Because the second largest district within the nation, it’s no small feat to investigate and perceive the wants of Los Angeles Unified College District’s broad spectrum of educators and college students to finest serve their distinctive instructional necessities.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have been in search of methods to make sure worth on the apps we bought,” says David Kooper, Senior Director of Info Expertise at Los Angeles Unified College District. “We wished to verify the apps have been being applied with constancy and whether or not our inner divisions ought to proceed to fund numerous apps based mostly on how typically they have been being utilized in the most effective curiosity of the district.”
For this and different efforts, Kooper, Senior Director of Info Expertise at LAUSD, was not too long ago acknowledged with the Progressive Expertise Director Award on the Tech & Studying Regional Summit in Austin, a part of the Progressive Chief Awards.
Betting On Massive Knowledge
A part of the duty of discovering new tech options is to find out the most effective bang for the funds buck. Validating the funding by means of evidence-based outcomes is right.
“Budgets are made by selections,” says Kooper. “Whereas a part of the funds includes fastened prices like staffing, the opposite facet is discretionary spending. Should you spend money on one space that gives you with the info that you just want, it will doubtlessly prevent cash in one other. It is one factor to purchase a product, it is one other fully totally different factor to determine on the faculty stage and on the district stage whether or not or not these apps are being utilized.”
One other concern in a district as giant and broad as LAUSD is connecting disparate faculties to gather usable info. Kooper broke down silos by equipping 400+ principals and district/faculty leaders with visibility into scholar gadget and app utilization, paired with focused skilled studying to make sure leaders might act on the info. This enabled principals to retire ineffective instruments, maximize investments, and ship extra constant digital studying throughout one of many nation’s largest faculty programs.
Getting access to a software to find out true tech use worth throughout an enormous district utilizing information demonstrated the place cuts may very well be made with out affecting the coed or educator expertise. For this, Kooper relied on perception supplied by Lightspeed Techniques, which proved invaluable.
“You simply have to take a look at it from a large lens to see what the impression is,” Kooper says. “What are you shedding by not investing on this, versus the amount of cash that you just’re spending. It is smart for many districts. Districts additionally achieve the flexibility to barter or renegotiate contracts utilizing this utilization information. I do not know the way a faculty district might operate with out wanting on the operational and structural impression inside their information.”
For LAUSD, financial savings reaped by means of eradicating ineffective instruments and good steering for future purchases greater than compensated for investing within the tech.
The way to Use Knowledge Perception to Inform Skilled Growth Plans
Recommendation from Kooper to different districts seeking to replicate LAUSD’s success:
Take a look at the info. Analyze information on the app, faculty, and district stage to resolve what coaching must happen.
Observe implementation of not simply paid apps, however unpaid apps. Use perception from information as visibility of how typically rising applied sciences reminiscent of AI or engineering-type apps are getting used at faculties.
Ask questions. Are there limitations to the expertise implementation? Is it as a consequence of a scarcity of coaching? Is it due to a scarcity of route? Is another issue limiting the publicity to a selected app or to a selected expertise?
Extrapolate which means from the info. Ask why would one faculty be using an app or expertise, whereas it’s being underrepresented at one other faculty. It provides perception which may result in comply with up and focused PD on the faculty stage.
The Proper Tech Helps in Occasions of Want
Southern California faces added challenges as a consequence of excessive climate and pure disasters. When wildfires compelled faculty closures at Eaton and Palisades, Kooper created school-site teams to trace scholar engagement and entry in actual time.
“We measured utilization information among the many impacted college students to determine who was logging in and who doubtlessly was utilizing key apps we use in our faculty district for supply of instruction,” he says. “It informed the story of the place folks have been and their means to begin accessing studying instruments. It gave some perception when it comes to college students getting again to a way of normalcy based mostly on their means to log in, entry the curriculum and get the assist they wanted. It additionally gave us one extra software to take a look at the impression that expertise performs on instruction.”
By surfacing variations in gadget and software use throughout campuses, Kooper ensured equitable digital studying continued regardless of the disruption — demonstrating how innovation by means of information use can instantly assist college students in moments of disaster.
Greater Builds A Higher Product
Because the second largest district within the nation, LAUSD gives a broad and various alternative for focus teams. Kooper constantly drives Ok–12 innovation by piloting rising applied sciences and constructing partnerships that form the way forward for instructional expertise.
“We prefer to suppose we take care of companions, not simply distributors,” he says. “Every part we do is at scale, with all of the functionalities that make an implementation tougher for a bigger faculty district. Firms want to know beforehand how their programs are going to be impacted by the variety of customers now we have.”
That large array of person expertise is an asset. Kooper brings a collaborative strategy — making certain principals, academics, and IT leaders are included in testing and suggestions. This inclusive course of has accelerated adoption, lowered resistance to alter, and given districts confidence that new instruments will translate to raised studying experiences for college kids.
“We wish folks to have the ability to see working with LAUSD as a bonus,” he says. “They may have a canned product that works effectively for 60 or 70% of the folks. We’ll assist them create a product that may very well be utilized in methods they might not even be anticipating. The publicity is grander, with plenty of customers, so we are inclined to see issues a bit of bit sooner than other people.”
Past expertise pilots and roll-outs, Kooper’s applications in enterprise intelligence, gadget administration, software effectiveness, and community safety have supplied nationwide fashions for protected, scalable, and impactful edtech adoption. Care is at all times put into new additions to this system.
“We now have to actually suppose out of the field and suppose issues by means of 100% earlier than implementation to keep away from rolling the cube on impression for any person’s expertise,” he says.
In 2025, Kooper led LAUSD’s first districtwide display time evaluation, equipping leaders with information that instantly knowledgeable faculty board selections and mum or dad engagement. This mix of coverage management, disaster response, and neighborhood trust-building highlights how Kooper’s work extends past lecture rooms to form districtwide tradition.
By sharing clear, clear tendencies, Kooper strengthened belief between faculties, households, and the neighborhood, whereas setting a precedent for evidence-based coverage.
Procurement of Digital Options (PoDS)
PoDS is the system LAUSD makes use of to evaluate and approve all digital instruments, apps, and on-line providers earlier than they’re utilized in lecture rooms or places of work.
Why is PoDS essential?
- Protects scholar and workers info. Many apps gather private information. PoDS ensures distributors deal with this info safely and legally.
- Retains our community safe. One unsafe app might put a whole system in danger. PoDS prevents that.
- Ensures high quality and compliance. PoDS checks that instruments meet District requirements, align with instructing objectives, and work inside current programs.
- Applies to all merchandise. Free, paid, tutorial, or administrative. Whether it is digital, it goes by means of PoDS.
- Lightspeed Techniques
- Mind Pop
- Discovery Schooling
- Dreambox
- EdPuzzle
- IXL
- Kami
- Labster
- Nearpod
- Newsela
- Studying Horizon
- Renaissance
- Rosetta Stone
- Seesaw
- Shmoop
- SmartMusic
- Soundtrap
- ST Math
- Zearn
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