LEARN to Scale Toolkit: Approach

Scaling Educational Products Invent-Apply-Transition

Scaling Educational Products

Defining scale in education.

Achieving scale is the important milestone of widespread reach and use of an educational product.

This toolkit focuses on scaling, or the multifaceted process of achieving widespread, equitable, and sustainable reach and impact. The scaling process for an educational product may include adoption, replication, adaptation, and reinvention1, rather than off-the-shelf implementation. Through scaling evidence-based educational products, we can create a more effective educational experience for all learners.

The graphic below provides working definitions and describes the conditions for the scale and scaling of educational products.

A graphic which provides working definitions and describes the conditions for the scale and scaling of educational products.

Additional Resources Icon

LEARN more

What does it mean to “scale” an educational product? A growing body of research on scaling educational products calls for a more nuanced definition that speaks to the unique context of educational settings. In this blog post, we highlight three promising ideas from this research for thinking about scale in educational contexts.


1 Morel, R. P., Coburn, C., Koehler Catterson, A., & Higgs, J. (2019). The multiple meanings of scale: Implications for researchers and practitioners. Educational Researcher, 48(6), 369–377. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19860531.

» Next: Invent-Apply-Transition