2023 Will Be the Year of Efficacy

...but at what cost?

Jan 24, 2023

In the education space, a good and robust evidence base is paramount. There’s a lot of attention rightfully placed on EdTech products specifically to show that they are efficacious. After all, what good is the ability to scale if we don’t know that your intervention actually works?

But, like my folksy Chilean uncle always says:

“De dicho al hecho hay mucho trecho” - which roughly translates to “there’s a lot of road between what’s said and what’s done”

A focus on efficacy is great, but what are the hidden costs of demanding that from our EdTech interventions? Efficacy research can be slow; new research often lags the experience in current learning environments. Heck, we’re still seeing some good efficacy studies and research reviews come out citing studies before the proliferation of smartphones in the home.

With the lightning fast adoption of new technologies in classrooms, it’s hard to capture the efficacy of technology interventions broadly because the kinds (and amount) of technology implementations in schools is constantly changing.

Without broad-based support in the research for the efficacy of technology interventions, EdTech companies are left with needing to prove - often through the high bar of a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) - the isolated efficacy of their own specific intervention.

So, does that mean that the 99% of EdTech that can’t prove efficacy are not having a positive effect on the learners they serve?

Of course not. The problem is that we act as if it is true when these interventions are looked over for funding or adoption because of their lack of research backing. We have inadvertently created a market that is inherently mistrustful of technology interventions.

So, in the spirit of Project FoundED - what does it look like to support the EdTech industry with outcomes as a goal? What does it mean to support more Tech in Ed? We may not have the broad-based research to make EdTech unquestionably adoptable, but there’s a pretty clear trend. We’re seeing enough evidence from educators on the ground to know with confidence the following:

Technology interventions can extend the best practices of teachers, elevate their outcomes, and have outsized positive effects for historically excluded populations of students.

That’s what’s at the heart of our impact mission - to support new innovations in EdTech, and build new channels to ensure educators can get their hands on that technology.

The truth is that innovation in EdTech is happening in spades. Our community is barely a year old and already has over 1,500 members - all founders of EdTech companies. The problem is that educators have very few opportunities to discover, evaluate, and adopt the technologies that might work best for them in their classrooms.

We’re starting to shed light on this problem in the hopes that we can all convene around a solution. We held several roundtable discussions with EdTech leaders and district staff late last year, and we uncovered something that is familiar to any educator out there

There is no consensus, much less process, on how successful (and impactful) technology adoption should be done.

Some schools systems run IT-led processes, others are initiated by instructional departments (and often stalled or canceled by IT), still others are championed by whoever is most passionate about the potential new tool.

We don’t (yet) have the answer for how to clear this hurdle, but we are motivated by finding the solution. If we can help educators, and entire school systems to build their capabilities in this area, many more EdTech companies will get the opportunity to reach their intended audiences, to vie for funding, to do efficacy research, to get closer to delivering on the promise of EdTech.

The good news is that our work has led to an exciting realization:

Instructional coaches have been a part of the fabric of our school systems for decades; many of them are specializing in technology over the past few years as school systems have demanded it of them.

In an environment where there is little process, we need to build capacity and leadership within school walls to help drive technology adoption and establish new processes.

We’ve talked with so many instructional technology coaches over the past few months that are perfectly positioned to do this. They’re passionate about the teachers they support, they’re excited about the technologies we might be able to adopt, and they’re dismayed by the lack of training and opportunity afforded to them.

We have ideas for how to support instructional technology coaches directly to build capacity, leadership, and (ultimately) adoption of technologies in schools. Please reach out if you’re interested to know more and want to partner with us in some way. If you’re interested in funding this work, or want to talk about how the work might benefit your philanthropic goals, please reach out to us.

Events 🎤

Building on successful pilot or full implementation experiences with your product, RYE Collective invites you to our Storytelling: Pathway to Sales Workshop. In this two-week sprint (Feb 6-March 1), experts will walk you through how to identify an effective implementation to highlight your offering, design a compelling interview and curate your product or implementation story to be shared for maximum impact across media, including case studies, blogs, and white papers. Walk away from our session with actionable collateral and a pathway for building your sales through storytelling.

Funding Opportunities 💰

STEM Education Research Grants (Due Feb 24, 2023)The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures and Walton Family Foundation have collaborated to create a specific funding opportunity within the greater BCSER program that prioritizes proposals targeting K-12 STEM education, particularly those with a mathematics focus, and emerging technologies such as learning analytics, natural language processing, sensor technology, and tools for analysis of educational datasets. Proposals should focus on building STEM researcher capacity, including proposals for the implementation of institutes with a budget of up to $1M and individualized plans with a budget of up to $350K. Researchers from minority-serving and two-year institutions are especially encouraged to apply.

New Request for Applications from IES (Due February 23, 2023) regarding research on Digital Learning Platforms. Up to ten Research Teams will join the Digital Learning Platforms (DLPs) to Enable Efficient Education Research Network (SEERNet), which currently includes a Network Lead and five Platform Teams. Applicants can learn more about SEERNet here.