4 Reasons to Pilot a New Edtech Solution During Second Semester

By the second half of the school year, many districts make a shift: from planning around what they expect at the beginning of the year, toward responding to what the data is actually telling them. With clearer priorities, purchasing conversations take shape as leadership teams discuss what to carry forward and whether they should switch to a different solution.

A pilot offers something beyond what a demo or reference call can provide: a chance to see a solution at work inside the district, without committing to a full rollout, so leaders can make informed decisions about next steps. With CoSN’s 2026 State of EdTech report identifying budget constraints and limited resources as the top challenge to technology implementation, that clarity is especially crucial.

Here are four reasons the second semester is a great time to consider a pilot.

1. Edtech Pilots Reduce the Risk of a New Purchase

When budgets are tight, the stakes are higher for edtech decisions. A platform that looks impressive in a demo may not work as intended when it lands in classrooms. A second-semester pilot gives district leaders a chance to see what the solution requires before making a larger investment. 

Rather than relying mainly on product claims about the technology, it allows them to see:

• How educators use it in the classroom, and how students respond
• Whether the data is useful enough to support instructional decisions
• Evidence from their own schools, which can inform next steps 

Montour School District in Pennsylvania used a MajorClarity pilot to evaluate whether one platform could replace several tools that were supporting career planning and related student services. The pilot showed district leaders that the solution could meet those needs while consolidating costs, ultimately saving the district a few thousand dollars before it moved to full implementation.

2. Recent Efficacy Evidence Narrows Down the Options

By second semester, district leaders have access to new efficacy studies, independent research, and prior-year outcome data that wasn’t available when annual plans were set. That evidence can help narrow the options to programs that have already demonstrated measurable results. The pilot becomes less about experimentation and more about determining whether a research-backed solution can produce similar results locally.

The growing body of research around Edmentum's Exact Path is one example. Studies conducted during the 2023–25 school years found positive outcomes across K–10 on Florida’s FAST assessment, giving leaders recent evidence to weigh before deciding whether to pilot the program for targeted intervention, personalized learning, or academic growth in their own schools.

3. A Limited Edtech Rollout Can Reveal Problems Early On

Even the most effective edtech program can fail to deliver great outcomes if it isn’t well implemented. Things like administrative tasks, reporting, scheduling, and teacher support may all be different from what leaders expected, slowing down the overall rollout and diminishing staff morale. A districtwide launch is an expensive way to discover those issues for the first time.

A pilot gives districts room to identify those problems early on and make necessary adjustments and refinements before expanding to a full implementation, while the number of schools and students involved is still manageable.

Floyd County Schools in Georgia took that approach when elementary schools piloted Exact Path in spring 2023 before a broader rollout. Teachers had time to explore the program, ask questions, and become familiar with it before the next school year began. District leaders said the spring pilot helped make the transition easier because educators were already familiar with the platform ahead of the fall implementation.

4. A Pilot Shows Whether an Edtech Solution Truly Fits

Every district has its tried-and-true schedules and systems. A new edtech solution must work within that environment, and a pilot makes that fit much easier to evaluate. It can show district leaders:

• How well the product or solution works with existing routines
• Whether educators can use it without adding unnecessary burden
• Where teachers or students may need additional support
• If the solution can work across different schools and student needs

Fit also depends on how easily a new solution will work with the systems a district already has in place. Features to consider include integrations for single sign-on, automated rostering, LMS connections, gradebook and data exchange, and third-party assessments, which can give districts more flexibility to test a new solution without needing to rebuild their existing technology environment around it.

Turn a Pilot into a Productive Edtech Decision

A pilot should answer questions about whether the solution delivers the results leaders are looking for and how it fits into existing systems, but also what it will take to make it work well at scale. The second semester gives districts time and space to gather those answers and decide how to move forward.

Edmentum offers pilot opportunities across a range of evidence-backed solutions. See what that can look like in your district.