State education agencies are moving faster than they are known for, and not because they want to. AI, funding uncertainty, and capacity constraints are forcing decisions that cannot wait.

In this episode, Elana Leoni sits down with Julia Fallon of SETDA to unpack what the 2025 State EdTech Trends Report really tells us about where states are focused, what feels most fragile right now, and why modernization matters more than chasing the next innovation. This conversation is especially relevant for education marketers and leaders who want to understand how state priorities shape district decisions, and how to engage more thoughtfully in a tight, high-stakes environment.

What You’ll Learn

1. What SETDA is and why its State EdTech Trends Report offers a unique state-level lens
2. How the report is built, who contributes to it, and why it is timed around legislative sessions
3. Why AI surpassed cybersecurity as the top state ed tech priority for the first time
4. What that shift signals about responsibility, risk, and trust, not enthusiasm
5. Where state AI guidance typically lives, how it varies, and why quality matters
6. Why capacity and coherence, not commitment, are the most fragile issues right now
7. What the end of ESSER funding looks like in real operational terms, not just percentages
8. Why Julia argues education needs modernization, not “innovation,” and how that reframes decision-making
9. What professional learning needs to look like to actually support adoption and impact
10. A practical example of state-level ecosystem building from Nebraska

For more, visit the show notes here.

Hello, Julia, welcome to the show. I just, I'm kind of reminiscing on the first time I officially met you and now kind of full circle, you're on the show. And I don't even know if you remember this, but it was Dolls FETC.

Hello!

and you were scarfing down food because you had not eaten and I sat down, I think it was early and you were eating food and I was just sitting next to you and that was the first time I think I officially met you.

It's funny during those conferences, right? It's right, trying to find the moments where you could actually eat food, per instead of like running from thing to thing to thing. So, yeah.

Yes, I just felt like I got the real you. Not that you don't have a real you, but like the, hey, I'm just trying to be a human, Julia. So that was fun. And now two, three years later, I don't know, two years later, you're on the show. And today we're going to be talking about the report that you put out. So this is four years in the running, the 2025 state ed tech trends report.

Hahaha

Yes.

And there's a lot of nuggets in here. It was released about four months ago. Is that correct?

That's correct. We always release just after Labor Day, partly so that folks can use it in their legislative sessions as they prep for ledge session, which is starting now here in January when we're recording this.

Okay, and part of what we're going to talk about is because everything is moving super crazy. Yeah, it was like, okay, there is a lot of things that are still true. But as we go along, and you're going to be like, well, this is also changed, or we're already seeing these types of trends too. But why don't you give the audience a little bit of background about what the report is, who you talk to. Our audience of marketers are always really looking at, okay, how can I talk?

collaborate, form relationships in a meaningful way with people that are buying our products and services. And how can we do this in the most collaborative spirit way that doesn't derail things? And this report, I just saw this and I said, you have to come on the show and you have to talk about

Sure, so let's talk a little bit, and I'll talk a little bit about CETA too for those folks that are not necessarily familiar with us, but we represent the state level education and agency, ed tech and digital learning leaders from across the country. And our report is a way that we track the things that they're working on and how they're adapting sort of to the challenges and opportunities of technology and education.

as well as other state priorities that are aligned sort of with that. We know that technology can support all sorts of things that are going on in a state education agency. And this report of this year, this is our fourth year doing this report, our responses, we got about 75 responses from 47 states. It includes responses from our EdTech directors at the state level, state chiefs.

CIOs, people in government, other government agencies are responsible for education because they work on technology initiatives. And we do our survey over the course of the spring. And then in the fall, we released this report in conjunction for Ledge Sessions. It's really to help people think about policy and where they might need to go because as people may be experiencing, states don't move very fast.

And we also showcase some leaders from North Carolina, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Utah, Washington, Ohio, and Virginia around AI because AI is the topic that I know we're gonna dig into here a little bit. But AI is definitely on the tips of everybody's tongues at the state level and how we're kind of responding to that or, and getting ready to continue on in this area.

Okay, great. Thank you for that context because I think so many people are like, how does this differentiate from all the other reports out there? And I love your slant around it. And I don't know any actual report that has those stakeholders that you've talked about as it relates to K-12 education.

Yeah, and one of the things that we do at CETA, and we're really a small and mighty professional association, I like to say, we are not super large compared to our sort of counterparts in the space. People think of COCEN or they think of ISTE, who have thousands and thousands of members. are under, you know, we are a couple hundred members and everything else because, and me, I was a state member before becoming part of CETA staff back in the day. And it was nice to have other peers in other places that were working on the same issues.

where I could kind of walk through and learn, hey, what worked, what didn't work? I have to this initiative, anybody else doing this initiative? And you kind of have some birds of a feather to kind of work with outside of your immediate colleagues in your state agency. So that's what's really powerful about our community. But states do have a role and we often are asking ourselves, what is the state's role? We can't do everything, but what is the role of the state in a certain ed tech kind of space and how do we then help

expand the capacity of our members and those and ultimately the state education agencies that serve the districts in their state.

