Project Helix

Helix is Discovery Education's next-generation teaching platform, powered by conversational AI. Instead of navigating dozens of disconnected tools, teachers interact with a single AI assistant that handles content search, lesson planning, assignment creation, and curriculum alignment through natural conversation. Helix is built on top of the existing DE platform, giving it full access to the content library and existing teacher accounts from day one. A controlled testing phase is validating Helix against real classroom usage data before full-scale deployment.

EDDE has grown into a sprawling 70+ module monolith that's increasingly difficult to extend, maintain, and modernize. Teachers face steep learning curves across fragmented workflows. Meanwhile, the market is shifting fast toward AI-native edtech. Helix lets us leapfrog competitors by collapsing complex multi-step workflows into intuitive conversations, dramatically reducing time-to-value for educators. It also gives us a modern, composable architecture that can evolve as quickly as the market demands.

We are measuring Helix against EDDE in a controlled testing phase using live classroom data. Key metrics include: district renewal rate improvement (target: +5pp over EDDE cohort), Net Promoter Score lift (target: NPS 55+ vs. EDDE baseline of ~38), weekly active usage increase (target: +30% sessions per teacher), and reduction in time-to-task for core workflows like search-to-assign (target: 60% faster). Success means teachers choose Helix over EDDE when given the option, and districts renew at higher rates.

Helix is built for K-12 teachers and instructional coaches who use Discovery Education daily. The primary users are classroom educators who need fast access to standards-aligned content, ready-made lesson resources, and assignment tools without wading through a complex platform. Secondary audiences include district curriculum leads who evaluate renewals and administrators who manage product rollouts. The testing cohort focuses on mid-size U.S. districts with active EDDE subscriptions.