In 2019, NewSchools partnered with Gallup to release “Education Technology Use in Schools,” a comprehensive report to better understand ed tech’s perceptions and usage. This past summer, we conducted a follow-up survey of parents, teachers, and students to evaluate how ed tech’s engagement may be changing in the pandemic context. We also surveyed how these groups feel about the coming school year and the supports they’ll need to be successful.

Some of our findings are particularly salient for ed tech innovators — those building and deploying the education technology upon which schools and families must rely. We’ve highlighted these findings because we feel they are the most relevant for innovators to consider as they develop new features and supports to empower parents, teachers, and students right now. Some of the findings remain aligned to our 2019 ed tech innovator takeaways, but most represent the demands of our new normal.

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1. Ed tech is still (obviously) everywhere, and teachers are here for it. In 2019, 81% of teachers saw great value in using ed tech tools and were even more optimistic (85%) about its future value. In 2020, teachers have become more positive on ed tech’s value, with 85% of teachers seeing great value using ed tech tools now and 90% seeing great value in using them in the future. Ed tech use was commonplace before the pandemic and rapidly becoming a standard part of the day-to-day education experience. With the onset of distance learning for many of our nation’s public schools, ed tech’s increased role has not yet dampened the positive perspective that most educators hold on its utility. How is your company building on this trust to better serve teachers in this moment?

2. Middle and high school students still want better, not just more, ed tech. Only about one in five middle and high school students would like to use ed tech less in the upcoming school year. Both groups’ desires for improvements in ed tech quality remain similar to those voiced in 2019. Middle schoolers’ top requests still include ed tech that’s more fun, interesting, and game-oriented. Only three in 10 middle schoolers say that school makes them want to learn more. Ed tech tools must rise to the occasion to better engage them.

High schoolers’ top requests still revolve around how ed tech might empower their learning, including better saving and organizing their work, tracking their learning progress, and interacting with their teachers more. Like middle schoolers, about three in 10 high schoolers agree that their schoolwork makes them want to learn more. Only 35% of high schoolers say they can connect what they’re learning in school to life outside the classroom, compared to 44% of high schoolers in 2019. How might your product, now and in the future, better meet these expectations?

3. Personalized instruction is now the top priority across subjects. When reviewing teachers’ top selection priorities by subject, “personalized instruction” is now the number one selection criteria across all subjects. This is a departure from 2019, when personalized instruction was the top priority for core subjects, but not areas such as science and history/social studies. Except for reading, “easy to use” is also now present in the top three selection priorities for teachers across all subjects. How do your product and your messaging measure up against these priorities?

4. Parents and teachers have different ed tech selection priorities. Teachers and parents align on their top ed tech selection criterion — personalized instruction — , and both also look for products that are easy to use. However, whereas teachers are looking for tools that can provide immediate and actionable feedback, parents place more importance on student engagement and overall learning outcomes. How does your messaging and customer support align to these different user needs?

5. Teachers are still the #1 most trusted resource when selecting ed tech, but the importance of evidence is rising. Teachers still overwhelmingly rank “other teachers” as the most trusted source for helping them decide what ed tech tools to use. Parents and students also consider teachers to be their most trusted resource for selecting ed tech. However, a notable difference in 2020 is the rising importance of evidence for ed tech selection. Whereas only 18% of teachers cited evidence-based reports in 2019, they are now considered a trusted resource by 27% of teachers. Case studies have seen growth in esteem with the teacher populations and are now cited by 13% of teachers compared to only 6% in 2019. Parents, meanwhile, rely much more heavily on evidence-based reports and case studies than do teachers. How are you engaging teacher influencers in your focus area? How are you making your efficacy portfolio more visible and accessible?

6. For special education teachers, perceptions of ed tech’s effectiveness have dropped significantly during the pandemic. Across the board, teacher perceptions of ed tech’s effectiveness dropped in 2020, signaling potential ed tech fatigue as well as a new understanding of ed tech’s limits in the context of the pandemic. These drops are most significant for teachers whose main subject is special education. When considering ed tech’s effectiveness in serving students with special needs or disabilities, teachers gave lower marks to digital tools’ ability to make content accessible, support the development of life skills, and encourage communication and collaboration with peers. What feedback have you received from your teacher users, and what are you doing to engage in equity-centered improvements?