Great. So this report came kind of at the tail end of so many things happening in education. We're gonna get into AI, but we have ESSER funds, the Pandemic Error Relief Funds kind of dissipating and no longer. We have budgets tightening as a result, plus we've got some, all the...

all the things happening on the state and the department level too of federal funding's moving, state funding's moving, budget's shrinking. We have states reshaping policies across the board. Like you wanna give a sense of like, there's so much moving and shaking. What do you think is, how do we set the stage for this report? But also what do you think is the most fragile right now, given all of this? All of the noise going on and the things that.

All of the things that are happening in our space. Well, and there's things that are outside of our space that we don't really have control over, right? Outside of ed tech, right? Outside of education and that sort of thing. What we love about the report is one, cause we've been doing it for four years now, we have a way to kind of start to see patterns and also help signal what we need help with or what we might need some legislative priorities or policy priorities on.

I think this year, no.

But I think your question about what feels most fragile, I don't think it's about commitment or interest, right? We're having conversations about technology all from, you know, there's some national conversation about like, we should get rid of tech in the classroom to infrastructure, right? Like an AI and how do we become an AI leader? I mean, those two things sort of like, diet, you know, like how do you have, you know, a leadership in AI and then you have no screens or devices in schools, but we won't talk about that thing. But it's really around, I feel,

capacity and coherence. And that's really what it is. It's not the commitment or the interest and everything else. I think what people experienced, and this is my own sort of feelings on it is the pandemic investments really accelerated progress, right? EdTech has been around for a really long time. We were very connected as a country and device wise before the pandemic. There were still gaps.

But we were up in the, know, mid 90 % where we were connected schools, schools were almost like 99 % connected in terms of internet, but we had folks now at home, right? And we had folks that didn't maybe have devices they could take home. But that accelerated progress, but it didn't necessarily always build the durability that we needed, right? To sustain sort of things. And part of the issue is too, is staff capacity is stretched, right? Institutional knowledge is sort of thin amongst agencies.

leaders are managing multiple transitions, right? We have Essar funder, Essar, one-time Essar funds now expiring, which was the bump. There's regular funds that come through. There's leadership changes. People are leaving the sector. There's public scrutiny, a lot of it. And then there's this AI, this emerging technology that is just not your normal emerging technology. It is one that will be transformative, just like the internet was when it hit classrooms. So I think what feels most fragile is

really the ability to be able to slow down and make some intentional choices. If that makes any sense. That's, feel like that's what's, that's the hard part. Like I, I mean, we were, you and I were just talking before we got on this podcast about winter break. It was quiet where we could actually have some time to think and get into something because you don't have all of these things flying at you. And where do we build that into the system? So we can take a breath, figure out where we want to go forward.

Yeah, slow down enough to be as strategic as possible, knowing that your plans are never going to be long term because technology and things are moving at such a fast pace. I have not experienced a year in EdTech as I did last year of just all of the external factors as well as EdTech just accelerating in so many different ways. So having that agility in plans, but having that moment to say cone of silence, let's make sure we're thinking about it in the most strategic way to have our best

foot forward. So I love that.

Yeah, and it's more of a systems approach versus the one-off kind of things. We've had a lot of disparate kind of one-offs, maybe like a Franken system. I mean, some people have been really intentional about their systems, but I think schools as a whole, like we add this on, we add this on, we add this on, and then you have this kind of Franken version. And now you need to try to figure out, know from a systems perspective, how can we really leverage tech? I mean, that's the beauty of technology to me, right? It allows you to leverage some things.

And, but you really have to kind of come back. And I, and I kept saying, where's the information architecture? Like that's a piece that we're missing sometimes, like even when I go to build something. And I know, you know, this in your own, in your own work is like thinking about that infrastructure information architecture versus just pumping out, or I need over here, because you never know where that thread is going to come through all the way.

Yeah, and I think that that's the rub a little bit is the next question I wanted to dive into is that, you know, we've got this pressure to really accelerate and go, go, go. But at the same time, do we have a sustainable and durable infrastructure to keep that progress accelerating? you know, when you're talking with state education leaders, do you feel that tension? Or are they worried about that? And where do you think that maybe they're putting more time? Do you feel like they're just peddling the

Let's go. Let's go or is it let's step back from a system perspective. Let's make sure that we can do this in the long term

I think that there, I mean, I think the role of ed tech in the space has always trying to be the ones that are holding space for the sector to kind of figure it out. Does that make sense? And, and in order to modernize, and I've often said this, our sector is woefully not modernized at all. From in comparison to other sectors in the space, right? I think about healthcare. Now, mind you, probably still fill out a paper, you know, form.

but I can now get in and the four providers in two different systems are all in one, chart and everything's right there. Like that is beautiful for me. I'm not managing multiple things. I don't think we've quite seen the way that we could really use technology really well, both from our front office perspective, right? A school just running a school, right? Attendance, buses, security systems, cameras, lunch system, all of that. Have we really looked at how we can optimize the front office

to make it a lot easier and maybe even save us some money down the line if we really thought about that kind of infrastructure. And then you have the instructional side, the business of ed, you know what mean? The business of K-12 education, teaching and learning. And then what do teachers need to have at their fingertips, right? To be able to design lessons or diagnose where a student might be in terms of assessment and their learning and communicating with parents about what's happening and providing it and maybe extra support.

