In 2024, AI continues to be a key driver of innovation in the edtech space. Ello, for example, is betting that an AI-powered reading coach can help improve childhood literacy rates; the startup recently launched a more affordable, digital-only iteration of its product, along with a vast catalog of e-books. Looking at the year ahead, Patterson believes the overall decline in student engagement—an issue that was laid bare by the pandemic—will be one of the most crucial challenges for the industry going forward. “The student engagement problem is not a biological problem,” he says. “It’s a content and modality problem relative to where our current generation is at.”
