Karl Rectanus

SVP, K-12 Strategy

Karl is an educator, entrepreneur, and active advisor to policy, innovation, education, and business leaders. He co-founded and led LearnPlatform (one of Fast Company’s 2023 Most Innovative Companies), whose ground-breaking work in measuring edtech impact created a market category and industry standard for evidence. Karl now leads the K-12 strategy for Instructure, which LearnPlatform joined in 2022. Karl is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a James M. Johnston Scholar. He has been named a North Carolina Teaching Fellow, BMW Herbert Quandt Transatlantic Fellow, and Education Policy Fellow. Karl and his family make their home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

More From Karl Rectanus

Jul 17, 2023

Understanding Federal Grant Programs to Help EdTech Providers Build Evidence-Based Solutions

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed just how much educators are routinely being asked to do and the vast complexity of the problems they are tasked with solving. And the depth of these challenges facing educators and their students is being demonstrated with the latest cycle of results from NAEP Long-Term Trend Assessment Results published by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Results from fall of the 2022-23 school year showed declining scores in both reading and mathematics for 13 Read More...

Jul 13, 2022

How LearnPlatform Can Support District Pursuit of TLE Certification

The Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) Seal Program, developed by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) with input from 28 school system leaders across the country is a prestigious achievement for school systems that have implemented “strong, measurable, and publicly available” student data privacy practices. Recipients must show their commitment to high standards with evidence of their student data privacy protections across 25 requirements, categorized across 5 areas: leadership, Read More...

Feb 14, 2023

6 Actions to Modernize Your Learning Environment

These last few years have been a wild ride for education organizations and those who serve them, but one thing has become increasingly clear: doing things the same way as before isn’t going to deliver different results. Educators and administrators need access to relevant information at the right times. Only then can they ensure their digital learning tools are having a positive impact for students and teachers, while being safe, cost-effective and equitable. LearnPlatform by Instructure’s Read More...

Nov 22, 2022

5 Tips for EdTech Providers to Share Research and Evidence Efforts

In edtech, evidence matters. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires federal funds to be used for evidence-based interventions and defines four levels of evidence to meet this requirement and encourage innovation. In response, districts and other education agencies are increasingly demanding a solid evidence base behind the products they choose. Edtech providers are stepping up and engaging in some really rigorous, meaningful research to show the impact their products have on student Read More...

Dec 21, 2022

Make Evidence-Based Edtech Decisions in Your District with LearnPlatform’s ESSA Evidence Badges

Educators know that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires federal funds to be used for evidence-based interventions, but understanding the evidence–what, how recent, and how much of it there is–behind specific products is easier said than done. Applying the four levels of evidence laid out by ESSA to decision-making can feel daunting, especially for administrators and teachers without an academic research background. However, understanding and putting to use the ESSA framework is not Read More...

Aug 19, 2022

3 Reasons Districts Committed to Equity Should Set Up a Free Inventory Dashboard

Across the country schools are restarting, some fully remote, others in-person, and still others in a blend of the two. Regardless of the learning environment, it’s clear that technology will play a significant role in teaching and learning. In fact, our own research shows that the number of edtech tools used on average each month by school districts in the U.S. exploded last spring, from 703 tools per month in 2018-2019 to 1,327 tools per month after schools closed in mid-March. The result Read More...

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