where needed, like how do we work that all together? And I think states are the ones, specifically like my members that are state members are really trying to figure out how they can support those goals. I often will say to our membership, and I know this from my own experience, you're never gonna have a state chief come out and say, digital learning is my number one priority. As much as we want them to be excited about technology as much as we are, they're gonna be talking about like, how do I raise math scores? How do I make sure kids are prepared for the workforce? How do I make sure that kids actually show up, right?

chronic absenteeism. Our question always is, well, how does technology support that? And is it more of an IT function, right? It's more of a traditional IT function, or is it more of the ed tech side, which is the tech for learning? Like, is it supporting the learning environment? And then how do we then think about systems that are already in play, the technology that's already out there to kind of support those things? I made a joke at Ed Tech Week in October about, you this is a bunch of startups that are there like, please don't build another LMS. We already have

LMS is out there. There are definitely pain points in LMS is I'm sorry if you're listening or an LMS startup or anything, but really the pain point is what you want to be maybe working on and figuring out. Cause states right now, or even districts are not going to be making the investments and moving to another LMS or trying to migrate to something else. One, they don't have the money or the capacity or the time at this moment, but what could you do to help alleviate some of the pain points they have with their current LMS is that are already out there and they're pretty mature as a market.

Thank

And I'm not saying that we don't have room for innovation or R and D cause we definitely do. But again, it goes back to talking to districts, talking to states about what they really need and listening to those problems and then helping co, know, solve a problem together. But I think our members are really trying to figure out like for us, AI is one of those technology. We were asking the same questions we asked with every single type of technology that hits the scene. You know, is it safe? Is it accessible?

How do students use it? How do we get professional learning to students? I mean, to teachers so they can use it in their instructional practice. All of the things. Is it interoperable? Can it work with other systems? So it's no different. AI is just putting a lot of pressure on us because the technology is moving very quickly. we want to make sure, and we're trying not to focus necessarily on it as a subject area, but more as a tool. Because when you think about it as a tool, then you can think about safeguards risk use.

When it's more of a subject area, it's AI in particular is cross-domained and that's really hard because it's not just in our space, right? It's in different spaces as well. So I think it's sort of a shift from, I don't know, governance and to governance and stewardship. Like what kind of things can we do? I think ed tech is changing, right? From tool adoption to governance and stewardship and whatnot. Cause the tools are going to be coming in and out.

and everything else, but we want to make sure that we have conditions that make learning possible on the edtech side, for sure.

Yeah, and for those of you listening, Julia said a lot in there and every moment I was like, yes, follow up there. But one of the themes I want you to point out if you are a regular listener of the show is she said that they're not just...

you

going in for, want to do digital learning for the like, you know, and that sounds good. I want to do AI, sure buzzworthy, but at the same time, it's not that it's about aligning it with specific challenges, aligning it with their goals that they're accountable for. And she's saying that's no different at the state level too, right? So those of you trying to really look at your messaging and positioning and look at your outcomes and really make sure what you're doing is differentiated. And it's not an flooded market. When she talks about the MLL, LMS and all of those

things. Just take note that it's not just her saying it. It's lot of the guests here on our show. You have talked about AI, so let's jump in. I know that is hot on everybody's mind. For the first time in your report, AI surpassed cybersecurity as the top state ed tech priority. This is not a surprise for probably any of us because everybody, you we went to the AI show.

this year and there was a lot of amazing progress, but everyone was really trying to collaborate and learn from each other and say we haven't figured this out and by the way once we create a policy we're gonna make it agile enough to start making sure that we've got some guardrails in place that empower people as well. So there's so much in AI, but what do you think drove that shift beyond just the whole world is AI crazy? And what does it signal about how states are in

interpreting their role because all of a sudden it's like now AI is a big part of so much in tech.

Yeah, and everybody's embedding it and using it as marketing too, which is, you know, they're trying to sort through some of that as well. Like, is it really using AI or is it just using one of the, you know, the other systems that are out there and everything else? Yeah, it was no surprise. We started asking about, we asked, I think we asked one question in 2022 about AI, just kind of this, you know, we were hearing like little things on the horizon. like, we should probably start to capture this. And then 2023,

when ChatGPT was just hitting the scene in terms of the ed space, right? That really drove parts of the conversation. And I think a lot of people will conflate AI with ChatGPT is ChatGPT is AI and, you know, obviously AI is more than that. But this year was no surprise. I mean, the two prior years I was really talking about cybersecurity. was, it's, still, that's one of our top priorities and needs and initiatives, but AI did.

did outnumber for the first time AI ranked as the top ed tech priority and the top state ed tech initiative. But what does that really mean, right? When you take action in regards to AI in education, what we did is we decided to spotlight a number of states that are expanding state level staffing, right? To include AI specialist. And for example, like Matt Winters in Utah, a of people know about him.

the West Coast came out really hard with their guidance at the first thing, we convened our members and said, hey, would you mind talking about the process because what worked, what didn't work, what kind of stakeholders did you get at the table in order to be able to do this? And then also there's just creating sort of some professional learning networks. So we did a really great little spotlight, like centerfold kind of piece on those states from all the way from that state specialist, AI specialist to

what legislators are doing for pilot programs and everything else. And that's just to kind of see how states are responding. Again, states are all different. They all have different flavors. when we talk to our European counterparts, I'm like, I'm literally, this is like 50 different countries. They all have different governing things and everything else, but it definitely became one of those top things. And...

