There is a horrible secret in the world of education technology. School leaders don’t want to discuss it and EdTech companies won’t admit it. An Assistant Superintendent or VP of Sales might even hire a hit man because I’m revealing it.

OK, it’s not that serious, but it is a big problem.

Don’t shoot the messenger, but here you go: Most EdTech initiatives undertaken in K-12 public schools fail.

I don’t have hard data to back that statement up. After all, who wants to measure something no one is willing to talk about? I do have more than a decade of working with schools, talking to educators and reading the news to tell me it’s probably true.

From what I’ve observed, new initiatives either die in spectacular fashion, never getting off the ground in a meaningful way, or they linger on for a few years (maybe 2 years, but rarely more than 4) before finally succumbing to a slow and painful death.

​Most are slow dying initiatives. The district selects a new product, rolls it out to students and teachers who stumble along for a few years, and they never see the expected results. 

This paragraph is written on a 7th grade level. Actually, I ran it through a tool to get a ‘readability score,’ and it came in at a grade level of 7.1, which is slightly lower than the average reading level for adults in the United States. Calling it 7th grade is close enough. The rest of this paragraph includes a tip for writing to parents. When you write for families, it should be very easy to read. If it isn’t, parents may not understand what you send them and your message will not be heard.

Now buckle up while I say the same thing again.

This paragraph is written on a college level. It was analyzed using a readability calculator that assigns a Flesch-Kincaid grade level equivalency and it scored a 14. Actually, it came in at 14.1, which is higher than the college and career readiness benchmark for graduating seniors, but rounding it down to 14 is adequate for our purposes. The remaining information in this paragraph addresses the importance of writing so family members understand your communications. While it is essential for educators to provide letters, documents, forms and tip sheets to parents, guardians and caregivers, while doing so they must remember to write at an appropriate level. If you compose these documents at a level which is too high for the average reader, you should realize that many family members will find it difficult to understand your message.

Do the above paragraphs basically say the same thing? Unfortunately, most school documents for families sound like the second paragraph. Research from the US Department of Education suggests up to 85% of parents may struggle to understand content written at that level.

We know how important it is for families to be 'involved,’ ‘engaged,’ or ‘empowered.’ We even know what type of parent involvement is most effective. Student performance increases when parents set high expectations and work on learning activities at home.

​So why do parents struggle to do these two things?

​In early August each year, 5 year-olds across Kentucky take their first official test in our public schools. The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) just released the Kindergarten Readiness (K-Ready) results from the 2016-17 school year.

​The data shows we have much work to do in the Commonwealth. 

Data tables from KDE News Release (Dec 7, 2016)

The ‘all students’ group has shown almost no growth in the last 3 years. In 2014, 50.0% of students were deemed ‘ready for kindergarten.’ Last year, that rose to 50.1%. There was no change this year, with ‘all students’ still at 50.1%.

​There are some bright spots in the data.