CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Passage Preparation™, a division of K12 Coalition, has been named a 2026 CODiE Award Winner in the category Best Professional Learning Platform.

The CODiE Awards recognize the most innovative products, platforms and services across technology and education. Winners are selected through a rigorous evaluation process led by independent industry experts who assess each solution based on innovation, functionality, market impact, and overall value.

Selected from 228 finalists across 75 categories, the 2026 CODiE Award winners represent the solutions setting new standards for excellence and innovation.

“We are honored to receive this recognition from the CODiE Awards,” said Nathan Estel, Managing Director of Passage Preparation. “This award reflects our team’s commitment to helping aspiring educators build the knowledge, confidence, and instructional expertise they need to succeed on their licensure exams. We remain dedicated to strengthening the educator pipeline through innovative learning experiences that prepare great teachers for the classroom.”

As schools across the country face persistent teacher shortages, Passage Preparation is helping accelerate the path from aspiring educator to licensed classroom teacher. The platform provides comprehensive licensure exam preparation tailored to state certification requirements and subject areas, ensuring candidates focus on the content most relevant to their certification pathway. Developed by experienced teachers and teacher educators, every course is aligned with both licensure standards and evidence-based instructional practices, equipping candidates with the skills they need to succeed on certification exams and in the classroom.

Unlike traditional test-preparation programs that emphasize memorization and test-taking strategies, Passage Preparation builds lasting content knowledge and teaching proficiency through engaging, interactive learning experiences. Candidates benefit from diagnostic assessments that identify strengths and areas for improvement, detailed progress reporting, practice assessments, and personalized study plans. Flexible self-paced learning is complemented by live virtual cohorts that provide instructor guidance, peer collaboration, and accountability, creating a supportive professional learning community for busy educators.

Designed with accessibility and flexibility in mind, Passage Preparation includes tools such as Immersive Reader, offering real-time translation in more than 100 languages, text-to-speech functionality, customizable display settings, and other features that support diverse learning needs. The platform has consistently helped improve certification exam pass rates, enabling many candidates to earn licensure on their first attempt, saving valuable time and costs. By preparing more educators to enter the profession successfully, Passage Preparation helps districts fill critical teaching positions faster and strengthens the educator workforce nationwide.

“The 2026 CODiE Award winners represent some of the most innovative and impactful solutions in the industry,” said Jennifer Baranowski, President of the CODiE Awards. “These organizations are solving meaningful challenges, delivering measurable outcomes, and helping shape the future of technology.”

A complete list of 2026 CODiE Award winners is available at https://codieawards.com/winners.

About K12 Coalition 

K12 Coalition is a collective of specialized education products and services with a common mission to provide a great education for every student in every classroom every day. The company offers deep expertise in solving five macro K-12 education challenges: teacher certification, professional learning, literacy and math curriculum, accelerated student learning through summer school, and district support, including strategic planning and consulting. Learn more at k12coalition.com.

About Passage Preparation

Passage Preparation specializes in providing comprehensive licensure assessment preparation resources designed to bolster teacher confidence and proficiency. These learning resources equip licensure candidates with the knowledge necessary for success on exams and instill in them best teaching practices using methodologies thoughtfully curated to be engaging and aligned precisely with the content covered on the licensure exams. Passage Preparation is part of K12 Coalition, a certified B Corporation helping schools and teachers thrive nationwide.

Media Contact:
Alex Fairchild
K12Coalition@finnpartners.com 

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SOURCE K12 Coalition

Strategic collaboration helps software companies bring cutting-edge commercial technology to the U.S. Government faster through Microsoft Azure Government Cloud

NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Knox Systems (Knox), the largest, longest-running federal managed cloud, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft to help commercial software companies deploy secure, mission-ready solutions on Microsoft Azure Government Cloud for U.S. Government customers.

As demand for modern AI, cybersecurity, data, and enterprise software continues to grow across the public sector, the partnership is designed to reduce the barriers that have historically prevented government agencies from accessing the same technologies already transforming the commercial market.

Knox enables software providers to achieve production-ready federal cloud environments in as little as 90 days through its pre-authorized Federal Managed Cloud. By inheriting a substantial portion of required security controls, companies can reduce the time, effort, cost, and compliance burden associated with deploying compliant government cloud solutions. Combined with Microsoft Azure’s trusted government cloud platform, the collaboration provides an accelerated path for innovative software companies seeking to serve federal civilian and defense customers.

“America’s greatest technology companies shouldn’t spend years navigating compliance before they can help solve government missions,” said Irina Denisenko, CEO of Knox Systems. “Microsoft has built one of the world’s most trusted cloud platforms for government. Knox removes the operational barriers that can keep innovative software companies from deploying secure, compliant solutions on Azure Government. Together, we’re making it dramatically faster for agencies to access the technologies they need, securely, compliantly, and at mission speed.”

The collaboration strengthens Microsoft’s ecosystem for independent software vendors (ISVs) pursuing government opportunities while expanding the pathway for AI-native, cybersecurity, enterprise software, and critical infrastructure companies to bring production workloads to Azure.

“Microsoft is committed to helping software companies innovate for government while meeting the highest standards for security and compliance,” said Jamie Harper, VP, Defense Industrial Base, Microsoft. “Our collaboration with Knox provides organizations with an accelerated path to deploy innovative solutions on Microsoft Azure Government Cloud, helping government agencies gain faster access to the technologies that support critical missions.”

