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 8th 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, 2024 – August 9, 2024. 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 2024. Winners and finalists can access their award seals by clicking here.

Best Lesson Planning App or Tool

Winner: Gale In Context: For Educators 

Finalist:

OER Commons  

TeacherFileBox      

Profile Planner 

Nearpod  

Best Assessment App or Tool

Winner: MobyMax  

Finalist:

Google Classroom

CodeSignal

ALEKS

Study Island

MagicBox   

Star Assessments 

Best Early Childhood Education App or Tool

Winner: Lalilo 

Finalist:

MobyMax

Jolly Phonics

Ambani Africa

Kindiedays

Little Fox    

EasyTech by Learning.com  

Reading Horizons Discovery     

Best Literacy App or Tool

Winner: DreamBox Reading Plus by Discovery Education    

Finalist:

Jolly Phonics

Ambani Africa

Read and Write

Whooo’s Reading

MobyMax

Mystery Writing    

Gale In Context: Literature 

myON     

IXL Language Arts 

Vocabulary.com 

Best Math App or Tool

Winner: IXL Math   

Finalist:

MobyMax

DreamBox Math by Discovery Education    

ST Math   

Freckle for Math  

Best STEM/STEAM Education App or Tool

Winner: Edmentum Courseware 

Finalist:

MobyMax

iCEV’s STEM Curriculum   

Complete Physics

Brilliant

Science Techbook by Discovery Education    

STEM Careers Coalition   

Best Language Learning App or Tool

Winner: Rosetta Stone 

Finalist:

MobyMax

Ambani Africa

AIM Language Learning

Gus on the Go: Spanish

Little Fox    

Best Virtual or Augmented Reality App or Tool

Winner: Sandbox AR by Discovery Education   

Finalist:

Gamar   

Apollo 11 VR 

iTeach.world

Best Personalized/Adaptive Learning App or Tool

Winner: Freckle 

Finalist:

MobyMax

Zearn

Articulation Station

No Red Ink

Reflex

IXL   

Edmentum Exact Path    

Best Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning App or Tool

Winner: Learnosity’s Author Aide   

Finalist:

Brisk Teaching

Magicschool.ai

Zoomi

JoeZoo

Copyleaks  

Best Coding App or Tool

Winner: Tynker

Finalist:

Itch

Kodable

Best Gamification App or Tool

Winner: MobyMax

Finalist:

PBS Kids Games

Gimkit

Stride Meets Minecraft   

Best Learning Management System

Winner: Edsby   

Finalist:

Google Classroom

Moodle

MaxBrain LMS

Best Blended/Flipped Learning App or Tool

Winner: MobyMax

Finalist:

Google Classroom

Moodle

PlayPosit

Edbrix

Gale Literature Resource Center  

Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI)   

classroom.cloud    

UWorld

Best Assistive Technology App or Tool

Winner: Presence (formerly PresenceLearning)    

Finalist:

Natural Reader

Writable

ModMath

Best Parent-Teacher/School Communication App or Tool

Winner: MobyMax

Finalist:

Klassy

Classting

ChildPilot

Best Collaboration App or Tool

Winner: Gale Digital Scholar Lab    

Finalist:

Google Classroom

Schoolbox 

Popplet

Speachme

Realtime Board

Best Tutoring/Test Prep App or Tool

Winner: Edmentum Targeted Skills Instruction  

Finalist:

MobyMax

UWorld’s Online Preparation for the Digital SAT® Exam

Ankidroid Flashcards

Algebrator

Wyzant  

Best Classroom/Behavior Management App or Tool

Winner: NetSupport School

Finalist:

Behavior Manager  

Class Charts

ClassroomQ

ClassReach

Best Classroom Audio-Visual App or Tool

Winner: Logitech Reach  

Finalist:

Explee 

Slidetalk 

Best Higher Education Solution

Winner: InStride 

Finalist:

Gale Literature Resource Center 

Study.com      

Gale Research Complete   

Best Learning Analytics/Data Mining App or Tool

Winner: Gale Digital Scholar Lab 

Finalist:

UpGrade 

Learning Locker

LOOOP

Best Professional Development App or Tool

Winner: Renaissance Professional Development   

Finalist:

Share My Lesson  

Finders Solvers (Keningau Vocational College)

GoodReads

Stride Professional Development    

Best Student Information System (SIS) App or Tool

Winner: Classes365    

Finalist:

ampEducator

Alma SIS

Best Global EdTech Leader

Winner: Todd Brekhus, Chief Product Officer at Renaissance and General Manager of Nearpod  

Finalist:

Glynn Willett and Wade Willett, Founders and Owners of MobyMax

Salman Kahn, Founder and CEO of Khan Academy 

Bluum

Best Global EdTech Company

Winner: Discovery Education   

Finalist:

MobyMax

Alma SIS

Moodle

Google Classroom

iClicker

Terra Dotta     

Renaissance  

Stride, Inc.    

Edmentum   

Bluum

Best Global EdTech Startup

Winner: Edukoya

Finalist:

Gamar   

Classes365   

Best K-12 School Leader

Winner: Elizabeth Shaw, Chief Executive Officer at Chicago International Charter School

Finalist:

Dr. Laura Stout, Executive Director of School Leadership at Corpus Christi Independent School District

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

Winner: Chris Long, Educational Technology Coordinator, Huntington Beach Union High School District, Huntington Beach, CA

Finalist:

Adrian Cepero, District Technology Coordinator, Hackensack Public Schools, Hackensack, NJ

Nora Laho, District Technology Coordinator and Instructional Technology Coach at Public Schools of CLK

Best K-12 Teacher

Winner: Judy Williams, Teacher at Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind

Finalist:

Chloe Peterson, Teacher at Elevate K-12

Aileen Gendrano Adao, Los Angeles Unified School District

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: PRP Group, A Hawke Media Company   

Finalist:

Publicize  

PRlab  

AM Mediaworks