With over 150 certifications awarded, districts can now integrate questions about products’ certification status in existing evaluation processes. Through learning sessions with district leaders, we have developed templates to support districts in seamlessly incorporating Product Certifications as evidence throughout the evaluation process.
Vendor pitches are a major bottleneck for edtech decision making. With a constant flow of requests for edtech purchasers’ time, many district leaders have shared that if they met with every vendor it would be more than a full time job. On the flip side, though, district leaders admit they worry they miss the chance to connect with great products because they are worn down by the sheer volume of requests. Require vendors to demonstrate product quality before giving them your time. We’ve built a questionnaire template that district leaders can use as a filter to sift through the pitches.
Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Requests for Applications (RFAs) are a valuable tool to evaluate edtech options. By including questions about products’ certification status in the specifications and requirements section, districts can collect information about edtech quality without burdening the district team with evaluating the evidence. We’ve created sample questions to consider including in your district’s RFPs and RFAs.
As learning moves away from exclusively dependent on distance education, many districts are working to make decisions about existing tools to reduce redundancies. Collaboratively designing a checklist is a powerful strategy to compare multiple products intended to accomplish the same impact, while gaining widespread buy-in across those who interact with and use edtech. We’ve developed a sample checklist to kickoff conversations across your district.
Our goal is to provide reliable and transparent information about edtech quality by building competencies that illuminate your priorities and needs to the edtech industry and evaluating evidence submitted by vendors to determine whether they meet your expectations. We designed these templates to help your district begin to leverage Product Certifications to easily access information about product quality to drive decision making.
Learn how some of these resources were developed in our report, Select the Right Edtech: How to Leverage Certified Products During the Procurement Process and explore innovations in edtech evaluation through our Edtech Marketplace Today blog series.
Empower your practitioners and school leaders to advocate for tools that they are interested in leveraging while ensuring edtech is selected based on alignment to need and quality design. Also, use this template to require vendors to complete the form and send it to you so your team has the information needed to ensure alignment with technical and legal feasibility.
Pledge your commitment to using research-based, equitably-designed edtech products.
Read stories from the field about how challenges in the edtech selection, procurement, and implementation can be overcome.
Product Certifications
