5 EdTech Industry Trends in 2022

This December 2022 edCircuit staff piece outlined five trends shaping the education technology industry: personal development, accessibility, immersive learning, homeschool resources and artificial intelligence. A section added below revisits those trends with 2024 to 2026 research.

The EdTech industry is an ever-developing and expanding community.

Over the past year, the EdTech industry has seen a boom in innovation and growth. New start-ups and legacy brands are releasing content, products, and support to K12 education at an unprecedented rate. As edCircuit contributors discuss EdTech industry trends,  the edCircuit staff wanted to outline a few recent trends impacting edTech in 2022. 

EdTech Industry Trend #1: Personal Development

Expanding on the long-lasting trends of career technical education, professional development, micro-credentialing, and social-emotional learning, personal development tools are rapidly expanding in K12 and continuing education. This focus on personal development answers many of the questions educators have concerning the role of schooling in the 21st Century. Although traditional skills in STEM, ELA, History, and Language are necessary, many education stakeholders want to see an expansion in developing students’ passions through a more individual-driven education.

With the popularity of personal development systems like MasterClass or Khan Academy, it is expected that ‘pathway’ based learning strategies will continue to expand in the EdTech industry, with individualized learning taking priority over overgeneralized group instruction. 

EdTech Industry Trend #2: Accessibility

Over the past few years, a particularly well-supported movement has been to increase accessibility in EdTech tools. This accessibility can be seen in two primary variations: 1) making educational resources more equitably accessible based on socio-economics and 2) making tools more accessible to students with disabilities. 

In terms of equity, many EdTech companies have prioritized equitably providing resources through grants, scholarships, and reduced pricing. These programs have allowed schools that traditionally could not access technology and additional resources to implement them in their classrooms to increase academic prosperity.

Especially with the increase in federal and state mandates, school districts across the country have turned to the EdTech industry to support students with disabilities. Many EdTech companies have answered the call and increased their investment in accessibility. New companies have created more products and content to support students with learning disabilities. However, existing companies in the space have also shifted their products to better include and support accessibility.

EdTech Industry Trend #3: Immersive Learning

Using immersive technology like VR goggles, phygital technology, and augmented reality simulators, students have access to many new resources and experiences previously inaccessible due to time, travel, expense, etc. Several companies have released more accessible versions of AR/VR with practical use in the classroom. This technology has been slow to implement in the everyday K12 classroom. However, as consumer accessibility to AR/VR technology increases, many companies will look to expand their development and implementation of immersive learning technologies in 2023 and beyond. 

EdTech Industry Trend #4: Homeschool Resources 

Due to the pandemic and many other factors, more students are being educated at home. According to a recent United States Census Bureau report, the number of homeschooled students has increased by 5.7%. Education technology companies have begun to increase curriculum and tech resources designed for homeschooling to address this increase. This is a change in an industry that has primarily focused on the district model but now has to cater to the wants and needs of families. As the effects of the pandemic diminish in school districts across the country, it will be an interesting trend to watch within the EdTech community. 

EdTech Industry Trend #5: Artificial Intelligence 

Like immersive technology, artificial intelligence has many applications in the classroom and school operations. Many edTech companies have implemented artificial intelligence in data tracking systems. As data-driven instruction has expanded across the industry, automation and artificial intelligence are key to the growth of both edTech start-ups and major players. 

Moving The Conversation Forward

Related: Why Are K-12 Education Companies Leaving the Public Market?

To better understand the recent market growth, edCircuit contributors will be discussing various trends across EdTech throughout December. Make sure to stay connected and join the conversation surrounding trends in the EdTech industry by subscribing to edCircuit. If you have thoughts on the shifting trends in EdTech, apply to become an edCircuit contributor to share your voice with our community. 

EdTech industry trends in 2026: how the 2022 list has held up

EdTech industry trends are easier to judge a few years later, and the 2022 list above has held up unevenly. Artificial intelligence, the fifth trend, has moved to the center of nearly every conversation about school technology. Homeschool resources, the fourth trend, grew during the pandemic and have settled at a level that depends on how the counting is done. Meanwhile, funding and connectivity, which the 2022 piece did not discuss, now shape what schools can buy. This section uses recent surveys and reports, and says what each one can and cannot show.

Artificial intelligence is now the top priority for district technology leaders

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) surveys district technology leaders each year. In its 2025 State of EdTech District Leadership report, released in May 2025, generative AI was the top technology priority, and 94 percent of leaders said AI has a positive effect on education. Only 1 percent of districts have completely banned its use, and a majority, 57 percent, of districts use or are exploring tools to detect AI-generated answers in student work. The report reflects the views of technology leaders rather than of teachers, and the page does not state the number of respondents.

Students are moving as quickly. A RAND survey of more than 1,000 students aged 12 to 29 from December 2025, as reported by eSchool News, found that the share of students using AI for homework rose from 48 percent in May 2025 to 62 percent. The same coverage reports that about one third of students said their school has a schoolwide AI policy. For vendors, this points to a market where schools want clear controls, explanations of how a tool works and training for teachers more than another chatbot.

Accessibility and the digital divide: connectivity still decides who benefits

The 2022 piece described accessibility in terms of both cost and disability. The CoSN 2025 report adds a measurable picture of the home connection. Only 7 percent of districts reported that all students have adequate bandwidth at home, and the share of districts supporting off-campus broadband fell from 74 percent in 2023 to 66 percent. CoSN also reported that 74 percent of districts expected a major or catastrophic impact if the Supreme Court ruled the structure of the E-Rate program unconstitutional. Those figures describe expectations as of the survey date and do not report an outcome, but they show how much school technology depends on public connectivity funding.

Safety, privacy and vetting have become part of the market

The 2025 CoSN survey found that 78 percent of districts invest in monitoring, detection and response tactics, with phishing the top threat, rated high risk by 27 percent of respondents. It also found that 59 percent of districts now use an approved apps list, up from 42 percent in 2023. A school that vets applications before teachers use them is a different customer from one that allows teachers to download freely. Companies that explain their data practices plainly are better placed. The edCircuit digital citizenship guide covers how schools teach students to use technology safely.

Homeschool resources: a real but modest market, measured two ways

The 2022 article cited a 5.7 percent increase in homeschooled students. A 2025 analysis by Aaron Smith of the Reason Foundation, published in Education Next, shows why the figures vary. Citing Census Household Pulse Survey data, researchers Bjorklund-Young and Watson estimated that roughly 6 percent of students were homeschooled in 2022-23, while the National Household Education Survey (NHES) from the National Center for Education Statistics put it at 3.4 percent. The Pulse survey uses a broader definition. Using NHES data, the number of homeschoolers was 1.76 million in 2022-23, up from 1.45 million in 2018-19 and nearly the same as the 1.77 million in 2012. Smith is director of education policy at the Reason Foundation, so the article is policy analysis, and the data summaries are the most useful part. On those counts, a vendor planning for homeschool families is looking at a group close to its 2012 size, not a steadily rising one.

Where this update stops

The 2022 list also named personal development and immersive learning. The sources reviewed for this update did not measure either one, so those two trends remain as the staff piece described them, and the section makes no claim about their current size.

What school leaders can do with these trends

• Ask for a plan before a pilot. Before a new AI tool enters classrooms, decide what students may do with it and how teachers will be trained to use it.
• Check connectivity at home as well as at school. A tool that assumes reliable home broadband will fail for the students who most need it.
• Keep an approved list. Review privacy and security terms for each application before wider use.
• Plan for funding that can stop. Choose tools whose cost the budget can carry after temporary funds end.

The AI in education guide on edCircuit goes further into policies and classroom practice.

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