K-12 Digital Instruction and Assessment market to reach $42B by 2025

Nearly 1.3 Billion K-12 students worldwide are experiencing the digital transformation of primary and secondary education. Accelerated by the sudden shift to remote learning through COVID, educators, children and their parents have embraced technology like never before.

Almost two years of remote learning in most parts of the world has thrown huge challenges to students, parents, teachers and whole education systems. Governments are re-thinking what it means to provide ‘access’ to education, working with infrastructure providers to strengthen internet connectivity, funding new digital initiatives for educational content and sourcing new forms of digital learning resources, instructional materials and fast-feedback assessment. Once considered ‘nice to have’, digital educational content and instructional materials are rapidly becoming a foundation for learning in K12 settings and working their way deep into federal, state and district budgets around the world.

Download. Source. HolonIQ, October 2021.

HolonIQ’s Intelligence Unit is currently undertaking a major re-forecast and market sizing deep dive for the global education technology market across 50 clusters, 100 countries, various models (B2G/B2B/B2C) and modes (Hardware, Software and Services). K12 Digital Instruction and Assessment is one of the most important and fastest-growing markets in education technology. The category is empowering teachers, parents and learners with new, immersive and engaging ways to accelerate reading, mathematics and science learning outcomes, in addition to knowledge and skills in STEAM, soft-skills and supporting students with special needs.

Defined broadly to include digital platforms and content dedicated to core and supplemental learning including curriculum, courseware, formative testing and assessment, digital supplements, video and interactive assets but excluding management systems such as SIS/LMS, other ‘systems of record’. The category excludes hardware or physical classroom technology and focuses on software and digital assets supporting instruction and formative assessment.

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Towards a $42.5B market and the 5 major trends underpinning the demand outlook.

In 2019, governments and schools around the world spent approx. US$15.5B on K12 Digital Instruction and Assessment, making up nearly 6% of global EdTech expenditure that year. In 2020, expenditure surged to $19.4B to support remote learning with 2021 establishing a new level of demand and strong forward momentum as K12 starts a broad digital transformation worldwide. The market is projected to grow to approx. $42.5B in 2025 at a CAGR of 17%. The U.S. market represents more than 40% of the global K-12 Digital Instruction and Assessment market today. We are seeing a number of the market leaders growing faster than our projections. Beyond strong growth of market leaders, there are five major shifts that underpin our outlook.

1. Print to Digital.

The move from print to digital in educational resources has been a steady market shift over many years, moving from the periphery to core curriculum and driven by general consumer acceptance of digital, educational goals for digital literacy in basic education, steady improvements in technology and reduction in costs as well as various pedagogical benefits. Over time, traditional providers have been increasing their offering of digital interactive resources and we are likely to see a continued trend to ‘flip’ the model from core print with digital adjunct, to digital core with some print additions.

2. Content + Process.

Digital provides the opportunity to combine the ‘content’ and the ‘process’ of learning allowing for an integrated ‘workflow’ between the environment in which learning is happening and the topic or content being learned. Schools are increasingly interested in solutions that are integrated, or able to easily span between being an in-class support tool, to virtual learning environment or homework portal. Providers from both ends are now supporting those needs – whether LMS’s incorporating content, or publishers providing digital learning environments and we are likely to see more convergence in this space.

3. Transition to Formative Assessment

The world has been moving away from ‘high stakes’ summative assessment for some time. Interactive digital content more easily allows for assessment events along the way, with built-in feedback and analytics for teachers. This has been more important during COVID when teachers have not been able to observe learning in the classroom or gauge if students are having difficulty. Technology advancement has significantly reduced barriers to the scalable adoption of formative assessment with the ability to provide feedback, check and report on progress via analytics.

4. Device Penetration + Connectivity Acceleration.

Internet connectivity and device penetration, while highly variable across the globe, is increasing. COVID-19 revealed the digital divide in education, prompting governments around the world to re-think what it means to provide ‘access’ to education, working with infrastructure providers to strengthen internet connectivity for education – at home and at school, for students and for teachers – funding initiatives for devices, zero-rated educational content and many other initiatives to keep learners connected.

5. Local to Global.

Curriculum, and its underlying learning content, is increasingly applicable beyond state or federal borders, particularly in foundational areas such as STEM and literacy, along with ‘non academic’ content including areas such as social-emotional learning. Digital materials with interactive components that can be easily modified for context and local standards can find regional or global markets.

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