1. Introduction
EdVantage Guru is a research assistant for U.S. K-12 school districts. It helps you find district information, produce executive briefs, analyze spending and assessment data, compare districts, scan for vendor and procurement activity, and retrieve district documents. All answers come from live EdVantage data through its connected tools.
Guru is built for PCG Education staff who prepare for client meetings, research accounts, or size market opportunities.
2. Getting Access
- Open the Guru app in Microsoft Teams using this link: EdVantage Guru in Teams.
- If you see an access error, ask Jared Booth to add you (see Support Contacts).
- To use advanced features such as uploading documents, sign in when Guru prompts you, or type "How do I sign in?"
Guru is open to PCG users but is not published in the Teams app store. Share the link only with colleagues who need it.
3. Getting Started
Always name the district and state
Start each request with the district name and state, for example "Houston ISD, TX." Guru looks up the district's federal ID number (the NCES ID) for you and asks you to confirm the name and state before running any analysis.
If you know the NCES ID
You can give the NCES ID directly, for example "Profile NCES 1301290." Guru checks that it is valid and skips the name search.
Confirming the district is a required step. It prevents Guru from analyzing the wrong district when two have similar names.
4. What You Can Do
| Task | What you get | Example request |
|---|---|---|
| Executive brief | One-page district summary, with an optional focus such as finance | Executive brief for Dallas ISD, TX |
| Risk snapshot | Financial and leadership risk overview | Assess the leadership risk for Detroit Public Schools, MI |
| Spending trends | Spending totals over a date range, built from purchase order line items | Show spending trends for Los Angeles USD, CA |
| Spending scan | Matching purchase lines (amount, vendor, description) for a topic or vendor | Scan Jefferson Parish, LA spending for SIOP |
| Assessment summary | Latest-year proficiency by subject and grade | Show the latest state assessment summary for Dallas ISD, TX |
| Assessment trends | Multi-year proficiency trend for one subject | Show math assessment trends for Cobb County, GA |
| District comparison | Side-by-side view of two districts in the same state | Compare Houston ISD and Dallas ISD, TX |
| Opportunities | Procurement and vendor matches based on your keywords | Find technology procurement opportunities for Miami-Dade, FL |
| Document search | Board, spending, strategic plan, and bond documents | Show latest spending documents for Wake County, NC |
Asking for a profile and opportunities together? Guru runs the profile first, then adds opportunity matching at the end.
5. Documents
Finding documents
Ask for a document type and district. Guru returns a numbered list showing file name and date only.
Downloading
After the list appears, type Download #n, where n is the list number (for example Download #1). Guru returns a secure download link. Links are available only after a list has been shown.
Summarizing
Ask Guru to summarize a single document for a deep dive, or ask what analysis already exists for it.
Uploading
When signed in, you can upload files for private use or share them district-wide. If you upload during a research task, Guru pauses, confirms the upload, then resumes where you left off.
Upload and sharing behavior was documented in August 2026. Confirm it still works before relying on it.
6. Comparing Districts
- Name the first district. Guru finds and confirms it.
- Name the second district. It must be in the same state.
- Guru confirms both districts, then runs the comparison.
- When the comparison is done, you can continue with another request.
Proficiency rates come from each state's own test, so comparisons are valid only within one state.
7. Uses by Line of Business
| Area | How Guru helps |
|---|---|
| Executive leadership | Executive briefs, risk snapshots, strategic plan review |
| Finance and procurement | Spending trends, vendor payment scans, bond and capital documents |
| Academic performance | Assessment summaries and trends, same-state comparisons |
| Board and policy | Board document research and policy tracking |
| Technology and EdTech | Vendor market scans and technology purchasing |
| Grants and opportunities | Opportunity matching by keyword |
| Document management | Upload, share, and summarize district documents |
8. Example Prompts
Select Copy and paste the prompt into Guru. Replace the district with your own.
Account prep (PCG example)
Give me an executive brief on Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia.
Show multi-year math proficiency trends for Gwinnett County Public Schools, GA.
Scan Gwinnett County Public Schools, GA spending documents for Public Consulting Group payments.
