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The Department of Education has just released its first major guidance on classroom technology in years, urging states and districts to focus on outcomes rather than logins or screen time. The letter draws a firm line between recreational and instructional screen use, and it leaves the actual rulemaking entirely up to states and districts. On this episode of This Week with EdSurge, Ira Apfel sits down with Digital Promise president and CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and outcomes-based contracting expert Brittany Miller to unpack what the guidance actually changes and what it still leaves unresolved. Both guests welcome the letter, but neither is convinced it accomplishes enough.

As president and CEO of Digital Promise, Jean-Claude Brizard has watched federal guidance play out across hundreds of school systems, and he does not think this letter goes far enough. He welcomes the emphasis on outcomes, but he argues the guidance leaves practitioners without enough direct support and worries that state by state inconsistency could widen gaps between districts. He also draws an unexpected comparison between the pushback edtech is getting and a very different public health debate.

Brittany Miller spends her days inside the contracts this guidance is speaking to. As a leader at the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting, she sees the letter as validation of work already underway in ten states, and she is far less concerned about the lack of federal specifics than Brizard is. Her focus is on what actually changes once a district and a vendor sit down to write the fine print, and on who ends up carrying the risk when that fine print gets tested.

Listen to the episode:

Department of Education Issues Long-Awaited Edtech Guidance for States and Districts

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