Report: Testing and Assessment Products Are Now the Biggest Category of Ed Tech Sales
The education division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has released the first report in a new series of Behind the Data publications. According to Testing and Assessment: A PreK-12 U.S. Education Technology Market Report, testing and assessment products — which include software, digital content and related digital services — now make up the largest single category of educational technology sales.
Vendor responses to SIIA’s annual U.S. Education Technology Market: PreK-12 surveyshowed thatsales in this category have increased 57 percent over the last three years of the survey. For the 2012-2013 school year, sales in the testing and assessment category reached almost $2.5 billion.
Participants almost universally identified four key factors affecting the recent growth of the digital testing and assessment market segment:
- The Common Core State Standards are changing curricula.
- The rollout of Common Core assessments is galvanizing activity.
- There is widespread demand for more and better formative assessments.
- Testing and assessment is leading the transition from print to digital.
Karen Billings, vice president of the SIIA Education Division (pictured), commented, “We view the growth of the preK-12 testing and assessment market segment over the last several years as even more remarkable, given that it has occurred in difficult economic times during an overall preK-12 budget and spending decline.”
About the Author
Christopher Piehler is the former editor-in-chief of THE Journal.