7. Ed tech companies must do a better job providing support to a diverse user base. When asked about the types of ed tech tools to which they had access, the majority of teachers, parents, and students considered them to be excellent or good. However, these positive perceptions broke down when respondents rated the quality of support they received from schools and ed tech companies to use these tools. Roughly a third of parents and students say that the support they received from ed tech companies was poor. Even more concerning are the differences that emerge when accounting for income and race. Students from low-income households and Latino parents and students were least likely to rate the support they received from ed tech companies as excellent or good. What are you doing to differentiate your customer support to amplify positive outcomes for all users?

8. Access to devices and bandwidth at home remains a challenge for some families. In 2019, we reported on the variability in device access within schools, which could make scaling in multiple schools/districts more challenging if your product doesn’t flex well to different access models. In the context of distance learning, we wanted to explore this challenge through the at-home lens. Eighty-one percent of parent respondents say their child has access to a family-owned computer to complete school work at home, while 35% say their child has access to a school-provided computer. These numbers shift, however, when accounting for household income. In lower-income households, only 68% of parents cite having access to a family-owned computer compared to 88% of parents in higher-income households. With regards to internet access, a similar story emerges. While 96% of parents in higher-income households say their internet is reliable-to-very-reliable, only 81% of parents in lower-income households say the same. How is your solution working to meet the needs of those families with more limited access?

9. Families’ biggest need isn’t device access; it’s clarity. When asked what support their families and students most need to help them be successful in the upcoming school year, an overwhelming majority of teachers, parents, and students say “clear expectations for daily/weekly school work.” For parents and students, “consistent communication” and “regular access to teachers” round out their top three. While teachers rank device access as second-most important, it’s notable that it sits at the bottom of the list for parents and students — a potential reflection of that need for greater clarity and communication between the groups. How can ed tech companies facilitate more explicit expectations and dialogue between schools and families to support student success better this year?

10. Ed tech companies must turn parents from detractors to promoters. While teachers and students have maintained relatively positive perceptions of ed tech and its role in high-quality teaching and learning, parents have a decidedly negative view. In six of eight indicators, the majority of parents say that ed tech is less effective than non-digital tools. This is emblematic of broader parent dissatisfaction with ed tech that emerged throughout the survey results. We hypothesize that the less-than-ideal onboarding experience for most parents to these digital tools is one of the driving factors here. As schools and families dig in for a long and uncertain future of distance learning this year, we wonder how ed tech companies might improve their products and their support to win over parent users.

For access to the report’s expanded findings, please visit the report’s homepage on our website. If you have any questions about the data or NewSchools, please contact Justin Wedell.

As a K-12 ed tech investor who understands the landscape of tech tools used to support student learning, you might think my professional career had prepared me for forced distance learning with my three children.

LOL.

With kids in 2nd, 6th, and 9th grades at three different schools, we were quickly overwhelmed with the deluge of instructions, tasks, and logins for new distance learning tools. Then came the emotional rollercoaster between triumph and frustration as I thought I had successfully taught my child a concept only to find out later that one challenging problem exposed holes in my instruction. All of this, while working from home and fielding the question, “what’s for dinner?” ten times before noon.

Parents across the U.S. are experiencing their own version of this homeschool hot mess. While there are undoubtedly some who’ve figured this thing out and may opt to continue homeschooling, many others look forward to the day our kids can go back to learning in the physical presence of their peers and teachers. When that day comes, here are four ways that I believe this forced distance learning experiment will positively affect how students, parents, and teachers engage with one other when schools reopen.

1. Empathy for teachers will be at an all-time high. By this point, you’ve undoubtedly seen countless posts reflecting the state of parents struggling to keep the learning going in their homes. There are calls for higher teacher salaries and parents publicly resigning themselves to lower distance learning expectations after their teaching attempts. Though funny, the underlying sentiment is a realization of just how difficult teaching is. Assessing a student’s current knowledge, planning engaging and challenging lessons, providing feedback, and adjusting content and instruction are not lay skills. They require training and practice to accomplish, let alone master. Because of this experience, parents will have more empathy for teachers who must do this for multiple students with different learning needs. I know I do.

2. Stronger communication channels built now from distance learning will persist when schools reopen. In my experience across three different schools, it’s clear that we’re all still trying to figure out the right balance of communication and interaction to help my kids learn. In some cases, teachers are using pre-established communications channels, while others are instituting new platforms. In any case, they’re more important now in a remote environment. School districts are working diligently to reach and support families and students who aren’t logging on, which will hopefully result in more access to online learning in the future. Since we know students benefit academically and socially when parents engage with their learning experiences, these stronger communication channels should persist beyond the pandemic.