I think AI rising to the top though really reflects responsibility, not necessarily readiness, right? Like what is our responsibility when it comes to AI and how do, and it's more about risk management and trust and less about enthusiasm. I don't think that states when they're grappling with all this is like, yay, we love this. They're more like, okay, what is the risk that we're going to take on to do this? And can we trust this technology to do what we're going to do? So it.

I mean, AI touches on instruction, assessment, workforce, data, privacy, procurement, right? It's everywhere. And while cybersecurity didn't disappear, because it hasn't at all, cybersecurity is now like part of that foundation, states are really feeling pressure to lead, so districts aren't left navigating it alone. So that's why you see, know, 35, I think, plus states now that have stuff out there. The states that are really intentional, though,

Yeah.

really did a sequence of work, right? Policy, guidance, training, tools. That's kind of where they're going. They're investing in that professional learning and some guardrails. And then they're really asking those questions of like, where does this fit before they ask themselves how fast can we move? Right? Those are the intentional states that we saw. For those states that are kind of coming from a little bit from an urgency or maybe not even kind of even touching it at all, they're issuing guidance without really the capacity to support it.

And they're kind of chasing some tools versus building the systems. But I want to say that most states and the majority of states are doing great work out there trying to figure it out, right? They're recognizing that AI is a tool, but the real work is around governance, training and infrastructure.

Yeah, and you said that states generally don't move fast and they're not designed to but and I haven't been with a state lens as long as you and I just kind of monitor it slowly but I have seen such movement and like, I especially with AI because it's moving so fast I just

I, when I went to the AI show, I was just incredibly proud of what they were able to accomplish in such small timeframe, because there is a sense of urgency, but not to the sake of urgency and like what you pointed out. And so, although this is a really good example from my perspective of states moving a little faster than I've seen them ever move because there is this inherent.

necessity because if we don't have state's guidance the districts are just like you know wild wild west and then they're all contradicting each other and it's just crazy town and we do see a little bit of that still but from my perspective I think they are moving a little faster would you kind of agree

I do. And I want to say this, think partly it was because under the previous administration, you know, the office of ed tech came out with some really good guidance. And in the, in the first time in a long time, we were seeing stuff coming out from the office of ed tech that was more future focused versus being behind the eight ball and trying to get out guidance. Right? So I think the leadership that came from the federal level at that time really helped States start to think about it. So while

And that almost gave permission to states, think, to go ahead and start working on that work and not do it under even more urgent and urgent kind of conditions.

Yeah, that's such a great point. We're going to get into what it looks like in K-12 around funding in a post-esser world. And we're also going to talk a little bit about the state of professional learning in K-12. But before we do that, we mentioned, OK, now states have these AI guidelines. The majority of them have some really robust strategic ones as well. If I am a marketer, can you just kind of dumb it down for people that are like, OK, I didn't even think of the state role. I need to kind of look at my ecosystem a bit more.

where do they generally have these guidelines available? It probably depends on each state, but as a marketer, I know that you're not inherently a marketer, but like how would you like them to be able to access them and align with them in a bit more of a helpful way? Because for some of these...

I was gonna say, most states, yeah, most states put them on their website, but they're buried sometimes depending on where EdTech is seen. But there are organizations like Teach.ai and EdSafe.ai that are sort of doing trackers. And you can kind of find them all kind of collated in one spot. We keep track of them internally, obviously, because for our state members, we have a little list that they can access at any time and they give us updates when things get updated.

Yeah.

I mean, that of course is if you're a member of CEDA, you have access to that. But there are places that kind of put that all together. But again, remember that guidance is, mean, policy and those kind of guidance things, it could be all from a cut and paste that someone put on their website. I'm not gonna name who those states are. Or it could be more comprehensive where like, I'm gonna name Massachusetts where they've gone in and really provided some.

guidance on how to use it instructionally. And you know, if you have a product that's on that instruction side, you definitely want to be looking at that for Massachusetts and they're refreshing, you know, they have the commitment to refresh that as well because they're trying to make sure that teachers feel like they have the skills, right? To be able to use it in the classroom or at least set some guidance for how it's used in that space. yeah, I mean, it's, it's not like it's everywhere and there's not one place you're going to have to do a little research.

you know, on it as well.

Yeah, I know a lot of the organizations that I work with and a lot of marketers that are heading up EdTech, they are targeting, they have, every single person that I talk to, they can say, hey, here are five primary states. these are your five primary target states, you should know what their AI guidance or policies officially are. And you should have someone kind of just keeping track as they start updating them to make sure your product and service aligns as much as possible.

Yes.

