EdTech Award Finalist
Xello Recognized as Finalist in Two Categories at the Prestigious 2026 EdTech CODiE Awards
Xello, a Toronto-based K–12 career and college readiness platform, has been named a finalist in two categories at the 2026 SIIA CODiE Awards: Best CTE Solution and Best College Readiness Solution. Business Wire reported the announcement on June 23, 2026. The CODiE Awards are often called the "Oscars of EdTech" and are now in their 40th year.
CEO and Co-founder Matt McQuillen called it "a tremendous honor" and said the nominations "reflect the dedication of our team and the trust that school districts place in Xello." Winners will be announced on July 15, 2026.
Two Finalist Spots at EdTech's Biggest Awards Show
The CODiE Awards, run by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), put every product through a tough review process. From April 13 to June 5, independent experts, educators, and business leaders ran live demos and scored each product. Xello cleared that first round in both the CTE and College Readiness categories, according to CODiE Awards.
Xello faces stiff competition. In the Best CTE Solution category, it goes up against Edmentum, eDynamic Learning, and Savvas Learning Company, per the CODiE Awards finalist list. A second round of community review and voting runs through July 3 before winners are named.
A Month of Wins Heading Into CODiE Finals
The CODiE nod is not Xello's first win this month. On June 10, 2026, Business Wire reported that Xello won "Overall College Prep Solution of the Year" at the EdTech Breakthrough Awards. Steve Johansson, Managing Director of EdTech Breakthrough, called Xello a "complete college planning ecosystem" that works directly with tools like the Common App.
The platform currently serves more than 20,000 institutions across North America, according to Business Wire. It connects students to roughly 95% of colleges through integrations with the Common App and Parchment. Xello has also been selected as the statewide platform in both Wisconsin and Florida.
What Xello Does — and Why States Are Buying In
Xello started in 1995 as Career Cruising and rebranded in 2017. It has since grown into a full "future-readiness" platform. Students use it to explore careers, build personalized plans, and complete financial literacy simulations. Its estimated annual cost runs from $4 to $8 per student — cheaper than chief rival Naviance, which costs $5 to $12, per EdTech Breakthrough.
The platform's growth comes as federal Perkins V funding — about $1.4 billion a year for career and technical education — is being debated between the Department of Education and the Department of Labor, according to Advance CTE. Xello's dual nominations in both college and CTE categories position it as a bridge between those two funding worlds.
Strong Data, But a Gap Between Tech and Classroom Reality
Xello's own 2026–27 State of CCR Report found that 94% of educators rate their career readiness efforts as "Good" or "Excellent." About 82% of school districts now feel comfortable using AI tools for career planning. Educators describe "Xello days" as a student favorite, per user reviews cited by Business Wire.
But Xello's research also flags a "critical timing gap." Most career readiness programs still peak in grades 11 and 12, even though the platform is built for earlier use. Some students on platforms like G2 call parts of the coursework "painfully common sense and monotonous," suggesting the software is moving faster than how schools are using it.
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