In 2018, Rob Waldron of Curriculum Associates offered ten steps for buying edtech in a district. The section below revisits them with current data on how many tools districts use, what evidence and privacy checks to add, and how artificial intelligence changes the questions.
Go beyond the flashy sales pitch to get the best for educators and students by Rob Waldron
This may sound familiar to those of you making purchasing decisions for your district. These decisions could affect hundreds or thousands of students, and it is imperative that you are informed and can see beyond a flashy sales pitch to do what’s best for the educators and students that depend on these tools. Drawing from my years inside the edtech industry, I’ve compiled 10 tips to help you invest in cost-effective programs that will drive the greatest gains for students.
Do an Audit
Before you make decisions about what you need, you need to know what you already have. Conduct an audit of current hardware, software, apps, and any established practices associated with these products. This should also include a districtwide staff survey asking which tools they use most and least, their favorite and least favorite tools, and why.
Determine Priorities
What is your goal? Do your best as a team to narrow the scope of your answer and keep it simple and targeted. If you’re not exactly sure how your goal translates into product features, consider first issuing a request for information (RFI) before a request for proposals (RFP).
Don’t Buy Custom
While every district is unique, districts’ objectives are relatively consistent across the country. Highly customized products (which come with high price tags) are usually unnecessary, and the less you customize, the less the product will cost.
Compare Products
Once you have narrowed it down to three to five vendors, ask that they base their presentations on a common standard, data reporting questions, or both. Be sure to inquire about their renewal rate, as this is a great indicator of customer satisfaction, and review independent evaluations such as those conducted by EdReports.org to compare programs.
Check References
Ask for results from districts similar in size and makeup to yours and reach out to them about their experience with the product. A company with great products and service will have champions who will eagerly respond.
Do a Real Pilot
Dedicate a sufficient amount of time (approximately 12 weeks) to conducting a meaningful pilot. Pilots should include clear goals, internal champions to plan and implement the pilot, planned conclusion, and time to reflect on both product feedback and implementation feedback from stakeholders.
Put Service Above Product
The people behind a product differentiate a good product from a great one. Discuss account management, data migration, roster sign-on, and the product roadmap. Districts should understand how the company handles different levels of support, meet their account manager, and have an executive’s mobile number in case of an urgent need.
Find Creative Savings
Before closing the deal, make sure you know the total cost of ownership, including costs for ongoing licensing, installation, training, and IT support. Ask for discounts and discuss ways to economize, such as conducting multi-day training instead of multiple trips, and compare costs of seat-based and site-based licenses. Other creative ways to save include collaborative buying through purchasing consortia.
Get a Guarantee or Walk
Your district should adopt a policy that all curriculum vendors must provide an unconditional money-back guarantee. Vendors need your business and will agree to this request if you insist.
Get Everyone On Board
As you roll out new programming, keep your messaging focused on how the new tool will help students. Make sure decision makers are available to explain purchasing decisions, staff are included in professional development, and families receive any training or information needed to support their children.Further Reading
- Campus Tech – Study Uncovers How Ed Tech Decision-Making Works
- EdSurge – The Secret Sauce to Choosing Edtech? Find Tools By Fit, Not Feature
- EdScoop – Report: Teachers are the nexus of technology decisions and purchases
How to evaluate edtech in 2026: ten steps updated for evidence, privacy and AI
How to evaluate edtech is a question that district leaders face more often each year, because the number of tools keeps growing. As Rob Waldron explains above, a district that audits what it has, pilots before buying and counts the full cost makes better decisions than one that follows a sales pitch. Waldron’s steps still hold up well. This section adds what has changed since 2018, adds checks on evidence, privacy and artificial intelligence, and notes a few places where a leader may want to adjust Waldron’s advice. Waldron wrote from inside an edtech company, Curriculum Associates, and the original names that affiliation through its logo, so readers should weigh Waldron’s advice with that in mind. The steps themselves are broadly standard.
Why the audit matters more now
The 2025 EdTech Top 40 report from LearnPlatform by Instructure, summarized by eSchool News, found that districts accessed an average of 2,982 distinct edtech tools during the 2024-25 school year, nearly 9 percent more than the year before. The same report found that 45 percent of the tools it examined had published research tied to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) evidence standards, up from 32 percent a year earlier. The report is built on usage data alone, so it shows how much is in use and not whether any of it works. Even so, the count supports Waldron’s first step: before choosing something new, a district needs a list of what it already pays for and how often teachers use it.
Adding an evidence check
Waldron suggests independent evaluations such as EdReports. A second place to look is Evidence for ESSA, a site created by the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, which lists programs in reading, math, social-emotional learning, attendance, science and family engagement that meet ESSA evidence standards. When a vendor cites a study, ask who ran it, how many students took part, whether the students resembled yours, and whether the vendor paid for it. A lack of published evidence does not rule out a new tool, but it does mean the pilot carries more weight.
Adding a privacy check
Student records are protected by federal law. Under the regulations for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a school may share records with an outside company as a school official only if the company performs a service the school would otherwise do itself, is under the school’s direct control for how it uses and maintains the records, and follows the rules on using and redisclosing personal information (34 CFR 99.31). In practice, the contract should say what data the product collects, who can see it, how long it is kept, and how it is returned or deleted when the district leaves.
What artificial intelligence changes
Many products now include AI features, and these raise questions that a 2018 checklist did not need: whether district data is used to train models, whether outputs affect grades or discipline without human review, and how the system has been tested with different groups of students. edCircuit’s AI Procurement for Schools: 10 Questions to Ask lists ten such questions, including purpose and success measures, data control and deletion, independent evidence, total cost, and how the district can exit. For the broader purchasing picture, including subscriptions that renew without review, see K-12 Procurement Trends Over the Last 10 Years.
Where leaders may adjust the original steps
- Renewal rate is a useful signal, as Waldron says, but a high rate can also reflect how hard it is to leave a product, so pair it with reference calls and usage data.
- A twelve-week pilot is a good guide for a curriculum product. A small tool may need less time, and a pilot should still have written goals and a decision date.
- A demand for an unconditional money-back guarantee will not always be possible. A district can decide what it needs most, such as a refund of unused license fees or the return of its data on exit, and write that into the contract.
- Add accessibility and rostering to the checklist: ask for documentation on how the product works with assistive technology and how it connects to the student information system.
Taken together, the original ten steps and these additions give a district a repeatable way to decide, and a record of why it decided as it did.
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