Early childhood education provider Teaching Strategies recently won an industry award for its infant and toddler curriculum. The company claims the tool is new and says it improves child development and teacher retention. A closer look at the underlying data reveals a complicated picture for families and educators.
What Happened
In early April, EdTech Digest named The Creative Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers the winner of the 2026 EdTech Cool Tool Award in the Curriculum and Instruction Solution category. The curriculum supports children from birth to age two by generating individualized plans and tracking progress.
Teaching Strategies calls the software a first-of-its-kind solution that integrates screeners, curriculum, and ongoing assessments. The company cites a recent randomized controlled trial by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) to support this. Company materials claim this study proves their digital ecosystem boosts teacher retention and child development.
The Bigger Picture
The research and the educational technology market tell a different story.
First, the claim that this curriculum is "first-of-its-kind" is inaccurate. The early education sector has several established platforms that link daily lessons to assessment tools. Products like the Galileo Pre-K Online Curriculum offer similar web-based, standards-aligned integration. Tracking tools have combined assessment portfolios with curriculum supports for over a decade.
Second, the NIEER study results are more nuanced than the company suggests. While marketing materials claim a 59 percent increase in teacher retention, the actual research found an estimated 23-percentage point increase. The intervention evaluated included professional development aligned with the digital ecosystem. Teachers received training that led to lower emotional exhaustion, proving that supporting educators matters more than the specific app they use.
The evidence for child outcomes is mixed. The study found gains when relying on teacher-administered assessments tied directly to the curriculum. However, when researchers used independent assessment measures, they did not detect statistically significant differences between children using the system and those in the control group.
Parents and administrators should understand the nature of the EdTech Awards. As we previously reported, this is the world's largest recognition program for the industry. It is a commercial recognition platform rather than an academic review board conducting independent efficacy testing.
What This Means for Families
For parents and early childhood educators, digital tracking systems offer administrative benefits. They make it easier to generate reports, individualize care plans, and communicate with families. There is no evidence that integrating screens and digital tracking into infant and toddler rooms accelerates early brain development compared to traditional methods.
Infants require care centered around physical milestones and basic routines. Toddlers thrive on flexible exploration and play-based learning. These needs do not require complex software. Digital ecosystems help organize a teacher's workload and reduce burnout, but parents should not mistake administrative efficiency for a pedagogical upgrade.
What You Can Do
- Ask your childcare provider how they balance digital assessment tracking with uninterrupted, play-based learning for infants and toddlers.
- Look past industry awards and marketing statistics when evaluating a school's curriculum, focusing instead on whether the environment supports natural exploration.
- Support preschools and daycares that invest in comprehensive professional development for their staff, as direct teacher training has a proven impact on reducing turnover and creating stable learning environments.