EdTech Procurement

Ed tech executives aren’t pleased with laws and practices governing school technology purchases. And district administrators aren’t too happy with the ed tech industry. That’s according to a recent study from Digital Promise and the Education Industry Association. The groups surveyed CEOs, educators and administrators across the country. The findings were bleak. Many district leaders said they had trouble assessing their schools’ needs, much less figuring out which products would meet them — or how to evaluate those products. And only 6 percent of vendors reported being satisfied with the procurement process. The report offers several suggestions. Among them: Districts could build incentives into their contracts that would give vendors extra payments if they could show their products were getting results. For more: http://bit.ly/1ux37jb

Several recommendations emerged from the results of these surveys:

• Better guidelines for conducting needs assessments and including end users in the process
• Faster methods of evaluating products and better ways of sharing results
• Simplified Request for Proposal (RFP) processes to ensure a level playing field and high-quality results
• Pilot approaches that increase rigor and drive purchasing decisions without over-burdening teachers
• Incentives for providers to get results and show evidence, such as performance-based contracting and prizes
• Websites with trusted information about ed-tech tools and district procurement policies and better ways to match providers and products with educators
• More research about funding strategies for acquiring ed-tech products