October 09, 2023 at 12:05 am EDTPADCASTER President Jon Goldberg, left, and CEO Josh Apter, demonstrate their Padcaster Studio for remote and virtual learning, at EDTECHWEEK 2023, in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. As soon as the federal pandemic relief started arriving at America's schools, tech companies by the dozens wanted a chance to prove that their software or equipment was exactly what schools needed.
Clark County schools in the Las Vegas area, for one, signed contracts worth at least $70 million over two years with 12 education technology consultants and companies. They include Achieve3000 , Age of Learning , Paper and Renaissance Learning . At the school offices in rural Nekoosa, Wisconsin, the calls and emails made their way to business manager Lynn Knight.
Others were not. Less than half of elementary school students used Freckle, a math app that cost the district $2 million. When they did use it, sessions averaged less than five minutes.Some Las Vegas parents say software shouldn't be a priority in a district with issues including aging buildings and more than 1,100 teacher vacancies.
A team of international researchers reported in September that edtech has generally failed to live up to its potential. With little regulation, companies have few incentives to prove their products work, according to the researchers at Harvard and universities in Norway and Germany.The Education Department urges schools to use technology with a proven track record and offers a rating system to assess a product's evidence.