School districts routinely buy classroom software to boost test scores. However, research warns that schools roll out these digital tools with little regard for student mental health, privacy, or social development. A new report reveals that school technology is rarely evaluated for its impact on a child's overall well-being, leaving parents and educators with major blind spots regarding the tools children use daily.
What Happened
A report by the Digital Futures for Children Centre, a collaboration between the London School of Economics and the 5Rights Foundation, analyzed 56 research reviews covering more than 2,100 studies worldwide. The researchers found that EdTech studies focus almost entirely on academic grades. They largely ignore how classroom technology affects children’s emotional well-being, motivation, and development.
The report shows a lack of diversity in educational technology research. Only four of the analyzed reviews focused on children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Virtually no studies explored how technology impacts children differently based on gender, socio-economic background, or race. Schools are purchasing digital tools without knowing if they benefit all students. Colette Collin-Walsh, Head of UK Affairs at the 5Rights Foundation, noted that school canteens cannot serve food unless it is proven safe for development. Yet schools introduce digital products into classrooms without holding them to similar safety standards.
The Bigger Picture
This lack of research comes at a time of deep division among educators. In an EdWeek Research Center survey, more than half of surveyed educators reported that technology increases student engagement and content mastery. However, over half of those same educators warned that classroom technology hurts students’ mental health and social-emotional development.
When technology supports mental health, student perception is key. A Frontiers in Public Health study found that students experience less educational anxiety when they perceive digital tools as fair, controllable, and useful. Adaptive tools can also increase motivation. A study of students using AI-based tools showed a link to higher motivation and lower academic stress.
For neurodivergent students, the quality of the technology is particularly important. A meta-analysis in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders found that adaptive educational tools moderately improve emotional engagement for students on the autism spectrum, with virtual reality tools offering the greatest benefit. Similarly, a 12-week intervention study of primary students with special educational needs showed that structured digital toolkits, including text-to-speech and visual schedules, improved classroom task completion by over 17% and reduced the time teachers spent repeating instructions. For general reading difficulties, a multilevel meta-analysis found that technology-based reading interventions provide a consistent, statistically significant positive effect on reading outcomes across grade levels.
Safety goes beyond emotional engagement; it also involves digital privacy. While school systems are bound by federal frameworks like COPPA and FERPA, the rapid integration of artificial intelligence creates security loopholes. A DeepInspect security analysis warns that schools often share student records with primary EdTech vendors under standard agreements, but these vendors frequently pass data to third-party AI sub-vendors. Because older procurement contracts do not account for these sub-vendors, sensitive student data can end up training commercial AI models without parental consent. As we previously reported, managing these software layers is becoming a financial and administrative burden for districts.
What This Means for Families
For parents and educators, these findings suggest we cannot assume a digital tool is safe just because a school district bought it. A software program might improve reading scores while increasing student anxiety or leaking private data. Families must look beyond academic performance and demand transparency regarding student privacy, mental health, and accessibility.
What You Can Do
To take action, ask your school district's IT director if learning software contracts protect student data from being shared with third-party AI sub-vendors. At home, watch for changes in your child's anxiety, motivation, or behavior when using classroom apps. Finally, encourage teachers and school boards to select digital tools that support student autonomy, accessibility, and emotional well-being rather than just test preparation.