Agenda Item
b. Level One Data Return on Investment Presentation ~ Updated 9.8.2025
Summary: Presented by: Ms. Charlotte May, Level One Data
Ms. Randi Narcomey, Level One Data
Dekalb County Schools
Level Data ROI & Impact Summary
Level Data ROI Impact Summary
Contents
01 Purpose
02 Methodology
04 Keys Findings
04 Recommendations
05 What’s Next
2
Purpose
Why We Did This: Questions We Answered:
• Evaluate effectiveness of our tools • Return on Investment (ROI): Are tools being
used as intended and worth the cost?
• To understand if they’re improving student
learning and achievement • Return on Instruction: Are students growing
more when they consistently engage with
• Ensure strategic use of resources by tools?
connecting cost, usage, and impact
• Return on Impact: Are more students
meeting or exceeding their projected
growth?
3
Methodology
Return on Investment Return on Instruction Return on Impact
We compared student We compared average We compared the
usage of digital tools to NWEA RIT increase percentage of engaged
district spending, based on between engaged users users vs. non-users
whether usage met and non-users of each tool. meeting NWEA MAP
vendor-recommended projected growth.
levels.
We evaluated the 23.24 school year data for the following programs: iStation, iReady, IXL, Accelerated Reader, BrainPOP,
Study Island, ALEKS, Achieve 3000, Into Math, Into Science, STEMScopes, Progress Learning, DeltaMath, Prodigy,
CengageNOW, and Waggle. This presentation includes finding from platforms with the most valuable insights from this list.
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Measuring Utilization
Student usage is measured by looking at whether students used a platform with fidelity, meaning they
engaged consistently at the level the vendor recommends to achieve growth.
• For example, iReady recommends students use the platform 45 minutes per week. Only students who meet
that threshold are counted as “engaged users”.
Vendor Recommended Usage
iReady 45 minutes per week
iStation 40 minutes per week
Into Math 2 activities per week
Accelerated Reader 2 activities per week
IXL 60 Questions per week
5
Key Findings – Return on Investment
Out of $3.96M, Level Data helped identify $3.4M in resources that can be better aligned to our students'
needs moving forward.
Platform Cost vs Utilization
$800,000 100%
$700,000 90%
80%
$600,000
70%
$500,000 60%
$400,000 50%
$300,000 40%
30%
$200,000
20%
$100,000 10%
$- 0%
*Only students who consistently
met usage expectations were
Cost Utlization counted as engaged users.
• Math: $1.45M available to be reevaluated; <20% of students fully optimized most programs.
• ELA: $1.29M available to be reevaluated; <30% of students fully optimized most programs.
• Science: $625K available to be reevaluated; <6% of students fully optimized most programs.
• Even free tools showed low engagement—indicating implementation, not cost, is the barrier.
This highlights a major opportunity to improve implementation.
6
Key Findings – Return on Instruction
All engaged user groups met or exceeded their grade-band average growth expectations—demonstrating a clear
return on instructional investment.
Note: The expected RIT increase declines as grade levels go up. Each grade has its own benchmark, so we use an average for each grade-level band.
Students who engage with digital programs consistently outperform non-engaged peers by approximately 0.8 to 3.7 RIT points.
• The largest engagement advantage was seen in K–2 Math with Engaged iReady students increasing ~3.7 more points.
• Even small gains matter: In Grades 3–5, engagement still resulted in up to a 1.3-point increase over non-engaged students
in both Math and ELA.
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Key Findings – Return on Impact
When tools are used consistently, they work. This reinforces the importance of usage fidelity.
• Math Programs: Engaged students outperformed non-engaged peers by 7–11 percentage points across all grade bands.
• ELA Programs: Engaged students showed a 10–13 percentage point advantage in meeting projected growth.
• Highest gains can be seen in Grades 3–5 across both Math and ELA.
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Recommendations
Implementation
• Establish a clear implementation plan for intentional usage expectations and keep an
inventory of intended users for each platform.
• Monitor implementation progress with Level Data and track usage and impact through
dashboards.
Evaluation
• Reassess tools with low ROI if usage doesn’t improve.
• Use Level Data ROI insights to guide instructional decisions.
• Reduce platform clutter by eliminating underused or duplicate tools to focus on what matters
most.
System Improvements
• Consolidate licenses to district-level for better tracking.
• Standardize rostering protocols to streamline management.
9
What’s Next?
Track impact across 25+ Empower leaders to Measure results with the Build momentum on
instructional tools to connect teacher full Level Data ROI suite existing successes by
surface timely insights coaching and mentoring which includes reports letting Level Data ROI
that strengthen decision- with Level Data Grow that link instructional handle the heavy
making, ensure program alongside student rigor to student analysis, freeing your
fidelity, and drive outcomes, driving performance, helping team to focus on
sustainable student equitable support and districts validate strategies that directly
growth. targeted actions that investments, such as accelerate student
elevate learning. literacy initiatives. achievement.
“Our goal isn’t just to invest — it’s to invest with purpose.”
10
Thank you!
We look forward to continuing
our conversation ...
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