3. Students, parents, and teachers will know more about how to leverage ed tech tools to support learning. For those parents fortunate to have access to the internet, we’ve seen how our kids use a multitude of ed tech tools. For those that worked well, we’ll likely seek other opportunities for our children to use them, perhaps even during the summer months. For those that didn’t, we’ll send the username and password to the login junkyard. Students are building their own opinions about which tools work best. The collective observations and feedback from students, parents, and teachers during this period will hopefully lead to a better understanding of which tools to use and when to use them. Now that we’ve persevered through the initial challenges of getting these ed tech tools up and running, we’re in a better position to incorporate them into our home routine, which could be beneficial during the summer and future academic years.

4. Many kids will be happy to get out of their homes and go back to learning in-person with their teachers and peers at school. We went from stressing out about how much time our children spend on devices and social media to being thankful that their proficiency translates to staying connected, engaged, and learning during the pandemic. Now, many of us are longing for the time when our kids can put down the devices and get back to face-to-face interactions. Most of our kids are ready to get back to school too! My kids are especially excited to see their friends and to resume normal school activities. I’m hopeful that kids’ excitement about returning to school will translate into better student engagement in learning from teachers and their peers when school buildings reopen. Schools will have an opportunity to harness this positive energy towards building a supportive and nurturing culture as a foundation for the critical work that will need to happen to make up for the lost time.

When we’re struggling to maintain “the household requirements of the 1960s but the work and parenting expectations of 2020” and in need of some inspiration to keep pushing, remember some of the silver linings that may improve how parents, teachers, and students work together in the long run.

As schools rapidly closed down their physical buildings across the country, we saw many of the leaders in our portfolio move quickly and nimbly to implement distance learning plans and provide critical support families need. Across them all, we found five common themes in the approaches they took.

1) A deep understanding of their students and families

Many of our leaders built and designed their schools with their communities as true partners. As a result, when school closures hit, they were able to leverage these strong relationships with families and the community to identify needs quickly, deploy resources, and foster continued two-way communication. For example, Kansas City Girls Prep Academy focuses on supporting the well-being of their community, understanding that attending to the basic needs of every family is critical during this time. To do that, they have developed a case management system in which each staff member regularly checks in with 10–15 families to provide support and ensure students have a supportive learning environment at home. The team has provided financial support for groceries, connections to social services, and technology devices.

2) An unwavering commitment to high-quality learning and high expectations

Our venture teams are laser-focused on how to meet students’ academic and non-academic needs best, finding creative ways to sustain rigor and joy over Zoom. There is a focus on teaching new content and offering choices in how students learn it. Zeta Charter Schools, in New York City, immediately went into planning mode once it became known that school closures were happening. Their first step was to assess online learning tools that could provide the highest quality and most cohesive experiences for their students. For literacy, this meant finding programs that used a balanced approach; allowed for teacher feedback, student revision and resubmission of work; and included high-quality reading materials. The Zeta team developed schedules to support students in age-appropriate ways and leveraged relevant and adaptive online learning tools. In addition to this, students spend time participating in small group instruction, in tutoring, in circle and wellness check-ins, and project-based inquiry sessions.

3) A prioritization of social and emotional learning

Our ventures’ teams are placing equal importance on supporting the social and emotional needs of students and families. Many students are experiencing loss and need mental health support so schools are focused on providing opportunities for connection and belonging. For example, at Statesmen Preparatory Academy for Boys in Washington D.C., founder and executive director, Shawn Hardnett believes that the pandemic has not shifted the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL), but it has changed how it happens. Statesmen’s SEL approach has always been grounded in creating trusted relationships across the community, addressing the trauma that staff members have experienced, and applying trauma-informed practices with students as well. At the beginning of the school closures, the team mapped relationships between students and staff members to determine who had the strongest connection with each student. Every staff member has five students whom they check-in with individually at least three times a day, including before the start of each school day. Also, the full school community comes together twice each day, as they did before the pandemic, during a morning meeting and end of day check-in. The purpose of these check-ins is to continue to build a sense of belongingness, one of their core SEL competencies. They created the daily schedule to prioritize the social and emotional health of students by focusing on relationships. Over 95% of students are logging on each day to learn!

4) A head start for schools with technology-enabled self-directed learning

Students who have been attending schools where self-directed learning is a central feature of the model are making the transition to distance learning more easily. A classroom environment that empowers students to choose which subject to focus on, proactively seek help, and use a range of tools to complete a task also prepares those same students to continue learning in a variety of contexts, even at home. Similarly, schools that were using technology consistently as a way to enhance student agency have been able to shift more easily to distance learning because students are continuing to learn on the platforms they’d been using throughout the year. At Purdue Polytechnic High School in Indianapolis, students are used to self-directed learning and pursuing topics that interest them most. Specifically, students create their schedules, pace their work, and frequently connect with teachers, other students, and experts through Google Hangouts. Making the transition to an entirely virtual environment was relatively easy for Purdue teachers and students. In fact, in the first week, 95% of students participated in distance learning, which is higher than their average daily attendance rate.

