USED Joins Push to Measure EdTech Impact at iNACOL

At iNACOL, the U. S. Department of Education announced the launch of the RCE Coach beta, adding to the movement that demands educators be empowered with impact data for their edtech tools.

The tool in beta release, allows schools to get a recommended research design based on their data and analyze an edtech tool with a wizard interface that guides users through a series of questions and needs. By defining characteristics of the group to be measured and choosing the intended outcomes, districts can match a control and treatment group to help determine the effectiveness of a product with their identified learning need. The intention is to help educators make informed purchase decisions.

We created LearnPlatform because we are committed to improving equity and care about the impact of edtech, and are excited that the federal government is highlighting the need for schools and districts to effectively analyze whether or not a tool is working. And we need more collaborators to join the ‘results matter’ movement at all levels! Our school and district partners have been forging this path, working to inventory and analyze their edtech, streamline edtech selection and implementation, and inform investments and processes with timely data for the past two years — many with marked savings, greater efficiencies and better student outcomes.

With LearnPlatform, leading education organizations like the State of Utah, Highlander Institute, and hundreds of schools, districts and institutions of all sizes understand all of the tools they have, how they’re used, what they pay and in which situations the tools contribute to helping students learn and succeed.

More than most, we understand the complexity of analyzing what’s working best. If it were simple, the need would not be so great, and education, technology and government leaders would not be dedicating so much time and energy to helping schools solve this challenge for our students.

There’s a lot to aggregate and balance — and, while we’ve automated significant portions of the process:

• accounting for the exploding number of apps, tools, devices and systems;
• teacher voice;
• student population demographics;
• professional development and implementation needs;
• recommended product dosage;
• and other variables;

- all affect understanding of when and if tools are working as intended. With greater collaboration in practice, transparency of information and innovative mindshare, schools can make more informed decisions every day — and with rapid analysis, for students and budgets THIS year.

We are excited to work with schools and districts, as they test the RCE Coach beta, and learn more about how it complements the LearnPlatform.

1. We celebrate the leading schools and districts who are already achieving goals that were identified from their IMPACT™ analyses: savings, efficiencies from streamlining processes, smarter investments in PD and support for edtech tools that are working.
2. We are committed to protecting student data to preserve their privacy and security. We have signed the Student Privacy Pledge, have industry-leading data confidentiality policies and procedures, and are compliant with all regulations to support our partners’ federal and state requirements for safeguarding their students.
3. Lea(R)n provides clients with a research and support team committed to customer success, accessible instantly through LearnPlatform. We provide resources, guidance and best practices from more than 10,000 educators serving more than 1.1 million students in schools and districts across the country using the platform.
4. We offer schools and districts a holistic view of their edtech impact. It balances a research-based rubric for verified edtech users — giving teachers a voice — with quantitative data representing the multitude of variables that should be factored into the dozens of automated analyses through our IMPACT technology, giving timely insights for instructional and budget decisions.

Educators and administrators can learn more and take the USED’s beta tool for a test drive at edtechrce.org. Of course, our team of researchers, technologists and educators are available anytime to answer questions or share what schools and districts are learning.

The iNACOL conference was eventful this year and we look forward to participating in more rigorous research studies; panels that push the boundaries of smarter demand, efficacy and equity in learning; and a community of practice and governance that elevates the importance of applied data. Results matter — and we welcome the opportunity to work alongside more organizations shifting their focus to that standard.