Is it blended? Is it personalized? Is it customized?

It’s not every day that celebrity culture and high-stakes testing collide with the law, but now that it has, people can’t seem to get enough!

Does adaptive learning software improve test scores? Does a 1:1 device initiative improve learning? Is screen time good for students? Questions like these are regulars in debates about edtech. But whether you’re an edtech advocate or a critic, if you’re asking questions like these, you’re missing the mark.

Earlier this month, education news outlets buzzed with a frustrating, yet unsurprising, headline: Most educational software licenses go unused in K-12 districts. The source of the headline is a recent report by Ryan Baker, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Learning Analytics. Baker analyzed data from BrightBytes, a K-12 data management company, on students’ technology usage across 48 districts. That data revealed that a median of 70% of districts’ software licenses never get used, and a median of 97.6% of licenses are never used intensively.

“Everything's been said, but everyone hasn't said it."

“It’s not about the technology.”

“Teachers are more important than tech.”

“You can’t just put students in front of computers.”