The National Engineering Research Center is committed to researching strategies for advancing educational informatization, developing evaluation indicators, conducting status assessments, analyzing policies, and providing decision-making support. It continuously undertakes strategic, foundational, and forward-looking studies to supply scientific evidence and policy recommendations at the national level.

Using educational informatization as a comprehensive means to modernize education is a key strategic priority in China’s education reform and development. Serving as the foundation for improving national digital literacy, informatization in basic education has made significant breakthroughs since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Key indicators have generally doubled, with widespread internet access and multimedia classrooms now common in primary and secondary schools nationwide, alongside substantial growth in online learning spaces for teachers and students. However, challenges remain: resource utilization is still relatively low, the effectiveness of technology integration in teaching and learning is uneven, and available resources are not yet fully optimized.

To better realize the goal of advancing education modernization through informatization and meet the objectives of “more balanced education, more refined management, and more scientific decision-making,” it is crucial to carry out precise, quantitative evaluations of informatization levels in basic education to support evidence-based decisions. The Ten-Year Development Plan for Educational Informatization (2011–2020) emphasizes “the improvement and development of standardized evaluation indicators for educational informatization,” while the Educational Informatization 2.0 Action Plan calls for “comprehensive supervision, evaluation, and third-party assessments focused on regional educational informatization.” Evaluation has become a vital driver for understanding the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of educational informatization efforts across regions and schools of all levels, thereby promoting its sustained development.