Over the last few years, the rush to remote/hybrid learning and the explosion of edtech use because of the COVID pandemic has exposed a need for education organizations to update their edtech practices to reflect the current environment. Leaders at the state and local levels have a clear, urgent need to modernize their systems and processes to better support educators and students by ensuring that the decisions they make about education technology are grounded in evidence, promote safety and equity, and protect the privacy of student data.
Generating contextual evidence and applying it does not look the same for every K-12 district, though. Different approaches are needed in order to build for sustainability in a given district context, which is why we are excited to announce our newly released guide for K-12 administrators: Addressing EdTech Challenges with Evidence: Your District’s Playbook.
This flexible guide helps district leaders make evidence-based decisions in ways that make sense for their students, teachers and budgets. No matter if you’re a technology director seeking better understanding of usage of district-supported products, or a curriculum and instruction director who needs a more effective way to gather and use teacher feedback, this playbook offers ideas, best practices and concepts for making evaluation and informed action a standard part of any edtech environment.
The guide is rooted in some of the key challenges faced by K-12 leaders today:
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Getting Started and Staying Organized: What are teachers and students in my district using? How much are they using them? How are they viewing and accessing tools?
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Teacher Involvement: Do teachers know what tools/apps are approved and available for use? Is there a clear process to request new products? Is their feedback incorporated into decision making?
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Student Data Privacy: How do we ensure every tool/app is vetted for student data privacy and cybersecurity risks? Do we work with solution providers that are committed to student data privacy?
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Informed Decisions to Advance Outcomes: Can we correlate product usage to student achievement? Is one product leading to more growth than another?
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Meeting Compliance Requirements: Am I generating edtech evidence that aligns with federal reporting requirements?
An effective evidence base is built over time, through iterative processes that continue to grow and change as your district does. This playbook was created to reflect the rhythm of K-12 districts, and can be used to fit the most pressing needs. Read the entire playbook to learn more.
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