September 3, 2025 | By Candice Benge Steele and Ela Joshi
Across the education field, we often hear the call for evidence. Developers are encouraged to demonstrate impact through rigorous research. Funders prioritize effectiveness. Policymakers seek proven solutions.
But when it comes to adoption, evidence alone isn’t what moves a product off the shelf and into classrooms.
Through surveys and interviews with school and district decision-makers conducted as part of the LEARN Network’s research, a more complex picture emerged.
On surveys, while the majority of school leaders (83%) agreed that their school or district prioritizes research and evidence in decision-making, fewer than a quarter said that research-based sources, such as evidence repositories (20%) or research conducted by program developers (13%), were “highly influential” sources of information in the decision to procure a product.
Instead, most school leaders selected recommendations from others in the district, such as education leaders (55%) and other end users (49%), as a highly influential source. Furthermore, interviewees discussed evaluating products through the lens of local priorities and ease of implementation.
To make sense of these dynamics, we turned to a key component of SRI’s Invent-Apply-Transition (I-A-T) framework: the PRCC lens (performance, reliability, convenience, and cost). We also note an additional factor affecting decisions: delight.
Design Factors That Drive Adoption: PRCC + Delight
To help make sense of how schools and districts weigh products during procurement, we use the PRCC lens—an approach introduced through the I-A-T framework developed by SRI. PRCC stands for performance, reliability, convenience, and cost. These four factors outline some of the practical considerations decision-makers think about when evaluating a product.
Our conversations with marketing, commercialization, and education implementation experts have suggested adding a fifth factor to PRCC, delight. This refers to the emotional response to a product, or those moments of joy or surprise that spark enthusiasm and loyalty. Together, these five elements offer a more complete picture of how procurement decisions are made.
Performance
While many developers think about performance in terms of long-term impact or rigorous research findings, decision-makers tend to focus on whether the product aligns with their local goals and priorities. That may mean demonstrating improvement on a particular student assessment, offering support in priority content areas, or providing support for specific student populations.
As one district STEM director explained, “Does it have a Spanish option? If it doesn’t, that’s a no for us.”
Products are also evaluated based on whether they will be effective in meeting state priorities, not just district ones. For example, every state must identify long-term goals and interim progress measures as a part of their ESSA plan. Evidence of effectiveness aligned to those goals and measures can carry considerable weight.
Reliability
For many leaders, an indicator of product reliability is strong uptake in a district with similar demographics or context. One interviewee said that they would check if another district had done a formal program analysis, but often it was just about whether or not a product was being used.
The desire to see a product succeed in comparable districts came up frequently in our interviews. Peer recommendations, pilot programs, and visible use in similar contexts were all informal indicators of reliability.
Offering a pilot can be a particularly powerful way for developers to build trust in reliability. Pilots give districts the opportunity to test the product in their own environment and build confidence in how it performs.
Convenience
School systems face many demands, including the demands on staff time and the availability of resources. Even the most promising product may be passed over if it requires extensive training, disrupts established workflows, or isn’t compatible with existing systems.
A third of interviewees named ease of use and feasibility of implementation as their top considerations, especially in schools with newer teachers or limited capacity.
One principal shared that they think about “how quickly can we turnkey this thing to get it in front of kids to where it’s actually functional and effective?” This includes how much professional development is needed, how intuitive the product is, and how well it fits into existing workflows and systems.
Cost
Cost is always a factor in procurement decisions, but it goes beyond just the sticker price. District leaders also consider the costs associated with professional learning, integration, and approval processes.
For example, if a product isn’t on a state’s or district’s pre-approved list, it may require an extra layer of vetting or justification, adding to the time and resources required to adopt the product. Similarly, products that demand intensive training or ongoing technical support may ultimately be more costly, even if the purchase price is low.
Delight
Delight sits at the intersection of joy and surprise, inspiring people to feel seen, understood, or unexpectedly supported. Drawing on work from McKinsey & Company and former SRI President Manish Kothari, we’ve seen that delight can unlock strong emotional connections, build loyalty, and even overcome minor shortcomings.
In educational procurement, examples of “delight” in a product may look like:
- A tool that detects when a teacher is using the same lesson materials across multiple classes and offers to tailor them based on what it knows about students in each class
- A learning platform that lets students use custom avatars wearing their school mascot gear
These kinds of features bring delight because they go beyond utility; they signal that the developer understands educators’ and students’ daily realities and has taken steps to create an engaging experience.
They offer small moments of affirmation, showing care for the user not just as a teacher or student, but as a person.
Delight can also drive users to recommend the product. When educators experience moments of delight, they’re more likely to share the product with others—not just because it works, but because it feels good to use.
What Developers Can Do: Strategies That Support Scale
To build products that gain traction, developers need to go beyond evidence of effectiveness. They must design with the realities of schools and districts in mind, and they must think early about how their tools will be experienced – not just used.
Here are six ways to get started:
1. Prioritize Convenience
- Offer seamless integration with commonly used learning management systems (e.g., Canvas, Google Classroom).
- Consider training time and ways to make it efficient and accessible, especially for new educators.
2. Align to Local Priorities
- Show how the product maps to state standards or district goals.
- Design with regard to different populations and context. Support multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and hybrid or offline contexts.
3. Create Moments of Delight
- Identify small interactions that spark joy or save time.
- Honor the expertise and experience of educators.
4. Share Implementation Evidence
- Highlight examples from similar schools and contexts.
- Provide data on usability, training time, and renewal rates.
5. Build Relationships, Not Just Features
- Engage members of the education community early in the development process.
- Identify champions in the education system who can advocate from within.
6. Design for Cost Flexibility
- Offer tiered pricing or modular packages that work for districts of varying sizes and budgets.
- Consider pricing models that reduce upfront costs or incentivize longer-term adoption.
Explore the LEARN to Scale Toolkit
Whether you’re refining a prototype or preparing for scale, the LEARN to Scale Toolkit offers practical resources to support your journey.This living resource includes:
- Templates for PRCC analysis and stakeholder mapping
- Tools for market alignment and pilot planning
- Video modules and real-world examples
We invite you to explore the toolkit, try out the resources, and share what you learn. Scaling takes more than good ideas—it takes insight, empathy, and yes, a little delight.