We Need to Talk About EdTech

Raise your hand if you’ve been in education since before there was an “EdTech”: 🙋‍♀️

I can still remember the first few meetings when my district was rolling out IXL. We were excited, nervous, and a little confused to be honest.

Fast forward to the past few years and it seems like EdTech and iReady were the solution to all our problems. Teachers can’t scaffold? iReady. Students are three grade-levels behind? iReady. New teachers with no management skills? iReady.

We all saw the cracks- but we often didn’t have the time, resources or even skills to build better solutions.

Now, it seems like the jig is up on all things EdTech. (Read more about why ed tech is profitable but “mostly useless” according to The Economist.)

Teachers are frustrated.
Parents are raising concerns.
Students are disengaging.

And apparently- it’s not that effective!

But here’s the truth:

This isn’t just about i-Ready.

It’s about something deeper.

It’s about what happens when a tool—any tool—starts to quietly drive instruction instead of support it.

So for my school leaders, don’t just ask –
“Should we use this program or not?”

The real question is:
“How do I lead in a way that ensures tools serve learning—not replace it?”

Here are four essential questions every leader should be asking.

1. Who is doing the thinking in our classrooms?

One of the biggest risks with over-reliance on edtech is that it can shift cognitive load away from students.

Students click, comply, and complete.

But are they actually thinking?

As Zaretta Hammond reminds us, learning happens when students are engaged in productive struggle—not when they are passively moving through tasks. The irony is, many teachers also struggle with keeping the cognitive load on students; it turns out it’s challenging whether you’re a person or a computer!

Ask yourself:

• Are students making meaning, or just moving through a sequence?
• Are teachers still designing opportunities for deep thinking?
• Or has the program become the primary “teacher” of content?

If the tool is doing most of the thinking, your students aren’t getting stronger—they’re becoming more dependent.

2. What are students experiencing—especially our most vulnerable learners?

EdTech often gets positioned as support.

But in practice, it can become something else:

• More screen time
• More isolation
• More remediation

And we have to ask:

Who is spending the most time on these programs?

Too often, it’s the students who most need:

• Rich discussion
• Relationship
• Grade-level, meaningful work

Instead, they’re getting more time on low-level tasks. It might feel like a quick fix, but students who have deeper gaps aren’t going to close them without the chance to think and work through tasks.

3. Are we using this tool as a support—or a substitute?

I’ve used tools like iReady, Khan Academy and IXL at every single school I’ve worked at. I’m not 100% against them as a supplement, but I have noticed a shift, especially since the pandemic, that positions them as a substitute. 

EdTech should:

• Inform instruction
• Support differentiation
• Provide insight

It should not:

• Replace core teaching
• Dominate instructional time
• Drive daily decisions without professional judgment

Consider:

• If this program disappeared tomorrow, would strong instruction remain?
• Are teachers leading learning—or managing a platform?
• Have we unintentionally outsourced instructional decisions?

Because the moment a tool becomes a substitute, we lose something essential: the expertise of the teacher.

4. What data are we valuing—and at what cost?

Part of the reason tools like i-Ready are so widely used is because they give us data. The promise of immediate data, that you didn’t have to hand-grade in a beautiful visual was incredibly intriguing! Clean dashboards. Clear levels. Quick reports. 🤩

Realistically, between the state testing, the unit testing, the interim testing, and the EdTech we might have a little too much data…

Ask yourself:

• Are we treating this data as one data point—or the only one?
• How is this data shaping decisions about students?
• What are we not seeing when we rely on it too heavily?

So where does this leave us?

I don’t know that we will ever fully eliminate EdTech. But I do know this- we have spent ALOT of money investing in these programs. Some of that money could have gone to our buildings, resources, and teacher salaries! 

What I encourage leaders to do in this moment is think about what EdTech can’t and hasn’t done so far. It hasn’t made our schools more joyful, culturally responsive, or in most cases, more effective at preparing our students. 

Let’s take a collective pause and think more deeply and critically about what comes next. I’m advising the leaders I work with to do something bold in an increasingly digital age- go analog! 

It’s time to invest in our human teachers. I’m doubling down on joyful communities, supporting my teachers and making sure they have the skills to implement high-quality instruction.

If This Is Something You’re Navigating Right Now…

You’re not alone, and you don’t have to figure it out in isolation.

I work with principals and leadership teams to help them:

• Rebalance instruction and intervention
• Increase engagement without abandoning accountability
• Create classrooms where rigor and joy coexist

If you’re trying to make sense of how to move forward, I’d love to support you!

P.S. Shoot me an email and let me know- what technology are you using in your classroom? How’s it going? Would you like to see schools move away from EdTech?