Decatur schools use third‑party data to trim underperforming digital programs; Level Data pilot costs $37,000
Summary
Teaching-and-learning staff told the board they are using a Level Data partnership to connect program costs, usage and assessment results. Early findings prompted reduced spending on some products and a proposal to discontinue Freckle at secondary schools, with estimated savings of about $82,000.
Teaching-and-learning staff told the board they are applying a return‑on‑investment lens to instructional technology and programs, using a third‑party partner to combine costs, usage and student assessment data.
The district said it partnered with Level Data to link licensing and staffing costs with usage from Infinite Campus and assessment outcomes (GMAS, STAR). The vendor’s analysis showed several tools were underused or not producing measurable gains. Staff cited Accelerated Reader as underused and producing little measurable improvement for many students; Discovery Education remains in the toolkit for younger students but its scope has been reduced at the secondary level. Staff said Freckle will be removed from the middle‑ and high‑school ELA and math pathway budget — a change the presentation quantified at about $82,000 in savings.
District staff framed the work as an operational tool to help the board answer the question “what are we buying and is it working?” They said the Level Data contract costs roughly $37,000 per year and is being treated as a capacity‑building, not permanent, purchase. Presenters described the work as iterative: identifying low‑value investments, reallocating funds to higher‑impact instruction and running follow‑up analyses to monitor effects.
Board members pressed staff for details about how the analyses distinguish correlation from causation and asked whether teachers and building teams had sufficient voice in decisions to reduce or remove tools. Staff said the vendor provides usage APIs and matched student‑level outcomes, and that decisions about adoption and fidelity would continue to involve teachers, instructional coaches and school leaders.
The district said the ROI work has already changed budgeting recommendations for the current cycle and will continue to inform the FY26 budget. Staff said some adjustments are reversible and that teams will report back with more granular analyses and with proposals for how any savings will be redeployed.
