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With a network of over 105 schools across 25 countries and 92,500 students, International Schools Partnership (ISP) offers world-class education. Technology plays a significant role in this ambition. This is best showcased through their LabSchools initiative, a bold experiment in educational innovation, through which they ensure the tools used by ISP network teachers and students have a clear purpose, are aligned with their educational pillars, and deliver measurable impact.
EDT&Partners played a pivotal role in making this mission a reality and paving the way for international collaboration. Together, we developed a framework for responsible, research-informed EdTech implementation tailored to a complex and global education network.
Dan Williams, Head of LabSchools, shares how ISP and EDT&Partners transformed thoughtful experimentation into tangible results, setting a new benchmark for how schools worldwide can utilize evidence-based technology for teaching and learning.
From EdTech Fragmentation to Strategic Innovation
Dan Williams: When I joined ISP, we were already a rapidly expanding group. We now have more than 100 schools worldwide, but only 84 when I first joined the team. That pace of growth brought immense opportunity but also complexity, especially in EdTech.
A few years back, we conducted a survey across all our schools and discovered something striking: there were around 700 EdTech tools in use, yet very little understanding of why they were being used or what impact they were having. Essentially, we had an abundance of technology, but not enough strategy.
That insight became the catalyst for the LabSchools, a diverse group of ten schools selected to form an evidence base for EdTech within ISP. These schools represented a broad spectrum of readiness, with some fully equipped with one-to-one iPad programs and others relying on limited computer lab setups. What united them was a shared goal: to explore the real impact of technology on learning.
In essence, our biggest challenge wasn’t the lack of technology; it was ensuring that technology truly served the learning process. With EDT&Partners, we began turning that challenge into an opportunity for systemic innovation across ISP’s global network.
Creating an Evidence-Driven Framework for Innovation
Dan Williams: EDT&Partners stepped in to support ISP in advancing and scaling its EdTech innovation strategy through strategic advisory, alignment of implementation, and communication guidance for sustainable, coherent delivery across our global network of schools.
EDT&Partners provided much-needed guidance on shaping our EdTech portfolio, identifying tools that aligned with our priorities, and even introducing a helpful distinction between “brick” (teaching and learning) and “mortar” (infrastructure and integration) companies. This framework helped us make far more informed choices about the technologies we invest in.
The new strategy is aligned directly with ISP’s five pillars: academic achievement, life competencies, future pathways, multilingualism, and well-being. Each school began by identifying its most pressing needs, which we then distilled into “problem statements”.
That’s where our collaboration became so pivotal. EDT&Partners’ priority was to curate and evaluate potential EdTech partners against these problem statements. They took on the heavy lifting: vetting suppliers, assessing alignment with our goals, and ensuring every recommended solution addressed a genuine learning challenge. This process was transformative, significantly reducing our internal workload and enabling us to focus on what mattered most.
Thinking Globally, Implementing Locally
Dan Williams: EDT&Partners also brought something else we couldn’t have built alone: a global network of education leaders. Their team connected us with senior advisors and experts who served as an extended leadership team, offering guidance on everything from strategy to implementation.
Before partnering with EDT&Partners, most of the EdTech tools we were familiar with came from the UK or US ecosystems. What we lacked was a clear understanding of the broader international landscape and the innovative solutions emerging beyond those markets.
Having experts like Josep M. Mas, VP of Consulting, with deep experience across Asia, and Laurie Forcier, VP of Strategy, whose background spans multiple global education systems, was incredibly valuable.
They helped us understand how different regions approach innovation, what challenges they prioritize, and how those learnings can inform our own strategy at ISP. In many ways, EDT&Partners helped us think more globally about local implementation, which is essential for a network as diverse as ours.
Turning Evidence into Measurable Impact
Dan Williams: Our partnership with EDT&Partners has led to measurable progress for students, teachers, and the organization as a whole. One of the clearest successes came from the Lab Schools’ pilot program, in which six of eight EdTech tools tested proved successful. This success rate alone demonstrated the strength of EDT&Partners' selection and evaluation process. For example, we adopted a personalized learning tool in English and Maths. Students on the personalized pathway progressed at twice the rate of those who didn’t. Additionally, teachers observed that 30–40% more learners exceeded their targets in English and Maths when the platform was actively used in classrooms.
Beyond student outcomes, the tool has improved teacher workflow and instruction. It supports lesson planning and homework assignments, helping teachers set clear, skill-based goals for students. This not only reinforces class learning but also helps teachers monitor student progress more efficiently, freeing time for individual feedback and support.
For ISP, EDT&Partners' strategic advisory means we are now more confident in our EdTech and AI-related decisions, and there’s clarity around vendor selection. Overall, we have a coherent innovation strategy.
Designing Meaningful Education Ecosystems
Dan Williams: One aspect of the collaboration that I’ve particularly valued is how EDT&Partners has helped create a sense of true partnership across our entire ecosystem. Their work is all about building a cohesive story that connects our schools, our teams, and the suppliers we work with.
EDT&Partners has been instrumental in bringing our EdTech partners into the conversation, inviting several of them to participate in panel discussions and public forums alongside ISP. This has allowed us to present our innovation journey as a collaborative effort, rather than a transactional one. I really appreciate how EDT&Partners has elevated some of our smaller, emerging suppliers, providing them with a platform to share their work both regionally and globally.
In the same vein, perhaps one of the most significant results is cultural: we’ve built a stronger sense of collaboration and purpose across the ISP network. As we look to the future, we recognize that scaling innovation across a complex global network of 100+ schools requires thoughtful change management. EDT&Partners is already positioned to support us on the next step: helping ensure that what we learn in our LabSchools translates into meaningful, system-wide transformation.
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