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District begins districtwide 'educational return on instruction' analysis using Glimpse platform
Summary
District staff and vendor Glimpse presented year-one educational return on instruction (EROI) findings for core and supplemental instructional subscriptions, highlighting utilization measures, user-segment growth and next steps for using data in budgeting decisions.
Lee County school leaders told the board on March 4 they are piloting a new approach to evaluate instructional subscriptions and vendor products by measuring educational return on instruction, or EROI.
Executive director Sarah Cox and director of financial services Danielle Jensen introduced Glimpse, a third‑party analytics partner the district hired to link usage, student progress-monitoring scores and product cost. Chief Academic Officer Nathan Shaker and Lita Deeds Smith described how the platform classifies students as full, partial or nonusers based on vendor fidelity recommendations and then calculates EROI by comparing user growth on district assessments.
Glimpse analysis presented three examples from 2023–24: a K–8 ELA core product (about $1.3 million allocated) showed 51% of students meeting a vendor’s fidelity threshold (45 minutes per week) and an EROI near 36%; a K–8 core math product had a nearly 35% EROI with fidelity users averaging larger gains than nonusers; and a supplemental middle-school math product produced a similar EROI but smaller net gains and suggested further evaluation of license counts and targeted audiences.
Presenters emphasized caution about treating a single-year benchmark as definitive. "There really isn't a benchmark. We're looking to see right now what this data is showing us, how we can best analyze it, and how we use that information to make the appropriate decisions moving forward," said Deeds Smith. Superintendent Denise Carlin said the analysis gives leaders "a real peek" into which tools appear to be adding value.
Board members asked whether fidelity targets (for example, 45 minutes per week) are mandatory for schools, how responsibility for achieving usage is assigned, and whether results can be broken down by region, school, teacher or subgroup. Staff said Glimpse can drill to teacher and student level and that cabinet members are developing plans to increase fidelity where a program shows positive return. The district also plans to compare similar products, evaluate cohorts over multiple years, and link professional learning to product outcomes before making budget commitments.
No board vote was taken; staff said findings will inform next year’s budget-building and contract decisions and that continuation of subscriptions would require incorporation in future budgets.