Okay, so I just wanted to hit that home for the marketers in the room going, okay, they do this, but like, how does this wear? What's going on? For all the resources you mentioned, we will put them in our show notes as well as a link to your report. For those of you on the run listening in the car, don't worry, we got you, show notes, go to the podcast on our website. Okay, let's jump into funding. We could talk about AI forever and we might have you on just.

you

just around AI on the state level and how it trickles down and doesn't really get implemented on the district level and the school level. So much to talk about there, but funding in a post-esser, so a post pandemic, have like the most funds ever were circulated in K-12 education, no longer, poof, gone. So your report says only 6 % of respondents reported having durable funding plans for ongoing ed tech work.

down from 27 % last year. So this drop, what does it mean in real terms for districts trying to maintain momentum? Really, what we need to do is have consistency, durability, but it's really hard in environment where it's like, my god, funds are gone, and then we have some kind of juggling of state and federal funds going on as well.

Yeah, let me set the context too, because I think people think that ESSER funds were like the funds and then now that they're gone and everybody's kind of scrambling. ESSER funds were one-time funds that were issued during the pandemic, which were basically a bump to regular federal education funding that goes to states. So, and what it allowed states to do is to maybe invest a little bit more in one of the ways that they wanted to use it. And some folks use it for connectivity. Some folks use it to buy devices for their...

the students in their estates, you know, and helping in districts and everything else. The thing is once those funds are gone and what that stat says in our report though is when we asked them in 27, like, Hey, these funds are going to be expiring. These S or fund, these one-time funds are going to be expiring. Are you going to continue to invest as a state in the initiatives that you funded with these funds? And at the time it was 27, this year is 6%. But I think that's also reflecting what's going on outside of education, right? We have

an economy that's a little shaky. have a new administration. We have a lot of uncertainty. And I think what you're seeing too in that stat is there's a growing uncertainty amongst state leaders about the future of one-time reliable federal funds. Even regular funds have been kind of thrown into the mix. I think this past summer, right? They had held the funds and then everybody was kind of freaking out.

can they do that? And then of course they got released and everything else. that is, we've always counted on those funds. We've like, know those funds are coming and everything else. So that was kind of a really hard, that's the hard part, right? Again, it's that uncertainty. So what I think is happening though, really drops, the drop really represents sort of real operational consequences, right? It's not just an abstract percentage. It's really an operation kind of thing. But now,

States and district are having to decide what stops and not just what continues, right? That's the hard part, right? You're going to have to be like, well, maybe we have to stop doing this. So things that happened were like key positions that were funded with us for funds disappeared. Programs built for scale are shrinking or there may be stalling. Leaders are forced into trade-offs, right? This is the part, right? Like, do do infrastructure innovation, right? This kind of versus thing or new initiatives.

versus sustaining, continuing to stay in what works. And these are sort of value-based decisions that are now being made under constraints, right? Like a lot of constraints and not just stuff that's in your control either. So what I think people also need to understand about the ESSER funds though, many of those ESSER funds were explicitly used, right? They were about access and equity. And leaders are concerned about, know, and I think they're a little bit worried about

backsliding, right? Because we don't really have some good alternatives, right? Like you don't have that, then what? You know, like if you all of a sudden have kids with one-on-one devices in a rural community and they're taking them back and forth and you were able to solve some stuff and now you can't pay for maybe subsidize some of that home access, what does that mean for the whole school environment as a whole? So really sustainability is, I think is really an equity issue. I know that people don't like talking about that word currently, but it really is not the equity and the equity thing. It's just...

It's just about how do we sustain stuff? So I guess what I really want to say is maybe the hardest decisions right now aren't about innovation, but they're more about what can we afford to continue to afford to maintain, right? Cause some even that's getting cut into.

Yeah. And it is really the holy grail question.

I don't look at them and go, wow, I want their job right now because how do I balance innovation versus supporting educators versus infrastructure that can help us accelerate? Like I would think they probably would have to have the lens and say what directly aligns that I can dotted line or directly line to outcomes. And they might even prioritize short term outcomes versus long term. I don't know, but they're gonna have to

some thesis for these cuts and I know that outcomes are always efficacy and outcomes are the things that are rising people to the top to make the investments so they feel confident but even then that's that's hard.

But I always want to give your listeners a piece of advice in some ways, like maybe not use the word innovation. It's about modernizing our sector. Modernization and innovation are two different things. I have been on record to say that I think we use the word innovation in the K-12 space and it's just a misnomer. We have been lapped in terms of what is innovative. I think for us, it's really about modernizing our sector and not...

I mean, schools pretty much look the same, which is fine, but during the pandemic, no one was missing, you know, the bell schedule or chem lab. They were missing ritual and community. And there's still ways to have that using technology in a modern space, right? We have spaces where kids are meeting online and talking about stuff and even in their classrooms, while they're physically sitting in their classrooms, they're in an LMS or, you know, they're

their canvas or whatever, and they're doing their things. So I think for us, I'd rather be focusing more on how do we modernize our sector versus how we be innovative. Because I think the innovation comes from that, right? But we have to get to a place where we actually can say with confidence that we're pretty, we have a modern system here, or my school district is built on a modern system. Like I have things working together, I can get people the data they need in order to make decisions and all of that kind of stuff. So I'm going to kind of put that, I put that out in the world like,

I want us to stop using innovation. I want us to start talking about modernization.

