We have commissioned EdTech Impact to carry out an independent impact study of Starlight. The anonymous user survey opens on Tuesday 6 October 2026 and closes on Friday 23 October. We want to understand what is working, what is not, and what needs to change.
If you use Starlight, look out for an invitation from hello@edtechimpact.com from 6 October. Your honest feedback matters, whether your experience has been positive, mixed or limited.
Claims are easy. Evidence is harder.
Anyone building AI for schools can make claims about it. Schools are right to ask for evidence, particularly when a product asks teachers for something as personal as a recording of their lesson.
Starlight was built around a single mission: to make high-quality feedback specific, timely, actionable and regular, at scale. We explained why those four words matter in Four words that decide whether feedback works. But a mission is a statement of intent. We need to understand how it translates into teachers’ day-to-day experience.
Why an independent impact study?
We already gather evidence through pilot evaluations, case studies, teacher reflections and conversations with the schools we work with. That evidence has shaped Starlight. But evidence gathered by the company that builds a product has limitations, however carefully it is collected. This study gives users a chance to share their experiences directly with an external research team.
That matters because time is scarce in every school. The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance on effective professional development recognises that professional development has real costs. It needs to be well designed and implemented to justify the time teachers invest. Schools weighing up Starlight deserve evidence to help them make that judgement.
Who are EdTech Impact?
EdTech Impact is an independent review and evidence platform that helps schools and trusts compare education technology using educators’ feedback. Schools can already read reviews on Starlight’s EdTech Impact profile.
This study is a structured survey of Starlight users, designed and analysed by EdTech Impact’s researchers and leading to an independent Evidence Report.
STAR21 commissioned and paid for the study. Survey invitations come from EdTech Impact, responses go directly to EdTech Impact, and their researchers analyse the results and write the report. The survey is anonymous.
How the study was designed
We started by building a logic model: a one-page account of the problem Starlight is designed to solve, how teachers and leaders use it, and the outcomes we would expect if it is working. We used the Chartered College of Teaching’s EdTech Logic Model Builder to give that thinking a clear structure.
EdTech Impact’s researcher then turned the logic model into a survey. It asks about the steps between receiving feedback and using it in practice, rather than simply whether people like Starlight.
What we want to learn
Teachers will be asked how specific, timely and useful they find the feedback, whether it is worth the time it takes, and what, if anything, they now do differently. Coaches, Starlight leads and senior leaders will also be asked about implementation and the anonymised, school-level insight Starlight provides.
We also want to hear from people who tried Starlight and stopped, or had an account but never really got started. The survey has questions for you too. Understanding the barriers matters just as much as understanding what works well.
The report will capture users’ experiences and the changes they report. A survey cannot, on its own, establish that Starlight caused improvements in teaching or pupil outcomes. It can help us understand its usefulness in practice and identify questions for further research.
Honest feedback, including the critical parts
Please answer from your own experience. If the feedback missed something important, felt like too much, or was not worth the time it took, please say so. If something helped, we want to understand that too.
Teachers have shaped Starlight from the beginning. The report controls described in Your feedback, your way are one example of changes informed by what teachers told us. This study gives users another way to influence what we build next, through an independent research team.
What happens next
The survey closes on Friday 23 October 2026. EdTech Impact will then analyse the responses and produce the Evidence Report, which we expect later this autumn.
We plan to share the findings with our schools and here on the blog, alongside the actions we intend to take in response. For schools and trusts considering Starlight, the report will offer an independent account of what participating users say it does for them, and where it falls short.
How to take part
Look out for an email from hello@edtechimpact.com from Tuesday 6 October, and check your junk folder if it does not arrive. Follow the survey link in your invitation and respond by Friday 23 October.
The survey is anonymous, and we welcome positive, mixed and critical feedback. Thank you for giving some of your time to help us improve Starlight and help other schools make informed decisions.