5) An ability to innovate and quickly shift priorities and practices

Leaders moved quickly to address the impact of school closure while thinking about what lies ahead, including adjusting the school calendar, bolstering student recruitment and retention plans, and rewriting beginning-of-the-year curricula to account for learning loss. Comp Sci High, in New York City, has developed multiple contingency plans to prepare for an unknown future. The short-term, three-month plan includes three different scenarios to relaunch school with a “personalized mini-mester” before the start of the fall term. During the mini-mester, students receive differentiated support based on their academic and non-academic needs so that all students are prepared to resume learning in the fall. Also, the team created a six-month plan that includes enhancing their personalized scheduling and advisory structures, incorporating more asynchronous learning opportunities, and retaining some remote learning to foster student independence. Moving forward, students will have personalized schedules based on how they learn, teachers will continue to post their lessons and videos online, and the school will adopt a mastery-based grading policy. The Comp Sci High team believes their approach will make it easier to shift between in-person and remote learning and allow all students to track, manage, and drive their learning.

As we approach summer and school leaders begin to formulate strategies for the next school year, these five attributes will be critical for supporting all students and families well. Even after the pandemic is over, we believe that these features contribute to strong learning environments. We hope to see the creation and redesign of many more reimagined schools that can meet the needs of the students and families they serve.

Modernizing today’s classrooms with accessible and effective technology in a way that increases student learning and decreases inequities is a critical component of our strategy at NewSchools and a requirement for improving education nationwide. But ed tech is typically a fringe topic in education circles where school governance, accountability, curriculum, and instruction take center stage. When the Covid-19 pandemic swept the globe threatening lives, closing schools, and sheltering us in our places, the 16 million U.S. households with school-aged children suddenly became very interested in the technologies that could engage learners and maintain their academic progress. 

The ed tech team at NewSchools is composed of three top industry experts. Like us, they’ve been thrust into the current situation and left to reconcile the grief of a deadly contagious disease with their work and personal lives. Unlike most of us, they have keen insights into the role ed tech is playing right now and what involuntary nationwide distance learning might mean for the future of schooling. I had the chance to sit down with Tonika Cheek Clayton, Justin Wedell, and Cameron White to ask them some questions. Here are their answers.

For parents who have found themselves in the position of teaching their children at home, can you help them set expectations for how technology can and can’t help them?

Cheek Clayton: It’s helpful to remind ourselves that ed tech is not THE solution; it’s something that supports learning. You can’t just sit your child in front of a computer and expect them to learn math. You still need to know what they’re trying, their level of proficiency, and what they need to practice before utilizing a technology tool. When teachers provide you with tools and instruction on how and when to use them, it’s super helpful. When they provide a tool without guidance, it means you have to figure out the rest, which can be frustrating, especially if you must do this for multiple children while balancing work and other family obligations.

Wedell: Right. I feel that a lot of people think about ed tech tools as they might think about an Instapot. You put something in it, push some buttons, leave it alone for a while, and it comes out finished. But ed tech is much more like a kitchen knife, food processor, or — for all those current food hoarders out there — a can opener. It can make the process of cooking more efficient or effective, but you still have to choose the ingredients, prep the vegetables, preheat the oven, add seasoning, and have the awareness to adjust along the way. 

White: Parents are coming at this from so many perspectives, and there are so many variables. Something nearly everyone can do is have conversations with their kids about their experiences with distance learning in the same way you’d talk with them about their typical school day. Ask them about what interests them, what’s working, and what’s not. That face-to-face human interaction is still essential, maybe even more essential now that we’re all more isolated physically. 

NewSchools, in partnership with Gallup, surveyed thousands of teachers, principals, and administrators about usage in pre-K-12 schools. What did that research reveal that is relevant for this moment?

Cheek Clayton: As our CEO Stacey referenced recently, one thing that was true before the pandemic and is encouraging for distance learning is that 65% of teachers and 57% of students had already said that they used digital learning tools daily. Yet, the fact that 14% of children don’t have access to wifi at home is super relevant now as schools shift to distance learning. Their ability to engage in school work is compromised. 