And when you say modernization, it's not like, all right, it looks modern and it feels modern for the sake of it. It's always directly linked to making an impact since given our sector, right? So it's not just like, all right, we're modern, we have things talking to each other, but to what end? Because this improves learning outcomes, ideally. Yeah.

Yes.

It also reduces maybe the burden for families. I always use this example and this is my own personal experience being a parent who was now a junior in high school, but at the time field trip forms, like filling out field trip forms when they're in like, you know, K three and elementary and middle school. It was like a lot. And they're always asking for the same information on a form. And I'm like, why can't I have this, the core thing, my health card, emergency contacts in one spot where you're having me verify it on a regular basis, just in case there's any changes.

but you ultimately only need to know, can she go to the zoo on Tuesday? And I need to check a box. Why would you ask the same set of data over and over and over again? Like how can we do better about, Hey, your kid's going on a field trip. Here's the information you're gave to me. If it's good, check, check. You're good. You're like, it's not like I have to fill it out 14 times. So that's a very simple, simple kind of thing. But I mean, could

districts be using it to reroute bus routes that are more effective? Can they do it to manage lunchroom stuff? Can they do it to get communications to family that is better and not like long list of things that parents have to read through in order to do engagement? I think there's ways for us to think about technology being able to really support the learning environment and the infrastructure of a building in a school. Because at the end of the day, you still need to have that building, whether you have shrinking enrollments or not, right? So I think that's where I'm kind of thinking of.

Yeah, all of the Yeah, and I'm like connecting the dots. like, yeah, I can reduce chronic absenteeism. Yes, it can increase family involvement. All of the things, you know, ultimately will help our system be stronger. you know, we're in this world where things are moving so fast. I have no idea what our kids are going to have for futures and careers, but we do need to make sure that they've got the critical mindset, that foundation to feel confident, to navigate this world.

And the less time they're filling out stupid forms or you're filling out stupid forms or bus routes are ineffective or systems are talking to each other. So we have a holistic view of the student, the better. Let's jump into professional learning. we kind of, I kind of hinted at it. You kind of hinted at it where we're like, okay, well, where do they spend their money? You know, when it all hits the fan, where do they spend their money? And professional learning is super critical now. And not that it wasn't before, but like,

Holy moly, we have AI and AI runs the spectrum with educators. Some educators are like, please don't talk about it. I don't wanna do it. Some are in the middle and some are fully embracing it, right? But they might not be embracing it in a way that might be best for their students. There's all sorts of needs around AI and it's growing and it's just because you know AI now doesn't mean you'll know it in three months as well. So from CEDA's perspective, like...

What keeps this challenge of professional learning critical? And how do you see it in that mix of prioritization with funding? It's a hard one, but we know you can't just give people tech, right? They have to have that implementation and ongoing professional learning.

It is a hard one. It totally is a hard one.

Yeah, one of the things I mean, so professional learning has always been an unmet need, but not, you know, maybe one or two in our space, but it's always been there. And now that AI is sort of on the scene, it still remains a focus, right? Like, you know, 60, I think 60 % of respondents reported that they are providing professional development, right? In terms of supporting the effective implementation of AI, which is good. We're hearing that. But the problem is,

we really talked about the design divide being the huge gap. You could have an infrastructure where everything is dialed in, everybody has what they need, but if teachers don't really understand how to use a particular EdTech application or technology in their instructional practice, it doesn't matter. Then you're just, you have this fancy infrastructure system, right? And what we're talking about is what we've seen, and this is even my own experience when I worked in Title II Part A, which is the federal program for

affected teachers and principals where professional learning dollars can be used. The money could be used for professional learning is that we continually have seen it as an add-on, right? It's like an add-on. We're gonna add on the professional learning, right? Instead of an infrastructure kind of thing. You have infrastructure in the physical sense, but this is infrastructure in the human capacity sense. And it's not just teaching people how to use the tool. It's one thing to say, hi everybody, we're using this, know, science.

application, this technology application, and I'm going to show you how to use a tool. That's great. But then how do I use it in my third grade standards or my third grade lesson plans? That's the next step. And if you're coming in as an EdTech developer and you're only providing professional learning on how to use the tool, you are missing the boat because then they're not going to be actually using it in the written structural practice. Let me use it for three weeks. It's almost like New Year's resolutions. And it's, you know, like we're at this big where, know, by February, we're going to stop using it. And then they wonder whether it's not seeing

you know, a bump or an impact in everything else. But the expectations really, they keep rising in terms of like what we want teachers to be able to do and everything else. And then the support structures are kind of remaining thin. So I think for me is, you know, how do we have sustained funding models, right? Not these one-off workshops. And the thing is like the Every Student Succeeds Act that everybody's working under right now just turned 10 in December. And in that legislation in 2015,

we, there was a definition for professional learning, job embedded, sustainable, et cetera, et cetera. So if you're only doing one-off workshops, you're actually not really even, you know, adhering to though, and using finder of funds, you're not really adhering to the, to the definition, but there needs to be a clear alignment between policy tools training, right? And, and seeing that, and the training also gets differentiated. A first year teacher needs a lot different kind of supports than a more seasoned and experienced teacher.

