The Educational Trends of 2023 [Highlights]

Staying ahead of the needs of educators and schools means tracking these important educational trends.

Teacher Shortage
Career and Technical Education (CTE)
ESSER Funding
Cybersecurity
Gamification & AR/VR
Special Education
Student Assessments
DEI & Inclusivity
SEL & Student Safety

Teacher Shortage

As schools continue struggling with teacher burnout and attrition, attracting and retaining teachers will be essential to maintaining quality instruction. Currently, Florida ranks number one with the highest teacher shortage. Schools will need to reassess which educational solutions from edtech companies offer options for teacher professional development, curriculum, and planning resources to reduce the burden of lesson prep. This means that some edtech companies will be better positioned to support schools.

Career and Technical Education (CTE)

The growing student loan debt crisis highlights the need to address career pathways and how students can access stronger school to career success outcomes. On November 14, 2022, The U.S. Department of Education announced the launch of Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success, a new program to expand career-connected learning in K-12 to better support college and career-readiness. Trendsetting educational companies are focusing on supporting high-tech education. Itopia Labs has virtual cloud labs whose streaming technology enables on-demand CTE learning from anywhere, promises to democratize CTE education.

ESSER Funding

Schools are starting to consider a looming fiscal cliff partly due to the end of ESSER funds, lower state investments, inflation, and a potential economic recession. Districts are currently spending down on ESSER III funds and have a deadline of September 30, 2024, to do so. In the short term, COVID-19 pandemic funding will keep educational spending strong even in categories that are expected to slow down compared to 2021 and 2022 levels of spending. Check out our infographic overview of ESSER funding here.

U.S. Education Projected Market Size

By 2028 the U.S. education market size is projected to be worth 2.3 trillion USD – PR Newswire, 2022

Cybersecurity

Schools remain a ripe target for cybercriminals as they store lots of personal data but often lack sufficient resources to protect it. Protecting school and student data remains a top priority as schools experienced a wave of ransomware attacks at the end of 2022. While schools need to level up their cybersecurity, K-12 lags behind all other industries in cybersecurity program maturity, making it difficult to do so. Luckily companies providing leading cybersecurity tech and expertise are eyeing the education market. Multi-factor authentication solutions like Yubico’s Yubikey can upgrade schools’ outdated MFA legacy systems to better protect schools against widespread cyber threats, including social engineering that attempts to steal login information.

Gamification & AR/VR

Gamification & AR/VR is expanding education possibilities with immersive experiences for CTE classes, special education, and more. Despite 21st Century Learning taking off with cutting-edge STEM tools , coding robots and VR Headsets like Veative, many educators will need guidance learning to use and develop lessons for this tech. Edtech companies that offer teacher training and out-of-the box lessons stand to take a bigger piece of this market.

Projected growth of global EDU gamification market

The global EDU gamification market is expected to reach over 4,144.97 million USD in 2027 – GlobeNewswire

Special Education

Pandemic recovery lags for special education students who were especially hit hard during the pandemic when schools switched to remote learning. Many students didn’t receive all of the services stipulated in their Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Districts have created recovery services to identify learning gaps and learning regression. Many schools are focusing on after-school and weekend tutoring in special ed to accelerate learning. However, students may not qualify for this extra assistance if learning regression can not be identified, potentially leaving students with two to three years of learning loss according to a lawyer from the Special Education Advocacy Coalition of Chicago.

Student Assessments

To receive ESSER funds, schools selected evidenced-based programs, making spring assessments feel even more high-stakes than before. Preparing and equipping students with the right tools, including headphones and audio headsets, and formative assessment tools will be top of mind. You can read our blog post on how teachers can prepare for spring assessments here.

DEI & Inclusivity

Polarization of education has made teachers’ jobs even more complicated and stressful. Many teachers, including the 2022 Teacher of the Year remain dedicated to DEI and inclusion efforts.

DEI hot topics include:

Digital equity
Creating safe and supportive schools
Inclusive curriculum
Data literacy
Teacher diversity hiring strategies

SEL & Student Safety

SEL remains a top priority for schools; however, political backlash is not the only thing threatening SEL investments in 2023 and beyond. During the 2021-2022 school year, just over 54% of all SEL purchases were made with ESSER funds.

What EDU trends will you be tracking in 2023? Share with us in the comments below.

Sources:

https://www.kget.com/news/california-ranks-3-with-highest-teacher-shortage-in-the-country-study/

https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-launches-new-initiative-support-career-connected-learning-and-increase-job-pathways-young-americans

https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/schools-can-seek-more-time-to-spend-esser-funds-on-outside-contracts/2022/05