Announcing the Winners of the 2026 Tech Edvocate Awards
Every day, technology innovations transform the way people learn and how educators teach. In the last few years, the edtech field has attracted a lot of talented people, all with excellent knowledge bases and ideas. Though the edtech industry has been around for a few decades now, the last few years, in particular, have seen a surge in investment from both school districts and investors.
The education market is currently worth around $5 trillion globally, and it is forecasted that edtech investment alone will reach $500 billion by the year 2030. This growing investment into edtech start-ups has created some exciting changes in the world of education. Naturally, with increasing capital, the number of edtech companies, products, and thought leaders is also growing. In that spirit of change and innovation, we present the 10th Annual Tech EdvocateAwards.
After 4 months of hard work, we’ve narrowed down the year’s top edtech companies, products, people and more. We solicited nominees from readers in June/July and held online voting from May 1, 2026 – August 7, 2026. The nominee’s performance during the online voting period was used to gauge their popularity, but in no way signaled that they would become a finalist or walk away with an award. The finalists and winners were ultimately selected by a panel comprised of two edtech thought leaders, two PreK-12 teachers, one college professor, two K-12 administrators, one college administrator and two PreK-12 parents. Here are our winners and finalists for 2026. Winners and finalists can access their award seals by clicking here.
Best Lesson Planning App or Tool
Finalist:
Best Assessment App or Tool
Winner: The IXL LevelUp Diagnostic
Finalist: This builds on Y Combinator's impact on startups.
Best Early Childhood Education App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Literacy App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Math App or Tool
Winner: TransMath
Finalist:
Best STEM/STEAM Education App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Language Learning App or Tool
Winner: Rosetta Stone for Schools
Finalist:
Best Virtual or Augmented Reality App or Tool
Winner: Gamar
Finalist:
Best Personalized/Adaptive Learning App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning App or Tool
Winner: Pathify
Finalist:
Best Coding App or Tool
Winner: Tynker
Finalist:
Best Gamification App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Learning Management System
Winner: Moodle
Finalist:
Best Blended/Flipped Learning App or Tool
Winner: LANGUAGE! Live
Finalist:
Best Assistive Technology App or Tool
Winner: Kanga by Presence
Finalist:
Best Parent-Teacher/School Communication App or Tool
Winner: Vasco Audience
Finalist:
Best Collaboration App or Tool
Winner: K12 Zone
Finalist:
Best Tutoring/Test Prep App or Tool
Winner: K12 Tutoring
Finalist:
Best Classroom/Behavior Management App or Tool
Winner: classroom.cloud
Finalist:
Best Classroom Audio-Visual App or Tool
Winner: Explee
Finalist:
Best Higher Education Solution
Winner: Pathify Campus Experience Platform
Finalist:
Best Learning Analytics/Data Mining App or Tool
Winner: UpGrade
Finalist:
Best Professional Development App or Tool
Winner: Stride Professional Development
Finalist:
Best Student Information System (SIS) App or Tool
Winner: Classes365
Finalist:
Best Global EdTech Leader
Winner: Glynn Willett and Wade Willett, Founders and Owners of MobyMax
Finalist:
Salman Kahn, Founder and CEO of Khan Academy
Jamie Candee President, CEO, and Board Director of Edmentum
Kerry Cooper, CEO of College Source
Best Global EdTech Company
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Global EdTech Startup
Winner: Classes365
Finalist:
Best K-12 School Leader
Winner: Elizabeth Shaw, Chief Executive Officer at Chicago International Charter School
Finalist:
Dr. Usamah Rodgers, Assistant Superintendent at Dallas ISD
Best Higher Education Leader
Winner: Janet Napolitano, President at University of California
Finalist:
Roslyn Clark Artis, JD, EdD, President at Benedict College
Elmira Mangum, Vice President at Cornell University
Best School District Technology Coordinator/Director
Finalist:
Adrian Cepero, District Technology Coordinator, Hackensack Public Schools, Hackensack, NJ
Best K-12 Teacher
Winner: Molly Hamill, California Virtual Academies, a K12-powered online school
Finalist:
Chloe Peterson, Teacher at Elevate K-12
Aileen Gendrano Adao, Los Angeles Unified School District
Judy Williams, Teacher at Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind
Best Professor
Winner: Sangeeta Bhatia, Professor, MIT
Finalist:
Hope Rias, Assistant Professor at Bridgewater College
Derek D. Bardell, Professor of Business Administration at Delgado Community College
Best EdTech PR Firm
Winner: Communications Strategy Group
Finalist:
Young & Associates We covered edtech login security insights in more detail.