Executive leadership
Give me an executive brief on Cobb County School District, Georgia.
Profile NCES 1301290 with a financial focus.
Assess the leadership risk for Detroit Public Schools.
Finance and procurement
Show spending trends for Houston ISD, Texas over the past two years.
Which U.S. districts have paid Center for Applied Linguistics or use SIOP nationwide?
Which districts nationwide pay ClassLink?
Which U.S. school districts have documented payments to Public Consulting Group (PCG) nationwide?
Deep-dive Jefferson Parish Louisiana for CAL and SIOP evidence.
Get the spending documents for Manhattan Beach Unified, CA to verify PCG payments.
Academic performance
Show the latest state assessment summary for Dallas ISD.
Compare academic performance between San Francisco Unified and Oakland Unified.
Show multi-year math proficiency trends for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Board and policy
Find board documents for Los Angeles Unified from the last year.
What did the board say about technology purchases in Chicago Public Schools?
Technology and EdTech
Which districts have adopted ClassLink in the past three years?
Show technology procurement trends for Boston Public Schools.
Grants and opportunities
Show me vendor opportunities in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Are there any grants available for Dallas ISD?
Bond and capital
Show bond and capital authorization documents for Denver Public Schools.
What capital projects are planned in Boston Public Schools?
Documents and sign-in
Upload my district's strategic plan for review.
How do I sign in to access more features?
9. Tips and Known Limits
- Include the district and state in every request.
- Comparisons work only for two districts in the same state.
- Use specific keywords for opportunities, such as "curriculum" or "technology."
- Spending trends depend on purchase order line items being extracted for that district. Some districts have documents but no line items yet.
- No chat history. Guru does not save past conversations. Keep your own list of prompts you want to reuse.
10. Troubleshooting
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Guru says "No data found" | Try a wider date range or a different data type (for example, documents instead of trends). |
| Spending trends come back empty | Line items may not be extracted for that district. Ask for the district's spending documents instead. |
| Wrong district found | Do not confirm. Restate the full district name and state, or give the NCES ID. |
| Verifying vendor payments | Step 1: run a nationwide scan for the vendor. Step 2: deep-dive one district to see the document evidence. |
| Feature needs sign-in | Type "How do I sign in?" and follow the steps. |
| Cannot open Guru in Teams | Contact Jared Booth for access. |
11. Support Contacts
| Need | Contact |
|---|---|
| Access, technical support, feedback | Jared Booth, jabooth@pcgus.com |
| Purpose of EdVantage and the data sets | Dave Meyers, dmeyers@pcgus.com, or Irene Bailey, ibailey@pcgus.com |
Appendix: Tool Reference
For readers who want to know what runs behind each request. You do not need tool names to use Guru.
| Tool | Purpose | Key inputs |
|---|---|---|
| generate_profile | One-page district executive summary | ncesId, optional focusArea |
| SummarizeDocument | Deep dive on a single document | Per tool schema |
| AssessDistrictRisk | Financial and leadership risk snapshot | Per tool schema |
| AnalyzeTrends | Spending totals over time from line items; use monthly for ranges over one year | ncesId, startDate, endDate, granularity (optional) |
| Scan spending documents | Scans all spending documents in a date range for a topic; returns amount, vendor, description per match | ncesId, searchPrompt, dates (optional, default last 12 months) |
| list_line_items | Checks whether line items exist for a district and date range | ncesId, dates |
| get_assessment_summary | Latest-year proficiency by subject and grade | ncesId |
| get_assessment_trends | Multi-year proficiency trend for one subject | ncesId, subject, gradeLevel (optional) |
| CompareDistricts | Side-by-side comparison, same state | district1Id, district2Id |
| MatchOpportunities | Cross-domain opportunity scan | ncesId, state, keywords |
| GetAnalysisHistory | Prior analysis on a document | Document ID |
Tool list reflects the September 2026 build notes. The exact name of the spending scan tool is not confirmed.
Disclaimer
All information comes from live EdVantage data and documented operating rules. State assessment proficiency rates are not comparable across states. Verify key figures against source documents before using them with clients.