Faster School Enrollment Through AI Automation
In Brief
Purpose-Built AI That Transforms School Workflows
As one of the nation’s largest virtual public charter schools, Epic Charter Schools needed a better way to efficiently process tens of thousands of annual student enrollment documents. They turned to Resource Data to help reduce this enormous administrative strain.
A secure, scalable AI-powered solution now classifies more than 65 document types, extracts key data, and integrates directly into Epic’s systems. Manual processing dropped from hours to seconds per student, laying a strong foundation for future AI innovation across Epic’s education workflows.
Key Takeaways
AI cuts enrollment processing from hours to seconds.
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65+ Document types classified automatically
AI accurately identifies, classifies, and extracts data across more than 65 document types, replacing hours of manual sorting.
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95% Accuracy achieved in first cycle
Epic’s AI system maintained precision while processing over 15,000 student records during a single enrollment period.
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From hours to seconds per student
Automation cut document review and data entry time from hours to seconds, dramatically accelerating enrollment timelines.
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Secure and FERPA-compliant by design
Sensitive student data stays within Epic’s secure cloud environment, meeting strict privacy and compliance standards.
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Scalable to 1,000+ students per day
By offloading manual review to AI, Epic handled seasonal surges in enrollment without overburdening staff or hiring temporary workers.
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Foundation for AI expansion and innovation
The system’s flexible design makes it easy to add new document types and expand automation into areas like transcript processing and predictive enrollment modeling.
Meet Our Client
A statewide virtual school built on scalable technology
Epic Charter Schools serves more than 30,000 Pre-K through 12th-grade students across Oklahoma through a fully virtual model. The school operates within a complex digital ecosystem and depends on reliable technology to manage student records, enrollment, assessments, and compliance. Since 2022, Resource Data has supported Epic’s modernization goals: building integrations across 60+ systems, custom web applications, and data tools that reduce administrative work and help educators focus more on students.
The Challenges
Manual review slowed enrollment and strained staff
Each year, Epic receives tens of thousands of enrollment and re-enrollment documents, including birth certificates, proof of residence, immunization records, and more. Multiple formats, ranging from PDFs and smartphone photos to handwritten forms, and all varying in layout and legibility, required staff to manually review and enter student and caregiver information. Seasonal surges often exceeded 1,000 students per day, causing delays and staff burnout.
Making matters more complex, Epic operates within a strict regulatory environment. Any solution would need to handle personally identifiable information (PII) securely, integrate with internal platforms, and support a range of scenarios—without exposing sensitive student data to external AI platforms or violating Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) compliance.
Epic needed a solution that could do it all: fast, accurate, scalable document processing with strong data security.
The Solution
Collaborative design. Powerful results.
Using C#.NET for backend processing and Azure AI for compliance and scalability, we built a secure, cloud-based AI system to automate Epic’s enrollment document processing.
A multi-tier AI pipeline intelligently escalates processing based on document complexity. It starts with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for simple text, advances to Azure Document Intelligence for semi-structured layouts such as immunization records or lease agreements, and invokes GPT-4 Vision only when earlier tools cannot meet accuracy thresholds. This selective escalation ensures each document is handled by the most efficient tool, balancing speed, precision, and cost. Confidence scoring and fallback logic maintain accuracy, routing uncertain files for human review.
Capable of classifying over 65 document types, from birth certificates to guardianship letters, the system extracts essential student and caregiver data for direct integration into Epic’s systems. Designed to evolve, the platform continues to learn from Epic’s feedback and new document formats, further reducing manual work and ensuring smooth enrollment experiences.
Features
AI pipeline built for speed, accuracy, and security
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Three-tired AI pipeline for smarter processing
A flexible, escalating pipeline applies OCR, Azure Document Intelligence, and OpenAI’s GPT-4 Vision to match each document with the most efficient tool. This ensures high accuracy across 65+ document types while minimizing manual review and compute cost.
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Confidence scoring ensures data quality
Each document receives a confidence score that determines whether it advances, escalates, or is routed for human review. This built-in validation maintains accuracy without slowing processing.
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Secure cloud architecture meets FERPA standards
Data never leaves Epic’s controlled Azure environment, keeping all student and caregiver information private and compliant.
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Adaptive learning through iterative training
Feedback from Epic staff continually refines classification and extraction logic, helping the AI quickly adapt to new document formats and improving precision over time.
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Seamless integration with internal systems
Extracted data automatically syncs with Epic’s enrollment and records systems, eliminating redundant data entry and accelerating processing and reporting.
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Scalable for peak enrollment seasons
Cloud-based architecture and automated load balancing allow the system to process thousands of documents per day without additional staff, maintaining performance even during seasonal enrollment surges.
Results
Far-reaching impact across the entire school community
In its first enrollment cycle, Epic’s AI-driven system processed over 15,000 new and returning student records with 95% accuracy. Enrollment decisions are now made faster, with less administrative strain and greater data consistency across Epic’s systems. Families experience smoother onboarding, and Epic maintains complete control of student data through its secure cloud environment. The success of the project helped Epic leaders recognize the potential to use similar tools across other document-heavy workflows, from Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to state reporting.
What's Next
Scaling AI innovation across education operations
Together, we’re expanding automation to additional processes, such as transcript management and enrollment forecasting using machine learning tools like XGBoost and Prophet. Our collaboration continues to demonstrate how education leaders can apply AI responsibly—improving efficiency, accuracy, and user experience while maintaining trust and compliance.
