Spending on educational technology has more than doubled since 2019, according to the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) Better Edtech Buying: A Practical Guide. That’s not too surprising, given the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic forced school districts to rely heavily on technology – and the federal government provided funds for districts to do so.

But it’s clear that edtech spending can’t continue at that pace, particularly now that Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding has ended. It’s also clear that there’s significant waste in school technology spending. An analysis by Glimpse K12, a company that tracks the ROI of instructional purchases, found that 67% of educational software product licenses go unused, on average.

Making smart edtech purchasing decisions is one of the best things you can do to protect your district’s fiscal resources. Use these strategies to guide you as you navigate today’s tight budgets and uncertain markets.

Start with instruction, not innovation.

Technology intended to support education must be aligned with your district’s instructional strategies and student needs. Don’t get distracted by new offerings or amazing, innovative tools; instead, begin by identifying the instructional needs and challenges faced by your school system.

That may sound obvious, but it’s a step that’s often missed, says Tal Havivi, managing director of research and development for ISTE+ASCD.

“Make sure you incorporate both teacher voices and student voices, if you can,” Havivi says. Teachers know the reality of their classrooms (and students) better than digital dashboards do; they can also provide specific insights regarding which kinds of tools work best in their classrooms.

On the business side, optimize for efficiency. Look for tools that streamline backend operations – and work with your existing technology. A hot new tool that doesn’t integrate with your current hardware and software is likely not a smart investment.

Vet with evidence.

Don’t buy based on promises and marketing. Look for trusted third-party certifications, such as Digital Promise’s Research-Based Design: ESSA Tier 4 product certification, which indicates that a product has been designed based on empirical research, protects student data and has been subjected to a qualitative research study; or the ISTE Seal, which is awarded to products that are aligned to the ISTE Standards and support teaching practices backed by research and learning sciences.

“Our certification serves as a market signal to decision-makers that the product they’re evaluating has been vetted by a trusted third party,” Havivi says.

You can find critical information for evaluating edtech, including trusted third-party quality signals, on the EdTech Index (edtechindex.org). If you can’t find a third-party verification for a specific product, you can use ISTE+ASCD’s Teacher Ready Framework and evaluation tool, available online, to help you assess the technology.

“This is the framework we use to inform our product certification,” Havivi says. “It looks at things like teacher usability, learning design and digital pedagogy.”

Buying digital products via California’s Education Technology Joint Powers Authority (Ed Tech JPA) is another way to ensure that the tech you purchase protects student data and complies with state and federal regulations.

“We’re not telling you what software to use; we’ve got several systems for every application you can imagine,” says Michael Johnston, associate superintendent of administrative services at Clovis Unified School District and long-time Ed Tech JPA member. “But we’ve already done the legwork and reviewed and negotiated each contract.”

Avoid waste.

Duplication costs money. So does un- or under-used edtech. One way to avoid waste is to create a catalog or database of all the products and software used in your school or district. Yes, that’s a time-consuming task. But the time invested in compiling this information can save you big bucks. When someone requests new software, for instance, instead of simply ordering it, you can check the database. Perhaps the district already has a subscription. Perhaps it makes sense to upgrade to a bulk license, rather than individual licenses.

Review the database on a regular basis. You don’t want to continue paying for a subscription if the educators who use it have all left the district. And if you notice that most people are using Constant Contact, for instance, to create and send newsletters, while a few use Smore instead, providing support and education to help those few transition to Constant Contact may be cheaper than paying for two similar products.

Plan for AI and beyond.

“Edtech has historically suffered from Shiny New Object Syndrome,” Havivi says. Don’t jump on the AI bandwagon and buy or upgrade to AI-enhanced tools without having a solid understanding of the tool in question.

“Generally speaking, right now there’s this question of, is the tool enabling high-quality instruction, or is the tool just helping the user do whatever it is that the user wants to do?” Havivi says. “Generative AI can enable truly transformational learning and next-generation assessment. But it can also just create true/false quizzes much more efficiently, and that may not actually improve student outcomes or help build a teacher-student relationship.”

In school business, removing friction from a process – say, contract review – may save time and money and lead to improved performance. On the education side, removing friction from learning may impede progress.

“We need to identify where AI is removing friction and whether that removal or reduction is in support of student learning and instructional goals,” Havivi says.