Wedell: When we asked teachers and students how they used ed tech in their classrooms, using it for student collaboration never ranked that high. Knowing that this muscle — using technology to facilitate collaboration — wasn’t exercised much before the pandemic, I wonder what that will mean for the shift to distance learning. Another finding that our analysis revealed was just how fragmented the ed tech market is. When we asked teachers to name the digital learning tools that they were using most often, it surprised us to see just how little overlap there was in what they wrote down. It means that for most teachers, their most commonly used digital learning tools were not the same as other teachers. Parents may encounter this if they have kids in different classes or schools and have to navigate two sets of ed tech tools.

As schools and districts scramble to implement distance learning plans, what should we be looking for in terms of equity?

Cheek Clayton: In an ideal world, people would have their basic needs met during a crisis so that they can focus on learning. Assuming they do, students should have access to devices and wifi so they can engage effectively with teachers and peers to continue learning. As districts shift to distance learning, they can use the moment as a testing ground for how to support ongoing education at home as a foundation for better and more equitable outcomes even after students return to school buildings.

White: I always come back to the equity conversation through the lenses of access, use, and outcomes. On the access front, districts are reaching out to identify families who don’t have devices and loaning them devices. We’ve also seen creative solutions for providing wifi in communities. Even with devices and wifi, there are still access issues when multiple people in a household are sharing devices or a data plan. On usage, parents are taking a much more significant role in how education is delivered. Technologies designed for trained teachers in a classroom don’t always translate well to use at home. Equitable academic outcomes are a priority for us, but in the short term, we have to think about it in terms of students being safe, healthy, fed, and sheltered. The possibility of widening equity gaps is real, and we must be ready to address it.

Wedell: Education in the United States wasn’t equitable to begin with and it’s not going to be equitable now. If anything, this crisis is further revealing the deep and painful inequities upon which our society is built, and education is no exception. But equity can come from what we learn from this moment. Looking ahead, I’m optimistic that this might spur more significant policy change for how we serve all of our nation’s students. I’m hopeful that not only policymakers at all levels, but also we as community members will look at the inequities that this crisis has laid bare and commit to making a change. If this crisis isn’t enough to spur such action, I don’t know what is. 

Is this moment challenging any of your fundamental beliefs about ed tech?

Cheek Clayton: The focus of our work to date has been on ensuring that students’ learning experiences in classrooms would lead to equitable outcomes. We focused less on home ed tech because there’s so much variability in access to devices and wifi across homes within underserved communities. Now that I’m seeing some positive signs of communities working together to provide an infrastructure for all students to access devices and wifi from home freely, I’m thinking about the home learning environment differently. How can ed tech work in both school and home contexts involving teachers and parents as educators? The answer could reshape how teachers and parents connect around their students’ learning and have a real positive impact on education in the future. Many products already focus on in-home learning, but many require subscription fees, which favors families who can afford them. So current and new products adapting to home-based education need to ensure equitable access and participation. 

Wedell: From the perspective of an ed tech funder, this moment is making me reflect upon the imperative for us to think more collectively in terms of our impact. Ed tech funders, developers, and implementers often operate in a silo ignoring the critical interdependencies that our success relies on like health, safety, food security, and strong community relationships. If we widen our aperture as funders, we can change our perspectives on ed tech as a workaround for other systemic issues and perhaps be more accountable to how it might complement or amplify the efforts of those working on different critical community needs.

White: There’s always been the idea that there needs to be a certain level of customizability in the implementation of ed tech products. What the shift to distance learning has illuminated for me is just how critical considerations of the learning environment are when every home is different. Every school and district is handling this crisis differently. Product developers have to think about how to balance building for a specific instructional context with enabling flexible use in the face of uncertainty.

When the pandemic subsides, do you think American pre-K-12 education will be different? If so, how?

Cheek Clayton: Yes, I do think it’ll be different. I think a lot of things will be different. We were all blindsided by the pandemic and mass school closures. They forced schools and districts to create and implement distance learning plans very quickly. We don’t know if this will subside or be an ongoing health crisis, but I assume districts will take their distance learning plans much more seriously. As a result, schools and districts will purchase ed tech tools partly on their ability to work in the classroom and at home.

Wedell: For so long, school life and home life have been siloed. Distance learning will help bring them closer together. Unfortunately, what probably won’t change in the long run is respect for the average public school teacher. As a former teacher, I worry that people are going to be real quick to forget about the lessons from this experience of just how complicated and nuanced effective teaching really is. This is a big concern for me, and I hope I’m proved wrong.

Cheek Clayton: That’s where we disagree. Speaking from experience, the struggle to teach one’s children is real. For those of us who don’t consider ourselves good teachers, we’ll appreciate teachers even more when schools are open again.