So that's the interesting thing there. And it's a shared responsibility between the states, districts, and vendor partners. Again, see it going, well, what's the role? Can we provide a role here? You know, like what can we do to help support the system? But, you know, we all know professional learning is time funding, skilled facilitators, alignment with instructional goals. And we don't, as states, don't always control all those levels, levels, I should say, levers. You got me, levers.

but we're still being held accountable, right? At the end of the day by our constituents in our state, but also at the federal level. So that's the really hard part is, know, guidance without training creates more risk, right? Not readiness. AI amplifies this because misuse is visible in public, right? It's super visible in public. And I think you can't expect responsible use without responsible investment in people.

I think is really what I want to say at the end of the day. So we are really looking, we're really trying to think about the systems that we can support. CEDA released another, we were very, we had a lot of reports out last year. We released a report around using your Title IIA funds to actually support educational technology initiatives. At the state level, we found that only at the time, only 9 % was being used for professional learning and ed tech. And a lot of people were like, how do I pay for AI literacy and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Well, we're trying to say there is funding out there from the federal side. So as a district, you could be looking at your Title II allocation a little bit differently, but also it has other recommendations and what to do there for funding that's not necessarily Title II, but for professional learning and how you build a robust, sustainable professional learning system.

Okay, so why don't you send me over a link to that? I'll put it in the show notes as well. I think that that's going to be super helpful because I think, like you said, professional learning cannot be ad hoc, it cannot be an add on. And I loved what you said around that it has to really be almost like an infrastructure play. Like there's no, it's irresponsible to not couple it in continuous way. But it's hard because we just came off a conversation on the limited budget and what needs to go.

Yes.

as a result of that.

Yes. But it's also, think it's also not the developer's whole responsibility, right? Either it's figuring out with the district and the state how you all together do it, right? Like, you know, a vendor may not be in there doing multiple things, but I think the district has a responsibility saying, you know, through the procurement process or whatever saying, Hey, we need to make sure you're not just turning us on the tool, but you're also helping us understand how it connects to our instructional goals.

And you might come back and be talking to us if we run into some stuff, but we as a system, as a district and a state, are trying to figure out how do we make sure that we can provide more opportunities for teachers to be able to get skilled for this. know what mean? I mean, teachers are great at what they do. They just need some help, time, time, and a way to be able to look at how they can integrate that technology in to help reach those instructional goals that they have for their students.

Yeah, and it's great you brought up that ecosystem that it's not just one person's anything. I also am seeing movement in the nonprofit sector of them stepping up as well and saying, okay, how can we help too? it's never just one.

Well, and I'll give you an example. spotlighted Nebraska. I always talk about, sometimes we talk about things that are not very sexy, but they move the needle. Like this is the thing, Like procurement still moves the needle. It's not super sexy to talk about. But in Nebraska, they have a instance of Canvas that they host for the entire state. And districts get in there and they have two instructional designers at the state level. A district can put stuff in and it gets vetted. The state can put stuff in and it gets vetted. So there's a way for them to be able to...

create an ecosystem for the state where regardless of where you live in the rural space where it takes four hours to get to and we might not be able to get you a training, there's still stuff that's available in there for folks and they share it amongst each other, right? And it goes from actually pre-K all the way to K-12. So that's an interesting idea of how they, their role is to provide this thing and provide these two instructional designers. And by doing that,

they've created this ecosystem that everybody can contribute to and it shares the burden and it shares the capacity, right? It's a little bit, know, everybody does a little bit and then you go farther that way as well.

Yeah, and I will take non sexy stuff that works and moves the needle every single time. And people always want like these fancy this or that in education. like, but what if it doesn't work? And so I love that you brought that up. All right, so we are ending the end of our show, but I want to wrap it up with something really fun. some of our listeners have come in and said, wow, those lightning rounds that we're about to do are the most helpful because it's the questions I always want to ask people, but I just want the

quick gut reaction. So here we go. No right or wrong answers here, Julia. But what is the one word you hear most often from state ed tech leaders right now? The one word, capacity. What is the most underestimated challenge in state ed tech work today?

you

a capacity, capacity.

It's sustainability. How do we sustain the good work that we're doing?

What's the most important thing districts can do for 2026?

I'm going to say align tools, training and policies instead of chasing the next solution.

And you'll notice me, I'm counting the things because what you're doing is you're always really thinking about things and how they couple and complement each other, tools, training and policy. If you do this one thing well, you can retain districts and get new clients really easily.

It's, I think it's listen first, right? And then design support that actually fits their context. All, everybody's a little bit different. Like, I mean, you can have a general framework that goes in there, but you really have to listen first. Like what problem are you helping them try to solve? And then design it with them.

Well said. What's the number one thing you'd like ed tech companies to do in 2026?

I like them to slow down, slow down a little bit, but also partner with states earlier before decisions are locked in, especially at the state level. I would like them to do that, slow down a little bit.

