TIME

IBL News | New York

Educational technology companies are capitalizing on rising spending on AI in universities, K-12 schools, and workforce organizations.

TIME, in partnership with data provider Statista, analyzed the top 250 U.S. tech companies influencing education, from early childhood to workforce development.

The rank of these top companies was determined through their financial strength and industry impact.

On this year’s list, the top-ranked company was the language-learning app Duolingo, which has also added math and chess courses in recent years.

In 2025, the company reported 50 million daily active users, grabbing attention with a gamified design
and positively complementing classroom-based language learning.

At no. 2 on the list was Coursera, a free online classroom, which also  offers opportunities for professional development, \

Another study found that workforce readiness-directed certificate programs like Coursera Career Academy can be a more flexible alternative to internships for students with full-time jobs or caregiving responsibilities.

ClassDojo (no. 4), which gamifies classroom management through a point system, has been criticized by some experts due to concerns about surveillance and student privacy. But some studies show that in early education settings, tools like ClassDojo can help first graders become more aware of and change their behaviors, and it can also encourage proactive parent communicationwith teachers and promote interest in a child’s learning progress.

The rising use of AI in edtech (Duolingo, ClassDojo, and Coursera have all added AI features to their platform) adds another layer of questions, as teachers have already expressed concern about the cognitive offloading effect,where over-reliance on technology shortcuts can impair students’ memory, comprehension, and critical thinking. Some experts think the best way to integrate tech into the classroom is for edtech companies to develop tools that focus on training and support for educators. The U.S. Department of Education, meanwhile, published a report that advocates for the development of “inspectable, explainable, overridable AI” that is used to supplement rather than replace educators; and for AI developers to inform and involve educators, always keeping humans in the loop, and focus on equity, trust, and safety of these tools.

See the full list of America’s Top EdTech Companies of 2026 below: