Common Sense Education has posted a notice on its website stating that the content on its EdTech review pages is no longer being updated, and it will be taking a break from edtech reviews beginning February 2026.
The notice also directs educators to Common Sense EdTech privacy ratings and encourages subscribing to its educator newsletter for updates on classroom tech and media trends.
For many educators and district leaders, Common Sense reviews have been a familiar first stop for quickly gauging classroom fit, usability, and student experience. This shift does not create an immediate emergency, but it does remove educator access to a widely used resource.
Educators are asking the question: “Where do I get a rating now?”
Where To Go For Edtech Ratings and Reviews Now?
A useful alternative for educators looking for ratings and reviews is the EdTech Index. The EdTech Index is a resource from ISTE+ASCD (International Society for Technology in Education and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) designed to help educators compare tools using validation badges from partner organizations such as Common Sense Education.
You can learn how it works in A Comprehensive Guide to Using the EdTech Index.
The EdTech Index is not trying to be a single-star rating destination. Its approach emphasizes validations and badges as indicators across categories that schools routinely weigh when choosing tools.
Ratings vs. Validations
Ratings and reviews summarize experience and opinion. These can surface workflow realities and teacher satisfaction.
Validations and badges are meant to indicate alignment to specific criteria within a defined scope. These can help you narrow options quickly, as long as you remember that a badge signals what was validated, not whether the tool is the right fit for your specific students and setting.
The EdTech Index organizes validation signals using five EdTech Quality Indicators: Safe, Evidence-Based, Inclusive, Usable, and Interoperable. These indicators are a decision framework that can help teams move from “This is popular” to “This meets requirements we can explain and defend.”
How To Use The EdTech Index
The EdTech Index’s guides explain how to interpret quality signals rather than relying on a single score. Here is a practical approach:
- Start with a product page and look for validation badges aligned to the five indicators.
- Filter or narrow your search by the indicator that is non-negotiable for your district, such as safety or accessibility.
- Click through to see who issued a validation and what it covers using the Validations area.
A badge is a strong starting point; it is not the finish line. Even a validated tool can fall short if it does not fit local curriculum, accessibility needs, device realities, or implementation capacity.
What To Do Next
Common Sense Education's pause in edtech reviews removes a familiar shortcut. The good news is you do not have to start from scratch.
Use the EdTech Index as your decision support hub to narrow options. Start by filtering using the five quality indicators. Then open a product page and look for validation badges that match your priorities. When a badge looks relevant, click into the Validations area to confirm what it covers and who issued it.
Once you have a shortlist, compare the remaining tools side by side and choose the one that meets your instructional goals and classroom realities. The value of the Index is speed and clarity. In a few minutes, you can move from a long list of tools to a short list that clears your baseline requirements, then use the Index’s comparisons to make the best choice.
You can also check out Tech & Learning's classroom tools, which are general introductory overviews. These are continually updated, although not vetted to the degree that Common Sense reviews were.
