3 Key Takeaways
- Data-Driven Decision Making Reduces Bias: Equip curriculum, campus, and finance teams with usage analytics to ground renewals and purchases in evidence, not sentiment.
- Strategic Tool Limitation Enhances Focus and Support: Adopt a 2–5 tool limit per instructional use case, evaluated against HQIM rubrics, to improve coherence, specialist capacity, and measurable impact.
- Compliance Builds Trust When Made Transparent: Publicly share approval criteria, data agreements, and accessibility documentation—and position technology leaders as the “know people”—to foster understanding among staff, families, and vendors.
Districts today are being asked to do more with less, from stretching technology budgets, meeting rising privacy compliance requirements, and ensuring every digital tool supports learning. In our latest Lightspeed Insight webinar, education leaders Carrie Squyres (Northside ISD, San Antonio) and Luke Mund (Denver Public Schools) shared how visibility across their digital ecosystems helps them make smarter, data-driven decisions that keep instruction and security aligned.
The Post-Pandemic App Surge and Its Lasting Impact
The transition to 1:1 devices during the pandemic brought an unprecedented influx of applications. Carrie reflected on the shift: “we had this pot of money that we were able to use and purchased all of these devices and all of the apps and all of the platforms that came along with that.” For Northside ISD and many districts, this rapid expansion created long-term financial pressure, and software renewals must now compete within constrained budgets.
Denver Public Schools encountered a similar challenge. Luke’s team uncovered over 1,000 apps in use, many acquired through small, decentralized purchases. “We had tons of $150 purchases… because the principal didn’t care that it was just $150,” he noted. Annual software spending reached $21 million, underscoring the need for centralized visibility and strategic consolidation.
Visibility as the Foundation for Informed Decisions
Lightspeed Insight provided both districts with a unified view of usage, cost, and compliance. Denver reduced its active app roster from over 1,000 to 400 approved tools. Northside empowered curriculum leaders, principals, and academic deans with campus-level dashboards, moving decisions beyond personal preference. As Carrie observed, “we need to know what’s being used and what’s not being used and not base our decision on feelings and emotions tied to the device… or the apps that we really like to use.”
Financial stewardship followed. Denver saved over $300,000 this year by consolidating school-level licenses into district-wide agreements. Northside is now using device utilization data to evaluate whether 1:1 deployment remains sustainable at every grade level, especially with potential iPad refreshes approaching $33 million.
Compliance: A Driver of Transparency and Trust
State-level mandates have elevated compliance from administrative detail to strategic priority. Texas’s Scope Act and Colorado’s HB21-110 accessibility law require rigorous vendor accountability. Denver publishes all data-protection addendums on its public
Academic Technology Menu (ATM), while Northside displays approval status and rationale for every tool. “Everybody can see what’s been approved, and if something is pending or not approved, they can see why,” Carrie explained.
This transparency extends to vendor negotiations. Both leaders now verify usage claims with real-time data. Luke recently corrected a vendor overstating adoption: “actually in the last 6 months, you only have had about a third of that.” Carrie uses the same insights to guide campus-level interest toward scalable, compliant solutions. She framed the mindset shift clearly: “We’re not just trying to be the ‘no’ people, we’re trying to be the ‘know’ people.”
Connecting Usage to Instructional Outcomes
Data revealed not just what was being used, but how effectively. Northside developed dashboards for blended-learning campuses, enabling high-performing schools to share successful app patterns. Denver aligned digital tools with its high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) framework, limiting choices to 2–5 per use case. “We really want to make sure that it has a value add for Denver instead of just adding something to our ecosystem,” Luke shared.
Specialist support improved as well. With fewer tools, content coaches can more meaningfully assist teachers during classroom rotations. AI adoption patterns also emerged—approved generative tools gain traction earlier in middle school, while high school students often default to unmonitored platforms. This visibility informs targeted training and policy refinement.
Final Thoughts
District leaders like Carrie and Luke are proving that visibility turns complexity into clarity—and data into smarter, more sustainable decisions. If your district is ready to see what’s really happening across its digital ecosystem, request a demo or a free app audit to uncover hidden costs, risks, and opportunities within your current tools.
