EdTech Quality Collaborative

By uniting the nation’s leading education technology organizations, the EdTech Quality Collaborative (EQC) establishes valuable industry consensus on what product quality actually means. Rather than forcing school systems and technology developers to navigate competing, fragmented standards, this collective effort from 1EdTech, CAST, CoSN, Digital Promise, ISTE, and SETDA creates a single, trusted framework. This shared approach brings much needed consistency and clarity to the entire K-12 sector, raising the bar for product design while significantly lowering the verification burden for individual school systems.

In 2024, the Collaborative launched the Five EdTech Quality Indicators (FEQI): a research-grounded framework designed to support strategic procurement and implementation decisions.

In 2026, the EQC launched the EdTech Quality Indicators Guide, a practical resource for education leaders to streamline the ways they leverage third-party validations in their edtech procurement processes.

 

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.

As we develop these resources, we’ll share findings with the field to raise awareness and support education leaders and procurement decision-makers across the ecosystem.

Together, this work is advancing a more efficient, transparent, accessible, and evidence-informed edtech marketplace.

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