The U.S. Department of Education has issued new guidance encouraging schools to evaluate classroom technology according to its educational value rather than adopting digital tools simply because they are new or engaging.
The guidance released Aug. 20 calls on states, school districts, educators and technology companies to prioritize measurable student learning, independent evidence and transparency when selecting and using educational technology.
The recommendations are contained in a “Dear Colleague” letter from the department’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. The letter provides nonbinding guidance rather than imposing new federal regulations or requirements.
Federal officials said states and local communities should continue making decisions about how technology is used in their schools. The department encouraged them to preserve direct relationships between teachers and students while adopting tools that can demonstrate an instructional benefit.
“Instructional technologies should be judged by their impact on learning, not simply whether they happen on a screen,” Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education Kirsten Baesler said.
Baesler distinguished instructional technology from cellphones and algorithm-driven social media, which she said distract students and interfere with focused classroom environments.
The department said technology can expand access to advanced courses, assist students with disabilities and address learning gaps when selected and implemented effectively. However, it warned that digital products can also produce unnecessary screen time without improving academic performance.
Under the guidance, schools should identify the specific learning problem a product is intended to solve, determine which students should use it and establish when and for how long it should be used.
The department proposed five questions for evaluating education technology:
- What learning problem does the product solve?
- When should it be used?
- Which students should use it?
- How long should students use it?
- What evidence shows that it improves learning?
The full guidance recommends that districts consider cost, accessibility, usability, compatibility with other systems, implementation support and educators’ experiences alongside evidence of academic effectiveness.
It also encourages schools to review products regularly rather than treating adoption as a one-time decision. Schools should modify or discontinue a product if evidence shows that it is not improving student learning, the department said.
Education technology companies are encouraged to obtain independent evaluations of their products, explain the research supporting their claims and give schools practical information about implementation. The guidance says vendor demonstrations and company claims should not substitute for outside evidence.
The department also called for greater transparency with parents about which technologies students use, how long they spend on screens, what information the products collect and whether their use is producing meaningful academic results.
Schools should provide teachers with training and time to learn how to use new products, according to the guidance. Officials said even a well-designed tool may be ineffective when introduced without adequate planning, professional development or technical support.
The letter builds upon the department’s July 2025 guidance on artificial intelligence, which said educational uses of AI should be led by educators, ethical, accessible, transparent and protective of student data.
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