About Us

EduEvidence — officially registered as the International Certification of Evidence of Impact in Education – is a not-for-profit, membership-based, and member-owned association under Norwegian law.

We were founded by an international group of researchers working at the forefront of impact evaluation in education and educational technology. What brought us together was a shared frustration: the field had no shortage of ideas about quality, but no shared language for it. Schools, ministries, and procurement teams were being asked to make consequential decisions about children’s learning on the basis of evidence that could not meaningfully be compared from one product, or one country, to the next.

Paradoxically, the barrier was not a lack of evaluation frameworks but an abundance of them. Efficacy standards, pedagogical rubrics, data-privacy checklists, accessibility guidelines and national quality labels have proliferated across jurisdictions, each valid within its own tradition, none easily translatable into another. Our founding premise was that these frameworks are not competitors to be chosen between, but complements to be aligned.

The research foundation

EduEvidence emerged from a sustained international research endeavour to consolidate international evaluation frameworks and certifications. Our starting point was research emerging from the International Centre for EdTech Impact (back in that time WiKIT), who conducted a systematic review and identified 65 different frameworks for evaluating quality in educational technology. The ICEI researchers, led by Professor Natalia Kucirkova, harmonised the frameworks according to the weight of evidence each one demands. Then, through a thorough peer reviewed process, the researchers established a system of equivalence across the different frameworks, evidence badges, certificates and research studies.

That consolidation became the 5Es, the core of our quality measurement. The 5Es give procurers, evaluators and policymakers a set of five impact benchmarks for comprehensively assessing what an educational technology actually delivers, at three levels of evidence and across the full education continuum.

About our certifications

 

Certifications provide schools, procurement teams and policymakers with a clear signal that a product or feature has undergone external evaluation. Evidence submitted by organisations seeking certification is reviewed by an independent validator against our published criteria.

Our criteria are deliberately aligned with established EdTech certification frameworks, enabling us to recognise equivalent evidence and streamline the certification of organisations that have already completed a rigorous independent evaluation. This approach reduces duplication and supports the development of a more coherent international evidence ecosystem.

Our methodology is publicly available, allowing our assessments and conclusions to be scrutinised and challenged. The 5Es and viability rubrics represent a benchmark for quality and continuous improvement, rather than a legal or regulatory standard. Our role is to make evidence clear, comparable and usable, while responsibility for procurement, policy and implementation decisions remains with the organisations accountable for them.

  Governance

As a membership-based association, EduEvidence is owned and directed by its members rather than by investors or vendors. Our work is guided by two advisory boards: an Academic Advisory Board, responsible for the scientific integrity of the framework and the standards of evidence applied, and a Non-Academic Advisory Board, which brings the perspectives of practice, policy and procurement into the design and application of the standard.

The dual structure is deliberate. Academic rigour without practical usability produces standards nobody can apply; usability without rigour produces standards nobody should trust.

A global standard, applied locally

The EduEvidence framework, evaluation procedures and certification approach have been adopted internationally by countries and regions, in each case through independent groups of academics and policymakers who assess its fit for their own context. We regard that independence and local adaptation as essential. EduEvidence does not impose a single model of quality on diverse education systems: the framework is used in full or in part, adapted to local priorities, curricula and evidence cultures.

Through the breadth and rigour of its evaluation, EduEvidence has come to function as a global quality architecture that aligns trusted certifications and evidence labels, and supports policymakers, school systems and procurement teams worldwide in identifying solutions that deliver on multiple quality criteria.

We welcome contact from governments considering adoption of the certification scheme, from researchers wishing to contribute to the framework, and from organisations seeking independent validation of their evidence.

Read more about Our Team. The Academic Advisory Board oversees the academic integrity of EduEvidence’s criteria and supports the appointment and quality assurance of the College of Reviewers. Independent validators assess submitted evidence and make certification recommendations. Final certification decisions are made through EduEvidence’s separate certification decision process, in accordance with its Certification Governance and Assurance Policy. Individuals with a relevant conflict of interest do not participate in the review or decision.

Scope of EduEvidence certification

Many EduEvidence certifications recognise and re-certify evidence that has already been independently assessed through trusted partner certification schemes. EduEvidence also issues its own certifications in the areas of efficacy, effectiveness, equity and environmental impact. In the area of ethics, EduEvidence currently recognises qualifying certifications issued by approved partner organisations rather than conducting a separate primary certification process.

An EduEvidence certificate records an independent assessment of the evidence submitted or otherwise identified for a specified product or feature, product version and certification category, against the criteria in force at the time of assessment. The certificate reflects the quality and strength of the evidence available on the date of certification. It does not constitute a guarantee of legal or regulatory compliance, data security, safeguarding, suitability for every learner or context, future educational outcomes, or the product’s continuing performance.

Certified organisations remain responsible for their products, practices, representations and compliance obligations. A certification may be reviewed, suspended or withdrawn where the product materially changes, information submitted during the assessment is found to be inaccurate or incomplete, or significant new evidence, regulatory findings, data-protection concerns or safeguarding issues emerge. Schools, procurement bodies, policymakers and other users should therefore consider an EduEvidence certificate alongside their own pedagogical, privacy, security, safeguarding, accessibility and procurement due diligence.

The EduEvidence database provides detailed information for each certified product, including the certification level and category, the date of certification, the research partner, the independent validator, the statement of the College of Reviewers and the evidence considered during the assessment.