no-cost way to try the program before enrolling. Try the free GED sample lesson.
NIEA submitted its first foundation grant application — $5,000 to the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation — to support digital GED preparation for Indiana learners. The application has been submitted; a funding decision is pending.
NIEA received its IRS determination letter recognizing the Alliance as a 501(c)(3) public charity, effective May 5, 2025 — the date of our founding.
AI-Learn digital programs
These AI-Learn digital learning programs provide direct options for adult learners, students, and families. Every purchase supports NIEA's literacy and GED mission.
For adult learners
For adult learners preparing for the GED.
For families and students
For families and middle school students.
For nursing students
For nursing students preparing for the Next Generation NCLEX.
Try a lesson first
Try a complete lesson before buying.
For special education teachers
Build IEP, ILP, and 504 plan progress reports in one tool. It runs entirely on your device — private by design, so no student data ever leaves your computer.
Looking for another subject or grade level?
See other programs in the Beacons storeBusiness & community sponsors
NIEA sponsors help expand access to literacy, GED preparation, and career-ready education. In return, we make their commitment visible to the families, educators, donors, and community partners who share this mission.
What sponsors receive
We recognize partners in a way that is useful, credible, and proportional to their support. Details are agreed before publication so every partnership reflects the sponsor accurately.
Your organization can be featured here with its name, logo or approved image, community role, and a link to a verified public listing or website.
We explain how your work and your support connect to stronger learning, families, and workforce pathways—not simply that a transaction occurred.
With permission, NIEA can acknowledge sponsors in campaign updates and partnership materials when the recognition fits the work being supported.
Founding Community Sponsor
Trusted by Fort Wayne Northside families since 2016, Bright Minds Early Learning Center nurtures children from 3 months to 5 years old. Its support of NIEA reflects a shared belief that strong educational foundations widen opportunity.
Learn more through its Fort Wayne business listing.
Join the founding circle
Tell us what your organization cares about and how you would like to participate. We welcome financial sponsors as well as mission-aligned business and community partnerships.
Special education support
NIEA helps the educators who serve exceptional learners by cutting the paperwork burden around IEPs, ILPs, and 504 plans — so more of a teacher's time goes to instruction, not documentation.
The need
Every progress report asks a teacher to gather the same kinds of information — current grades, assignment completion, test averages — review the goals already in place, judge where each goal stands, and write it all up clearly and consistently. It is essential work, and it is repetitive and time-consuming. Teachers need clean, consistent drafts they can paste into their official district system, not another blank form to wrestle with.
The IEP, ILP and 504 Writing Assistant was designed for educators serving students in grades 6–12, where a single teacher may carry progress-monitoring responsibilities across many students, subjects, and plan types.
The program follows the steps of an actual classroom progress-monitoring routine built around Skyward gradebook data — the same sequence a teacher works through for every reporting period, in the order they already think about it.
What NIEA built
The IEP, ILP and 504 Writing Assistant brings three plan types into a single tool, with a Plan Type menu that loads the right form for each. Start a report, work through the guided steps, and finish with a complete, consistent draft.
Choose IEP, ILP, or 504 Plan from the Plan Type menu. Each plan type has its own form, built for what that plan requires.
Enter the progress data you already track — current grade percentage, assignments completed and assigned, test averages, and category breakdowns.
Review the previous goal alongside the new data, then apply a clear decision guide — Met, In Progress, or Not Met — so every goal gets a consistent, defensible status.
Finish with section-by-section text ready to copy into your official district system, plus a clean printable document for the student's file.
In the classroom
The Writing Assistant was built around how progress reporting actually happens — not how software wishes it happened. It asks for what a teacher already knows, in the order they already think about it.
The form follows the gradebook data teachers already track — current grade percentage, assignments completed and assigned, test averages — so there is no separate data collection before the writing can begin.
Dropdowns of common secondary courses and goal areas — including emotional regulation — mean most of a report is selecting what fits, not typing everything from scratch.
