Major Policy Shifts, Economic Forces Shape the Ed-Tech Market

[Commentary] The multibillion-dollar market for educational technology is in one sense being shaped from the top down -- through major policies and economic forces influencing spending across states and school districts.

But it's also being fueled from the ground up -- by a belief among school leaders and entrepreneurs, that digital tools will give schools the power to customize learning to meet individual students' needs. Researchers and industry groups studying the market say they now see a growing demand for ed-tech products, an uptick that has followed a prolonged period of lean budgets at the state and local levels.