New Product Certification Calls on Edtech Tools to Prioritize Racial Equity in AI Design

Increased calls for equity have rippled across the education system as existing systemic opportunity gaps have been made palpable over the last year and a half. Concurrently, edtech’s role in education has become undeniably significant. These overlapping realities call for the field to demand accountability from edtech products to be intentional in creating tools for equitable learning experiences and opportunities.

Prioritizing Racial Equity in AI Design

In collaboration with dozens of education leaders, educators, researchers, edtech developers, and technology experts, The Edtech Equity Project and Digital Promise are thrilled to announce the launch of the pilot of our newest Product Certification: Prioritizing Racial Equity in AI Design.

This certification will be the first in a stack of Product Certifications that will recognize edtech products that center racial equity throughout design and development. Our community of collaborators will continue to build additional certifications in this stack to speak to the ongoing improvement and outcomes of these products to provide teachers, learners, and edtech purchasers with invaluable information about the tools they choose to leverage for their learners.

Our Vision

Product Certifications offer a straightforward signal about product quality to those who use and purchase edtech, making our initiative a powerful foundation for guiding equity standards in the industry. We envision a system that calls for products to demonstrate that they are:

1. Intentional and transparent about the design of products to prioritize equity;
2. Critical, collaborative, and reflective in the iterative improvements of the product to commit to developing an equitable tool; and
3. Accountable for delivering a product that establishes equitable and powerful learning experiences and outcomes across learners.

Apply Now

We encourage all products that utilize AI to review the certification criteria and apply! During our pilot, products are invited to submit applications at no cost. Read about this work in our latest press release.

To learn more about Product Certifications, check out our site. For additional information about creating equitable edtech tools and resources and to learn whether the products you’re using were built with equity in mind, check out Edtech Equity’s toolkit.