EdTech Magazine

Although K–12 school districts spend billions on educational technology, often students are left out of the tech buying process. But including students in procurement decisions can boost learning and ensure that the technology meets the needs of students. Recent research from ISTE+ASCD found that incorporating student input leads to more ease of use for tech tools and a “clear, intuitive user interface.” They also prefer a customized experience without flashy features, according to the organizat

When, in 2020, the principal of East Ridge High School in Lake County, Fla., considered adding an aviation pathway to the school’s career and technical education (CTE) program, she sought advice from a nearby aviator. “I thought aviation might be a stretch,” says East Ridge instructor and retired Navy captain Mark Day. Having taught engineering in the school, Day was unsure that students had the maturity and mindset for general aviation training. “It’s based on the same concepts,” Day says. “As

From cloud applications and video to artificial intelligence tools and connected devices, schools continue to expand their use of in-classroom technology. But many districts, especially those with resource constraints and infrastructure challenges, aren't prepared for the increased demand this places on reliable connectivity. A strong network is foundational to digital learning, and yet a school connectivity report by Connected Nation found that nearly half of public school students in the U.S.

When new Chromebooks arrive at Desert Sands Unified School District, they come preconfigured and nearly ready to hand out to students. That's because CDW, one of the district's technology solutions providers, unboxes each Chromebook, tags it and enrolls it in the district’s Google domain — a service that the district pays a small per-device fee for. Zero-touch enrollment is a massive timesaver for its four cloud support technicians, who manage nearly 28,000 Chromebooks across 34 schools. The La

Students are creative, but that resourcefulness can sometimes put teachers and administrators in a tough position. Every day, students use their school-owned devices to play games, watch videos and check in with friends.  While schools can try to block or monitor this activity, it’s a balancing act. Ideally, students should have enough internet access to research and discover while guardrails keep them safe and on task.  Content filtering is one of the ways districts ensure that students have ac

Career and technical education (CTE) is evolving to meet the demands of modern industries. Growing numbers of high school students are choosing it as a viable post-graduation pathway to steady, well-paying jobs. This means district IT leaders are tasked with not just supporting classroom tools but also enabling scalable, secure and future-ready career pathways. Click the banner to learn how the Huntsville Center for Technology is rethinking the student experience.

When a district buys student devices, it’s also committing money and staff time to configuring, licensing, managing, repairing and retiring them — expenses that accumulate across thousands of endpoints and several budget cycles. This makes factoring in the total cost of ownership (TCO) critical to the purchasing decision. A device with a higher price tag may ultimately cost less when it lasts longer, requires fewer repairs and consumes less staff time. An effective comparison follows each option

Google has rolled out a wave of new artificial intelligence features across its ecosystem of products purpose-built for education. At the heart of these features sits Google Classroom, a learning hub for teachers and students globally. From bringing Classroom information directly into Gemini to bringing AI-powered scaffolding to learning journeys in Classroom, schools can now experience the best of Google’s AI for learning using Workspace for Education. DISCOVER: Google fosters brighter futures

For K–12 IT teams, managing a fleet of interactive displays spread across dozens of rooms can become a heavy lift. “Each display is a connected teaching device that needs to be configured, secured, updated and supported over many years,” says Sara Murray, executive vice president and chief product officer at SMART Technologies. “For lean IT teams, small things become significant when repeated across dozens or even hundreds of classrooms.” When IT struggles to manage these devices, instructional

Schools increasingly depend on third-party tools to support everything from classroom learning to back-office operations. But there’s a price to pay. A majority of all publicly disclosed K–12 data breaches have traced back to vendors and third-party partners, not direct attacks on districts. Districts often bear the consequences of their vendors’ security shortcomings. With 48% of education breaches now involving a third party, schools are taking a hard look at how they manage that risk. With th

Fueled by factors such as chronic absenteeism and pandemic learning challenges, students’ reading scores have been trending downward for years. A biennial National Assessment of Education Progress test found that approximately a third of eighth grade students lack basic reading skills, the largest percentage on record. In 2024, the average reading score for high school seniors also sunk to the lowest point in 34 years history.  To support student learning, a number of schools have implemented ar

When schools talk about students using artificial intelligence, the conversation often begins with assignments. Are students using AI to brainstorm, summarize or complete work they should be doing themselves? Those questions matter, but academic use is only one part of what schools need to consider. Schoolwork-related AI use is often visible. For the past three years, I have encouraged educators to also pay attention to what may be invisible. Potentially more consequential for student safety is

Digital devices used for K–12 learning have traditionally provided access to productivity software, research and digital assignments. But now, artificial intelligence technology is enabling devices to generate instructional material, guide students through problems and connect classroom workflows. The question for districts is no longer only whether a device can run required applications, but how effectively it can support personalized instruction, accessibility and emerging AI experiences. It’s

Just south of Seattle, Highline Public Schools serves a richly diverse community. Its more than 18,000 students bring nearly 90 different languages to classrooms and schools across the district. For Teshon Christie, that’s an opportunity to tailor support to every student while fulfilling the district’s commitment to human-centered innovation. Christie is a member of CoSN’s Driving K–12 Innovation Advisory Board and is a 2026 Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award winner. For the past two years

Building a drone fleet for a K–12 education program isn’t a one-time purchase. Rather, it’s a multiyear investment, and the funding source used to pay for it carries compliance consequences.  Selecting drones requires balancing instructional goals, budget, safety and long-term viability. While flight performance and ease of use remain important, school districts should also consider the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding unmanned aircraft systems. Click the banner below to discover how Hu

Great presentations are rarely about great slides. Instead, they come from instructors who connect naturally with students, maintain eye contact and keep technology from interrupting the learning experience. While presentation remotes have existed for years, most simply replace a keyboard’s arrow keys. Logitech's Spotlight 2 aims to become something much more useful. During my hands-on evaluation, the Spotlight 2 quickly proved itself to be more than just a slide clicker. Its thoughtful combinat

The start of the school year brings a familiar checklist for K–12 leaders: prepare classrooms, welcome new students and make sure everything is ready for the year ahead. Security should be on that list too. The back-to-school season provides an opportunity to ensure the procedures and technology supporting school safety work together. A system that was functioning at the end of the previous year may not be ready for the new one, and it’s important to understand where vulnerabilities may have app

School districts face growing pressure to modernize their data protection strategies while defending against sophisticated cyberthreats. Legacy backup tools often fall short, especially when ransomware targets critical systems, or when compliance requirements demand verifiable controls across multiple environments. These days, especially in K–12 settings, the focus is on resilience versus simple backup tools, meaning that backup solutions need to be evaluated not only on data retention but on ho

With the vast selection of educational technology on the market today, it can be difficult for IT leaders to know what is appropriate for their institutions. The organizations at the helm of the EdTech Quality Collaborative — Digital Promise, 1EdTech, CAST, CoSN, ISTE and SETDA — have developed the EdTech Quality Indicators Guide, which lists five quality indicators for technology selection. This helps educational and technology leaders employ evidence-based decision-making to streamline procure

Artificial Intelligence use in schools continues to be hotly debated, but there’s no doubt it’s widely used: About 9 in 10 students, educators and education leaders say they’ve already used AI for school. That comes from Microsoft’s third annual AI in Education Special Report, which examines how K–12 districts and higher education institutions are adopting and using AI. The report consolidates survey results from more than 3,000 instructors, education leaders and students in K–12 and higher educ