Finished reports come out as copy-ready sections and printable documents, made to move cleanly into the district's official system of record.
The program runs on the teacher's own device in the browser. There is nothing to install, no new account, and no new login standing between a teacher and a finished report.
Beyond the tool
NIEA is a Fort Wayne-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on accessible digital learning for Indiana learners underserved by traditional pathways. AI-Learn is its affiliated education technology initiative. Alongside programs for learners, NIEA builds practical digital tools for the teachers who serve them — because supporting exceptional learners also means supporting the educators responsible for their plans. The Writing Assistant is available for individual purchase, and schools and districts can license it for staff-wide use.
The program runs entirely on your own device. Nothing you enter is sent to NIEA or stored on NIEA's servers — student information stays on your computer, under your control.
The assistant supports the plan team; it does not replace it. Official records remain in your district's system of record, such as PowerSchool, and plan decisions remain with the IEP, ILP, or 504 team.
Licensure exam prep
A practice program for Indiana's required special education licensure exam, Special Education — Foundational Knowledge (5355) — the exam for Mild Intervention and Exceptional Children licensure. Work through the full question bank in the real exam's 2-hour format, with a detailed explanation for every question.
Every question is original to this program and comes with a detailed explanation, so each answer — right or wrong — teaches something.
Questions span Development and Characteristics of Learners; Planning and the Learning Environment; Instruction; Assessment; and Foundations and Professional Responsibilities.
Practice in the same 2-hour format as the actual Special Education — Foundational Knowledge (5355), so the timing and pacing of test day feel familiar.
The program is built for Indiana candidates for Mild Intervention and Exceptional Children licensure, where the required passing score on Special Education — Foundational Knowledge (5355) is 145.
The program is available by individual purchase for $19.95, or through school/district licensing.
This practice program is an independent study tool created by AI-Learn and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the official testing organization.
School & district licensing
Schools and districts can license the IEP, ILP and 504 Writing Assistant for staff-wide use. Tell us a little about your school or district and what you need, and NIEA will follow up with licensing details.
Comments & feedback
Be among the first educators to share how the Writing Assistant works in your classroom. Practical feedback — what saves time, what could be clearer, what your reporting period actually looks like — shapes what NIEA builds next.
Why it matters
For learners, each step can unlock the next. For employers and communities, stronger foundational skills support a more prepared, resilient Indiana workforce.
Build the reading and learning foundation that makes continued progress possible.
Prepare across core subject areas with a clear path toward equivalency.
Connect educational progress to stronger pathways for work and advancement.
NIEA is designed for learners whose needs are not always met by conventional classroom models — including adult learners, justice-involved individuals, and students facing significant barriers to postsecondary success.
NIEA was founded in 2025 and does not yet claim outcome statistics. Early supporters are founding partners in building, testing, and strengthening the model.
Leadership
Jason L. Daniels Sr., EdD (ABD), is now in his 17th year in education. His work combines classroom practice, digital learning development, and a commitment to reaching learners outside traditional pathways.
Become a founding supporter
Your support helps NIEA prepare accessible digital education for learners facing some of Indiana's steepest barriers. Founding partners help prove the model and establish the groundwork for measurable outcomes.
Contact
Transparency
Everything a funder would ask for, posted before they have to ask. NIEA is a young organization, and we would rather show our stage plainly than dress it up.
Northern Indiana Education Alliance is an Indiana nonprofit corporation recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, effective May 5, 2025.
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NIEA is classified as a public charity under Internal Revenue Code section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi), supported by contributions from the general public and governmental units.
NIEA will file the applicable Form 990-series return each year. Copies of our filings and our IRS determination letter are available on request — write to partnerships@northernindianaeducationalliance.org.
NIEA's board is forming, and adoption of our bylaws is underway. When the board is seated, its members will be listed here with their affiliations. Until then, NIEA is led by its founder and executive director. What is not waiting on the board: our commitment to outcomes reporting from day one — enrollment, completion, and credential attainment for every cohort we run.