Awesome. And I'm gonna end with a fun one, because I know you're a DJ, and I credit you for a lot of my music discoveries. I loved your holiday playlist, all the things. So if 2025 was a soundtrack, what do you think it would be? And then what do you think?

but like in my genre.

Yeah, it could be like it could be a song or whatever if 2025. And then what do you think 2026 is going to be like? It could be a genre of music. It could be an actual title of a song. I know I'm throwing this one at you.

who's able to soundtrack.

So I want to, and of course people are probably wondering, so I am a house DJ. So house music kind of DJ. So people that are in that, that know that music will understand. I feel like it was kind of a drum and bass kind of year where it's this high BPM. There was a rhythm to it, but there was this high BPM. And we're talking like maybe 150 to 180, which is pretty high. Like we, I think it's human to walk at 125. And for me, that type of music,

Yeah.

Like do da, do da, do da.

while I love it every once in a while, it gives me actually the shakes because it feels like I've had too much caffeine. And I want to say that it was more like a drum and bass thing where it's like, you could definitely feel the rhythm and there's something there and it can be calming in certain times because it's just that rhythmic, but it's a little bit too fast. So it was just like, you know, I like it, but I don't like it because it's getting me a little disoriented. So I'll say that for the drum and bass. Hopefully you're not a drum and bass fan out there. If you are,

you props to you, but for me, that's not the tempo. I like the mix.

Yeah, would say fun fact, my little sister, started as a drum and bass DJ. I know exactly I was almost thinking that 2025 was like

You know exactly what I'm talking about. It's high level and some of it's beautiful. Some of it's really beautiful songs, but it's just after a while for me, my nervous system, it's too much for my nervous system. And then for 2026,

think 2025 was almost like happy hardcore. It was like, ahhhh!

Yes, so what was the second one for 20 is like what my wish is for the 2026.

Yeah, what do you think? know, given the signals and maybe given your hopes for 2026, what are you thinking?

I keep thinking disco, but I mean, maybe, my hope, if it's a hope thing, I do hope it's kind of disco. Disco has a little bit of that nostalgia, but movement and like a groove and like you're, you know, you're having a good time. So maybe that's what I'll leave it at is maybe we get not like true disco, but more of that funky kind of house, you know, like you definitely are going to be tapping your foot.

and hopefully it will give us some good feelings and get you on the dance floor.

and bringing that joy back, bringing some of that joy and that intentional joy for the sake of joy. I love that.

Yes.

I'm always definitely thinking about that. And I think that's what I love about the music that I play, right? I play a genre called tech house, but that's if house music and techno had a baby as I joke around. But I think that disco we kind of groovy. I mean, and I think people can find it, know, the disco kind of sound and other things too. I think about like those of you that are goose fans, I feel like there's like groovy kind of baseline that's in there as well. So I feel if we can kind of get into that space,

think we'll move a lot faster than someone's like kind of coming from behind us and pushing us.

Love it. Well, thank you, Julia, for being on the show. For those of you saying, gosh, what organization was she a part of? So you can look up CEDA. You can also follow them on LinkedIn. You can follow Julia Fallon on LinkedIn. That's F-A-L-L-O-N. And all of the resources that she put will be in our show notes as well. Anything else you want to mention about how people can get in contact with you, Julia?

No, that's probably the best ways and everything else. And just know that if you do follow me on LinkedIn, I talk a lot about authenticity, like trying to really show up as who you are in the space. So I think that builds trust, but also I feel like it's with the age of AI, lets us be more authentic in essence, right? And we can show up as who we are as humans, flawed and all.

Yeah, a marketing leader I follow, Jay Schwedelson, talks about humanity being the algorithm and really embracing that. That's one thing AI is never going to be like, all right, let me be Julia. It can try.

Yes.

No, but I really want to, I mean, I really like to honor everybody where they are, who they are and all of that kind of stuff. So like really try to, you know, show up as who you are. And I think that again, it's, we're all humans and that's the beauty. mean, the technology allows us to do things, hopefully allows us to be more human at the end of the day. And that's what my hope is. Like we're not trying to replace necessarily humans. We're just trying to free us up to do more stuff. I would love more time. I could figure out how to automate some stuff so I could DJ more.

because it brings me joy and everything else. Eventually I want a robot that's going to make dinner because that would bring me joy too. But for those of that like to cook, you don't want a robot to do that. I mean, it's just using technology in different ways. But I think, yeah, it's really that sort of thing. And I think I want to leave everybody who's sort of with like, in terms of like state leaders too, because I want to bring it back to CETA is, know, it's not necessarily about more innovation. I mean, more innovation, right? Like we want to really build systems that can actually sustain.

going forward, right? Like what does it look like and what can we bring into our communities that really make it powerful for our kids?

Yeah, innovation is nothing if it's one and done. If it comes and goes, it really wasn't innovative to begin with.

Yeah.

Yeah, we definitely want to build systems that sustain.

Awesome. Well, thank you, Julia, so much. And thank you, everyone, for listening to All Things Marketing Education. Friendly reminder, if you like what you hear today, please go ahead and hit that five-star review. It helps us be discovered by others who we can help. So thank you all. We'll see you next time on All Things Marketing and Education. Take care, everyone. Bye, Julia.