Knox currently operates one of the industry’s largest FedRAMP-authorized managed cloud environments, supporting more than 70 software companies and maintaining 16 US Federal and Department of War Authorizations to Operate (ATOs). Customers including Adobe, Armis, Celonis, BigID, and other leading software providers rely on Knox to bring commercial innovation to government faster while maintaining rigorous security standards.

As AI adoption accelerates across government, the partnership reflects a shared commitment to ensuring agencies can securely leverage the same cutting-edge technologies already powering the commercial economy.

About Knox Systems

Knox Systems operates the largest managed federal cloud, trusted by top agencies and partners across defense and civilian sectors. Built for speed, resilience, and compliance, Knox delivers FedRAMP authorization in 90 days – turning the biggest bottleneck in government IT into the fastest path to modernization. Knox proudly serves Adobe, Celonis, OutSystems, Armis, BigID, and more AI and SaaS providers, accelerating secure innovation across the federal landscape. Learn more at knoxsystems.com.

Media Contact:
knox@w2comm.com

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SOURCE Knox Systems, Inc

Chavez-Arrieta joins to help MSPs and MSSPs turn Continuous Resilience Validation into a new, high-margin service line — with a select group of 10 partners activating in the next 30 days.

CARMEL, Ind., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Spektrum Labs, the company that built the first cyber resilience proof engine, today announced that Oscar Chavez-Arrieta has joined as senior vice president for global channel. Chavez-Arrieta brings a rare combination of deep cybersecurity credibility and extensive expertise building the partner channel across the Americas, honed through more than two decades at companies including SonicWall, Sophos, Symantec and Dell.

At Spektrum Labs, Chavez-Arrieta will lead channel strategy, drawing on the partner relationships he has built across the Americas to bring provable resilience to MSPs and MSSPs.

Managed service providers (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs) are at a pressure point. Their clients face audits, stringent cyber insurance requirements and new regulations, and that pressure flows straight to the provider. Insurers have started holding providers liable for the controls they manage, and core managed detection and response (MDR) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) offerings are commoditizing on price. Providers need to differentiate, defend themselves and improve margins — all on top of the stack they already sell.

Spektrum Labs built the first cyber resilience proof engine. Cyber resilience means three things: the safeguards a provider manages actually work and stay configured properly; backups are tested and ready to recover if those safeguards fail; and the promises made in a client’s insurance application are met with mathematically irrefutable evidence, so any dispute is about the policy, never about the facts.

Spektrum Labs proves all three through Continuous Resilience Validation: it connects via API to the tools a provider already manages, validates daily that they meet each client’s internal and external requirements, and seals every result as a Cyber Resilience Token in the Ledger — tamper-evident evidence the provider can hand a client, auditor or insurer as a Spektrum Passport. For an MSP or MSSP, that turns “trust us” into portable, machine-verified proof, delivered one-to-many across their entire book and billable as a new line of service.

The Spektrum Labs platform empowers channel partners with:

Insurability that closes and retains accounts. When a provider shares a client’s Spektrum Passport, more than 20 of the largest cyber insurance carriers accept it instead of their application form and return preferential pricing and terms, in writing — a direct reason for the client to stay with the provider that delivers it.Proof-of-performance that reduces liability exposure. As insurers begin holding providers liable for the controls they manage, Spektrum Labs captures tamper-evident evidence that those safeguards were active and working when an incident occurred — a direct defense when it matters most.A differentiated, high-margin line with less overhead. Provable resilience is a recurring, high-margin service that rides on the tools a provider already resells — not another cost center to manage.Proof of contractual alignment. Spektrum Labs shows that what a provider delivers matches what its contracts and service-level agreements (SLAs) promise, protecting renewals and defending the account.Continuous, scalable evidence across the entire book. Instead of logging into console after console per client, providers get daily validation across every system and client in one comparable view.A layer that complements, never competes. Spektrum Labs sits above the provider’s existing platform as an assurance layer, adding value without displacing what they already sell.

Oscar Chavez-Arrieta, senior vice president, global channel, Spektrum Labs, said: “For over two decades, I’ve helped partners across the Americas sell security. The question from their clients has changed from ‘What tools do you run?’ to ‘How can you prove they’re working?’ Spektrum Labs gives the channel continuous, verifiable proof across every client they manage, sitting above the partner’s own platform without competing with what they sell. It makes a partner’s services and margins stronger at the same time, and that is why I joined.”

Rob Driscoll, co-founder and chief revenue officer, Spektrum Labs, said: “The channel is the highest-leverage place to prove resilience, because one provider can deliver it to hundreds of clients at once. Oscar has spent his career building that channel across the Americas, and partners trust him. Bringing him on to lead our global channel lets us meet MSPs and MSSPs with proof instead of promises and scale the segment with someone the market already knows.”

About Spektrum Labs 

Spektrum Labs built the first cyber resilience proof engine, backed by a portfolio of 25 patents. Cyber resilience means safeguards work and stay configured, backups are tested and ready to recover, and insurance promises are met with mathematically irrefutable evidence. Through Continuous Resilience Validation, the Spektrum Fusion platform connects to an organization’s tools, validates them daily, and seals every result as tamper-evident proof in the Ledger — proof that boards, auditors, regulators and insurers accept. To learn more, visit spektrum.ai.

Spektrum Labs, Spektrum Fusion, Spektrum Passport and Cyber Resilience Token are trademarks or registered trademarks of Spektrum Labs.

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SOURCE Spektrum Labs