Denver, Colo. – Today, seven leading edtech organizations—1EdTech, CAST, CoSN, Digital Promise, InnovateEDU, ISTE, and SETDA—announced a joint effort to ease the burden for schools of determining if an edtech product is of sufficient quality to be used by teachers and students.

Today, every school system must independently conduct a detailed review process for any app or tool before it can be approved for use. This duplication of effort not only wastes time but also adds to the critical responsibilities of school leaders.

To address this issue, 1EdTech, CAST, CoSN, Digital Promise, InnovateEDU, ISTE, and SETDA have pledged to work together to reduce the burden on educators, school and school system leaders by establishing a set of common quality indicators for edtech products and services providing validations (by qualified experts) that products have met these indicators. The combination of common quality indicators and independent quality validations promises to identify high-quality edtech tools at a fraction of the time and cost the current review process requires.

Five Edtech Quality Indicators

1. SAFE

Edtech products must establish robust data privacy and security measures to protect student and educator data and safeguard against unauthorized access or data breaches. This includes adhering to industry standards and laws to create a secure learning environment and adopting principles of data minimization (only collecting necessary data), and data transparency (users understand which data are collected for what purpose).

2. EVIDENCE-BASED

Edtech product design, implementation, and claims of effectiveness need to be grounded in rigorous research and evidence-based practices as specified by the ESSA Tiers of Evidence. Providers should engage in research-driven design, empirical validation, demonstrated effectiveness, and alignment with established educational standards.

3. INCLUSIVE

Edtech products must prioritize accessibility, inclusivity, and equitable design to ensure they are acceptable to learners from diverse backgrounds and with a broad range of learner variability. This includes ensuring edtech products are accessible for all learners, do not promote existing stereotypes, create new ones, or prevent students from acquiring accurate information because of biased algorithms.

4. USABLE

Edtech products must be designed to be easily usable by educators and students to ensure a seamless digital experience. If the product is not easy to use, it creates an unnecessary barrier and educators and students will struggle to use the tool.

5. INTEROPERABLE

Edtech products must seamlessly connect to other technologies within a school’s digital ecosystem. This is accomplished by adhering to established interoperability standards that ensure secure exchange and allow for the beneficial aggregation of data to inform instruction and personalize learning.

Trusted Validators

To support this initiative, the coalition has identified organizations that provide validations for the elements of the Five Edtech Quality Indicators. These organizations have expertise in reviewing specific aspects of edtech products. Each organization solicits evidence from edtech companies to demonstrate that the product meets their established requirements.

Currently there is no single location to find all validations a given product has received. The coalition is committed to creating a comprehensive directory where credible validations a product has obtained can be readily displayed.

For more information, read ISTE’s introductory blog post.

About ISTE

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit organization that works with the global education community to accelerate innovation in education through the smart use of technology. ISTE sets a bold vision for education transformation through the ISTE Standards, a framework for rethinking education and creating innovative learning experiences. ISTE hosts ISTELive, one of the world's most influential education events, and offers a wealth of professional learning opportunities focused on technology in education. In 2023, ISTE merged with ASCD, combining expertise in technology and innovation with research-based professional learning for educators and education leaders, to advance student outcomes. For more information or to become an ISTE member, visit iste.org.