Eva Gonda Green, Associate Partner of NewSchools Venture Fund led and moderated a session focusing on purchase and pilot decisions by schools. She was joined by two edtech decision makers:

• Stacey Wang, Director of Personalized Learning at Oakland Unified School District and Elena Sanina
• Senior Manager of Blended Learning at Aspire Public Schools.

The panelists examined how word of mouth is one of the key ways edtech decision makers hear about the products. This is especially true between CMOs/edtech decision makers and teachers sharing them to edtech decision makers. Some key ways products are evaluated that were discussed include alignment, efficacy studies and implementation. They also mentioned some aspects of math products that edtech decision makers desire including differentiation, scaffolding, conceptual learning, productive struggle.

The session leaders then discussed best way to scale edtech tools. The process starts with a teacher trying them, discovering their benefit, and sharing them with their school. The school then sees the benefit and shares them with the district, therein prompting a potential efficacy study to see if there truly are results for students.