The digital revolution has seen new apps, mobile technology and other forms of digital tools constantly making their presence felt in the ed tech world. While we cannot deny their importance in education, it is rather difficult to gauge which is the more useful and authentic tool to use.

This is exactly what has been plaguing the Department of Education, and there have been serious efforts to bring some accountability into the mix. Their subsequent collaboration with the research organization Mathematica has resulted in the development of the Ed Tech Rapid Cycle Evaluation (RCE) Coach, a comprehensive digital tool for evaluating educational tech tools.

The RCE Coach is a free, online platform that has been specially designed to sift and filter through the numerous ed tech tools that are cropping up every day. It will help school districts understand the efficiency, value and services of each device better. Currently available in beta format, this simplified evaluation process may also be a big help in channeling district investments.

While the evaluation of ed tech tools is expected to be faster and more efficient with the RCE Coach, the fact that it is an extremely user-friendly and low-cost tool will add to its popularity.

Educators can now determine whether the technology they are currently using or the ones they want to invest in are worth their time and effort. A quick evaluation and analysis of various apps will make it easier to scan and discard technologies that are ineffective or not working anymore and gauge whether these can achieve the set goals.

The RCE Coach will also help app developers to get a clear picture of what the schools need and what kind of evaluation the Department of Education is emphasizing. It will offer regular insight of these tools to teachers and educators, helping them decide on a more effective digital education spend.

Nearly 150 school leaders attending the executive summit at the Future of Education Technology Conference delved a bit deeper into this free ed-tech product. The goal is to help each school or district conduct their "rapid-cycle evaluation" of the educational technology used in classrooms and get actionable results. The tools are menu-driven and simple to use, and the RCE Coach also has options for districts to publish their results anonymously on the website.

In the first year of testing, early adopters have given valuable feedback. They feel the RCE Coach needs to address the individual requirements of the districts and also fit in with their current practices instead of offering generic or randomized results. But they do see a lot of potential for the tool in the future, especially to study the impact of devices.

School districts have particularly shown interest in learning the impact of their 1-to-1 implementation, reviewing the usage data to gauge whether student engagement and excitement has increased with the use of an ed tech product.

As we can see from their responses, even though there has been a rapid growth in digital spend, districts are not 100 percent happy with results. Looks like the RCE Coach may just be the help they need.