Evaluating K12 apps featured

Evaluating K-12 School District Apps for Budget Planning

Budget for your school district's apps using Lightspeed Digital Insight

As school budget planning for the 2023-24 school year is underway, IT and curriculum leaders are evaluating their district’s current school apps and resources to determine which apps to keep and which to replace with new ones. With so many educational apps available, it can be hard to know which ones to choose. To help make the decision-making process easier, this review features data pulled from 108 customer school districts as determined by Lightspeed Digital Insight.

When evaluating and budgeting for your school district’s apps list, leaders should consider the following: adoption, price (free vs subscription), features, redundancies, and privacy policy data collection. These categories are crucial to ensuring every dollar is used efficiently and effectively—and safely.

What does Lightspeed’s Top 20 K-12 Apps list reveal?

  • Adoption: Google Workspace is the most popular suite followed by YouTube, Clever, and Kahoot.
  • Price: Most of the apps offer both free and paid versions, ~50% only offer free versions, and only two require subscriptions.
  • Features: Most apps and sites offer features like game-based learning, video lessons, and virtual tutoring. Basic features are provided by free versions, with more extensive features unlocked by paid subscriptions.
  • Redundancies: There are several similarities across apps.
    • Curriculum apps: Nearpod, Pear Deck, Khan Academy, ABCya
    • Productivity apps: Google Workspace, Microsoft Suite
    • Research apps: Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica
    • Quiz apps: Kahoot, Quizizz, Quizlet

These are all very important considerations with your trying to trim the budget for your school district’s apps.

Privacy Data Collection: Nearly all (91%) of apps had at least one privacy policy change. Many had three changes to their policies.

While this is evaluation is focused on the top 20 most used apps across Lightspeed client districts, it’s important to note that Lightspeed Digital Insight data revealed most districts actually use 2,000 apps in total, with 300 of them used 99% of the time, and 1,700 additional apps used at least once. This data indicates that while a number of apps are well-known, there are still many more being used across the district, and given the infrequency of their use, may not be well-known by district leaders. It also provides valuable insight into app usage in educational districts and can be used to better inform decisions about which apps should be adopted and implemented, let alone how to budget for your apps. Download the full Edtech App Report to see emerging trends impacting app usage in K-12 and learn what it may mean for your district.

5 Steps To Reviewing Your Digital Learning Ecosystem and Preparing Your 2023-2024 Budget: Download Now