Design & Plan

This worksheet will help you think about what data you need to collect in your pilot study.

This project management resource provides a structured, chronological timeline template for executing an edtech pilot program over a typical school semester or year. It helps districts schedule milestone dates for teacher training, baseline data collection, mid-point check-ins, and final evaluation reviews.

This planning tool guides district teams to transition from broad instructional ideas to highly specific, measurable goals for an upcoming software pilot. It forces evaluators to define exactly what student or teacher metrics will determine if the pilot tool was successful enough to warrant a full purchase.

This comprehensive checklist walks administrative and instructional teams through the critical preparatory steps required before, during, and after a software pilot. It ensures that data privacy agreements, teacher training, and success metrics are all firmly established before a tool enters the classroom.

This planning template helps district evaluation teams explicitly connect their specific student performance data points with targeted edtech procurement goals. It ensures that any new software acquisition is directly justified by an identified, data-backed academic need rather than market trends.

South Fayette School District created this Expectations Chart to ensure their pilot of STEM Robotics was executed successfully.

A checklist to help you plan for a successful edtech pilot.

This reference document outlines the explicit performance, communication, and technical benchmarks required of a vendor during an active classroom pilot. It provides a structured breakdown to ensure school staff and external developers maintain shared accountability throughout the evaluation period.

This technical screening instrument is used to evaluate how seamlessly a vendor’s software integrates with a district’s existing data infrastructure, student information systems, and single sign-on platforms. It ensures prospective tools comply with strict data rostering and interoperability standards before purchase.

This visual workflow diagram details how the West Ada School District systematically routes digital content through various internal evaluation and approval stages. It serves as an operational blueprint for managing cross-departmental coordination between curriculum and IT teams during a pilot phase.

A flowchart from West Ada School District for piloting and determining whether to purchase an edtech product.

This conceptual framework serves as a guide for district leadership teams to evaluate whether new and emerging technologies support deep, meaningful educational goals. It focuses on aligning software selection with core competencies like critical thinking, real-world problem solving, and equitable student agency.

This guide supports educators with small-scale implementation of instructional edtech tools by sharing insights, tips, and lessons learned from real-life cases of integrating education technology.

This report supports districts as they identify the contextual limitations that are important to consider before crafting a research question to make sure the evaluation is based on a question you can answer.

A brief infographic explaining the LearnLaunch MassNET piloting process.

By understanding the extent and quality of research conducted by edtech companies, this report intends to identify strategies to improve the support and accountability for reliable, research-based development of education technology tools by developers.

This case study examines how the Allentown School District builds educator capacity by investing in dedicated instructional technology leadership. It details strategies for creating role-specific professional development pathways that prepare teachers to use AI tools responsibly.

This case study focuses on Indian Prairie School District’s model of using structured learning progressions and core principles to govern generative AI. It outlines methods for establishing strict implementation boundaries that ensure AI tools always complement, rather than replace, human-led instruction.

This document provides a brief overview of Highlander Institutes’ process for facilitating edtech pilots and supporting educators to adopt the best practices of personalized learning.

An example pilot process map from Vista Unified School District.

This guide will help educators plan their pilot implementation through discussion questions and an organizer to keep everyone on track.

This Digital Promise publication examines how emerging technological tools can be intentionally mapped to learner-centered instructional practices. It offers guidance on moving past passive technology consumption toward active, deeply collaborative learning experiences.

This evaluation study reviews systemic technology integration efforts aimed at scaling digital accessibility and equity for diverse student populations. It provides data and strategic takeaways on how rigorous post-implementation reviews can identify and eliminate barriers to student access.