What’s Really Happening Inside Schools Right Now
Lightspeed Systems analyzed anonymized activity across millions of K–12 devices during the 2025–26 school year — and the findings challenge what most district leaders think they know. About screen time. About AI. About where threats are actually coming from. About where budget is going.
This report gives you visibility into what’s really happening across your district’s devices — before assumptions become blind spots, and before blind spots become bigger problems.
Inside the 2026 EdTech App Report:
- Screen Time: How much time students spend on screens isn’t the real question. What they’re doing within that time is — and the answer might just put some parents’ minds at ease.
- AI Readiness: 406 new AI apps appeared across districts last year, most without formal approval. At that rate of proliferation, blanket blocking isn’t a strategy. Smart guardrails are.
- Security: The biggest threat to your network isn’t malware. It’s students — and the scale of filter bypass activity will make you rethink your security posture.
- Privacy Compliance: Districts now manage 2,744 apps, with privacy policies changing up to 4x per year per app. At nearly 8,793 policy changes per district annually, manual oversight isn’t a process. It’s a liability.
- Student Safety: A student at serious risk is identified every 4 minutes. The warning signs show up in everyday searches, chats, and AI conversations — the places most monitoring tools don’t reach.
- ROI: Unused licenses, redundant tools, and untracked spend add up fast. Large districts are losing over $230,000 a year on average. At that scale, visibility isn’t optional.
Download the report. See what’s really happening across your district.
