From Student Work to Instruction: Evaluating EdLight in Middle Grade Math

This is a quasi-experimental evaluation of EdLight that takes place at Crowley Independent School District in the 2026-27 school year. EdLight is an AI-powered formative assessment tool for grades 3–12 math that analyzes students' handwritten work — captured via photo or scan — and provides teachers with real-time, learning-trajectory-aligned insights into student reasoning and misconceptions during or after class. It promises to improve math outcomes by helping teachers see and respond to how students are actually thinking, rather than just whether answers are right or wrong, with a particular focus on students with IEPs, ELLs, and students in under-resourced schools. The AI technology uses computer vision and trained models to interpret handwritten student work (including work written in non-English languages), automatically scoring it against a pedagogical framework co-developed with the lead writer of Illustrative Mathematics, and surfacing misconception-level analysis that teachers can review, edit, and act on.