School Districts Extensively Use 300+ Apps; Manage Privacy Compliance and Risks Across Thousands

Report by Lightspeed Systems Provides Practical Insight into Technology Use in America’s K-12 School Districts

Austin, TX, September 7, 2022 – Lightspeed Systems, a leading provider of student safety and education efficacy software, released its first EdTech App Report today. The report provides insights into the use of educational technology for the 2021-2022 school year across applications and grade levels.

Top findings from the report are:

• Most districts have more than 2,000 apps in use with 300 accounting for 99% of use.
• Almost all (91%) of the apps students used had changes to their privacy policy. The median number of changes per policy was three.
• The three most used apps, after the Google Workspace suite, are YouTube, Clever, and Kahoot.
• 56% of students are actively engaged in digital learning for more than two hours per day.

• A student engages with a median 72 distinct apps. Students in sixth grade use the most with a median 82 apps.

With this report, K-12 IT leaders can quantify the resources and level of effort required to maintain a cost-effective, modern digital learning ecosystem that ensures district-wide safety and security. District leaders can make more informed decisions about their use of technology, data security procedures, and digital teaching practices.

“Technology opens doors for students but also increases the IT management required by school districts. That is evident in the sheer volume of applications students use and the ever-changing privacy policies of those apps,” says Brook Bock, Chief Product Officer for Lightspeed Systems. “Our job at Lightspeed is to reduce the IT burden so educators and district leaders can confidently and effectively give every student equal access to safe and secure technology-enabled learning.”

The full report includes the top 20 most used applications, number of apps used per student for grades 1-12, recommendations for effective technology management, and more.

About the Edtech App Report

The 2022 Edtech App Report provides K-12 technology leaders with powerful and practical data regarding technology in the modern school district.  The data is compiled from Lightspeed Analytics™- CatchOn Edition, the industry-leading data analytics program that tracks real-time app usage to help districts make data-driven decisions to achieve better education outcomes. Lightspeed data specialists analyzed anonymized data from 108 customer school districts across the United States with enrollments as small as 200 students to enrollments exceeding 200,000. The data represents the 2021-2022 school year, July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.

About Lightspeed Systems^®

With over 20 years of providing technology to meet the needs of schools, Lightspeed Systems® is the market leader in online student safety and effectiveness. The purpose-built Lightspeed ecosystem of cloud-based solutions—tailored to meet today’s evolving challenges—provides schools worldwide with the most effective web filter, student safety monitor, classroom management software, device management tool, and analytics program available. Lightspeed Systems is a proven partner for schools, serving over 20 million students in 39 countries and 28,000 schools globally. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com.