New Release! U.S. State of EdTech 2026
The 2026 State of EdTech report provides insights into the state of K-12 education through the lens of education technology leaders—professionals who play a critical role ensuring technology is safe, reliable, and effective in supporting student learning, teaching, and district operations.
Today’s education technology leaders are responsible not only for maintaining infrastructure, but also for supporting instructional practice, protecting student data, enabling innovation, and engaging families and communities around responsible technology use. Education technology leaders need to navigate a landscape that is ever-changing.
Some Key Findings
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity continues to rank as the No. 1 priority for education technology leaders, reflecting the essential role secure digital systems play in modern education. Most districts are actively investing in monitoring, detection, identity protection, and firewall technologies to safeguard networks, data, and learning
continuity.
However, nearly two-thirds (65%) identify insufficient cybersecurity staffing and the lack of a dedicated budget as the top barriers to addressing cybersecurity challenges—highlighting the potential for a gap between responsibility and readiness. With increasing cyber insurance costs putting additional strain on budgets and new forms of AI-enabled cyberattacks increasing risks, districts must navigate how to best align funding decisions to keep up with ongoing pressures in the cybersecurity landscape.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Districts are making significant progress in establishing guidance for the responsible use of AI. More than three-quarters of districts (79%) report having AI guidelines in place, compared to 57% in 2025, reflecting growing clarity around AI’s role in education. The majority of education technology leaders welcome guidance and recommendations from state education agencies (SEAs) on these AI policies. Nevertheless, the vast majority report they do not want their SEA to issue AI mandates, underscoring the value of local decisionmaking.
In just one year, education technology leaders have become strikingly more optimistic about AI’s potential, nearly doubling their confidence in areas like productivity and personalized learning and showing especially sharp gains in student tutoring and workforce readiness. Productivity gains are seen as the area of greatest impact: a vast percentage (96%) of education technology leaders view AI as having the potential to positively affect education. More than half of districts have AI initiatives that focus on productivity, such as productivity suites for administrators and teachers as well as training in the use of those tools. Fewer districts (41%) have initiatives for instructional platforms to support teaching and learning. More districts (64%) are using AI in operations—a notable jump from the prior year’s 37%.
Access the Previous Reports Below
2025 EdTech Salary Report
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CoSN’s 2025 Salary Survey Report provides insights into pay ranges across key district EdTech positions:
- EdTech Leader
- Top Instructional Technology Leader
- Top System Administrator
- Instructional Technology Coach
- Equipment Technician / Help Desk Worker
In additional to national data, salaries are segmented by region and enrollments. This information can help both districts and EdTech teams benchmark salaries that inform budgeting decisions.
Canada State of EdTech 2025
This report reflects the results of the first nationwide survey of Canadian EdTech Leaders. It was developed by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)—the premier professional association for school system technology leaders in North America. Manitoba Education, Research and Learning Information Networks (MERLIN) was CoSN’s data partner and survey host.
The goal of the report is to better understand the priorities of Canadian EdTech Leaders. Since the report only reflects the results of those who participated, results may not be fully representative of the larger EdTech Leader population in Canada. However, these initial findings offer insights into the current state of Canadian EdTech and can serve as a baseline comparison for future survey results. Greater participation in subsequent surveys will reduce the margin of error and provide opportunities to segment the data for deeper insights.
Additional Resources
Webinar: Key Findings form CoSN's 2022 K-12 IT Leadership Survey
CoSN has conducted an annual survey of U.S. K-12 IT Leaders for the past nine years. The results from the 2022 survey were recently released. Come to this webinar to learn about the key findings and better understand today’s EdTech landscape around the state of cybersecurity risks, BYOD initiatives, demands for home access support and more.
The survey and this webinar were made possible by the Ed-Fi Alliance and CDW-G, conducted in partnership with MCH Data, K12 Insite, and AASA.
A CoSN Member Survey 2022
This survey summarizes the responses of CoSN members to a short survey on EdTech trends and funding, first conducted in 2020 to gauge the impact of the COVID‐19 crisis. Thank you to Juniper Networks for their support.
Thank you to our in-kind Partner, K12 Insight!
