Lightspeed Systems https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/ The #1 Solutions Platform for Schools Wed, 24 Jan 2024 18:39:45 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.3 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-Untitled-design-70x70.png Lightspeed Systems https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/ 32 32 Managing Distractions in Digital  Learning Environments  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/ebook/managing-distractions-digital-learning-environments/ Wed, 24 Jan 2024 17:39:12 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=16136 The “Managing Distractions in Digital Learning Environments” guide outlines practical strategies for minimizing classroom distractions, maintaining student attention, and enhancing the learning experience.

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Managing distractions eBook cover

The perennial challenge teachers face is keeping students engaged and focused in a technology-rich educational environment.

Download your copy of Managing Distractions in Digital Learning Environments to unlock strategies for minimizing classroom distractions, maintaining student attention, and enhancing the learning experience.

By implementing these practical solutions, you can keep your students on track with their learning objectives.

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Lightspeed Alert™ Adds Spanish Capabilities and Expanded Categories to Enable Districts to Better Serve Communities  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-alert-adds-spanish-capabilities-expanded-categories-enable-districts-better-serve-communities/ https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-alert-adds-spanish-capabilities-expanded-categories-enable-districts-better-serve-communities/#respond Thu, 11 Jan 2024 15:30:00 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=16121 Dedicated Categories for Drugs and Weapons Allow More Control on Review and Escalation of Alerts  AUSTIN, Texas—January 11, 2024—Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced today the introduction of Spanish language alerting capabilities and additional weapons and drugs categories to Lightspeed Alert™, enabling districts to better identify students...

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Dedicated Categories for Drugs and Weapons Allow More Control on Review and Escalation of Alerts 

AUSTIN, Texas—January 11, 2024Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced today the introduction of Spanish language alerting capabilities and additional weapons and drugs categories to Lightspeed Alert™, enabling districts to better identify students in crisis, empowering early intervention and more effective support.  

“The expanded language capabilities of Lightspeed Alert, trained in the native language, are another step forward for districts to proactively protect student well-being,” said Brook McShane Bock, Chief Product Officer for Lightspeed Systems. “Lightspeed Alert’s models are trained in Spanish, so they understand the context, nature of the text, and its meaning, rather than relying on a translated version of it and then making an assessment. Therefore, it allows for early and accurate identification of more at-risk students and empowers school districts to proactively intervene before situations become more critical.” 

Lightspeed Alert Evaluates Early Warning Signs and Identifies At-Risk Students 

Lightspeed Alert monitors and analyzes online activity for signals of potential self-harm, bullying, and violence, allowing for the proactive identification of at-risk students. “As students increasingly confide in and interact through school-issued devices, Lightspeed Alert identifies early warning signs, helping school staff identify students in need of support, who might otherwise go unseen or unheard,” added Bock.  

Lightspeed Alert provides the most comprehensive coverage in the market, and powerful machine-learning algorithms classify flagged interactions as either a Low, Medium, or High concern. School district administrators establish which level alerts they would like to monitor, including Self-Harm, Violence, Bullying, Explicit and now, Drugs and Weapons. 

Notifications escalated to administrators include relevant context with recent web searches and site history, enabling staff to quickly understand the situation and take appropriate action. Additionally, with Lightspeed Alert, 24x7x365 review of urgent situations by a highly trained, in-house team of experienced safety professionals augments district resources. All Spanish alerts are translated in the product for review by safety specialists.  

“By empowering staff to focus their limited resources on early intervention, Lightspeed Alert enables schools to take a proactive approach to student safety,” continued Bock. “As Spanish is the native first language for fifteen percent of K-12 students in the United States, Lightspeed Alert now expands its protective features, and the new Weapon and Drug categories provide more granular data to the student support staff at school districts, allowing them to easier prioritize and proactively respond.” 

For more information on Lightspeed Alert, please visit https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/products/lightspeed-alert/.  

About Lightspeed Systems  

Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com.   

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Media Contact: 

Ray Hartjen 

Lightspeed Systems 

rhartjen@lightspeedsystems.com 

(512) 439-3995 

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Brook McShane Bock Named Among the Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS of 2023 by The Software Report  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/brook-mcshane-bock-top-50-women-leaders-in-saas-2023-the-software-report/ https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/brook-mcshane-bock-top-50-women-leaders-in-saas-2023-the-software-report/#respond Mon, 08 Jan 2024 17:45:53 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=16112 AUSTIN, Texas—January 8, 2024—Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, proudly announced today that its Chief Product Officer, Brook McShane Bock, was selected as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS by The Software Report, a comprehensive source for market research and insights, business news, investment activity...

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AUSTIN, Texas—January 8, 2024—Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, proudly announced today that its Chief Product Officer, Brook McShane Bock, was selected as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS by The Software Report, a comprehensive source for market research and insights, business news, investment activity and corporate actions related to the software sector. 

The Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS list annually spotlights individuals based on their exceptional leadership, distinguished career record of accomplishment, and measurable impact on the SaaS industry. The Software Report identified its honorees by conducting a comprehensive review of SaaS companies across multiple solution categories, including edtech, cloud management, data analytics, human capital management, cybersecurity, e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM), and more.  

“It’s a tremendous honor to be named among the Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS in 2023 by The Software Report,” said Bock. “It is important that more women rise into technology leadership positions, and I am incredibly grateful that Lightspeed Systems has focused a lot of effort on ensuring we have optimized our leadership team to truly succeed in helping K-12 school districts ensure a safe, secure, and equitable educational environment. While this honor names me, personally, it is a true reflection of the talent we have developed at Lightspeed Systems. We are a team of people who want to solve problems for our clients. We strive to listen, innovate, and constantly improve. That is the ethos that marks the company’s leadership position in education technology.” 

About Lightspeed Systems  

Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com.   

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Media Contact: 

Ray Hartjen 

Lightspeed Systems 

rhartjen@lightspeedsystems.com 

(512) 439-3995 

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Lightspeed Systems® Selected for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Health Equity Initiative  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-selected-for-amazon-web-services-aws-health-equity-initiative/ https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-selected-for-amazon-web-services-aws-health-equity-initiative/#respond Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:05:00 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=16059 Lightspeed Systems to Receive Computing Credits and Technical Expertise for Advancing Equitable Mental Health, Wellness, and Education for Underserved Student Populations  Austin, Texas—November 27, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced that it has been selected as part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Health Equity Initiative,...

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Lightspeed Systems to Receive Computing Credits and Technical Expertise for Advancing Equitable Mental Health, Wellness, and Education for Underserved Student Populations 

Austin, Texas—November 27, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced that it has been selected as part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Health Equity Initiative, a $40 million, three-year commitment, supporting organizations developing solutions to advance health equity.  

Through the initiative, AWS offers AWS credits and customized technical expertise to selected organizations around the world that want to use AWS services to improve health outcomes and health equity in any of the following areas: 1) increasing access to health services for underserved communities; 2) addressing social determinants of health; 3) leveraging data to promote more equitable and inclusive systems of care; and 4) advancing equity in diagnostics and screening. 

“We are excited to collaborate with AWS to further enhance Lightspeed’s Safety & Wellness solution, enabling K-12 school districts to proactively identify students in crisis, and creating opportunities for early intervention and support, which research shows can improve health outcomes for kids,” said Brook Bock, Chief Product Officer at Lightspeed Systems. “Combining online activity monitoring and risk analysis with 24/7/365 human review and threat escalation, the Safety & Wellness solution enables schools to reach struggling students earlier and take life-changing steps to protect their community.”  

Advancing Equitable Mental Health, Wellness, and Education for Underserved Student Populations 

Lightspeed Systems has been a frequent collaborator with AWS to provide secure and scalable solutions for K12 education. This specific grant from AWS will advance Lightspeed Systems’ efforts to allow schools to better identify and support students in underserved and underrepresented communities with proactive outreach, support, and services for mental well-being and home connectivity. 

With this grant, Lightspeed Systems will expand its Safety & Wellness solution to specifically serve all student populations in the following ways: 

  1. Expand language monitoring within Lightspeed Alert™ so that concerning digital incidents are surfaced, independent of the native language spoken by students, supporting all students in receiving the help they need amidst the current mental health crisis.  
  1. Identify students without reliable home internet, which may impede learning, slow identification of mental health or wellness concerns, and limit access to critical medical support so schools are able to provide hotspots and other access connectivity services.  
  1. Provide schools with detailed activity reports on how segments of students are using key resources to best drive educational outcomes. 

“AWS believes individual health outcomes should not depend on socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or neighborhood,” said Maggie Carter, Global Lead, Social Impact at AWS. “Cloud technology can help address inequities in global health to expand access to the services people need to live longer, healthier lives–no matter who they are or where they live. Through the AWS Health Equity Initiative, we look forward to helping Lightspeed Systems and other organizations worldwide use the power of cloud computing to advance health equity and improve health outcomes.” 

To learn more about the AWS initiative, visit https://aws.amazon.com/health/health-equity

About Lightspeed Systems® 

Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com

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Media Contact: 

Ray Hartjen 

Lightspeed Systems 

rhartjen@lightspeedsystems.com 

(925) 895-5441 

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Integrating Generative AI into Schools https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/ebook/quick-start-guide-integrating-generative-ai-schools/ Mon, 13 Nov 2023 22:39:57 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=16031 The Quick Start Guide for Integrating Generative AI Into Schools provides an overview of Generative AI, its functions, and its educational applications, along with best practices to navigate its complexities.

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Quick Start to AI eBook cover

Pave the way for a future where technology and human ingenuity create dynamic, inclusive, and effective learning environments. Download your copy of the Quick Start Guide for Integrating Generative AI Into Schools today. The guide provides an overview of Generative AI, its functions, and its educational applications, along with best practices to navigate its complexities.  

You’ll get insights into how AI can foster content ideation, personalized learning, and administrative efficiency, all while ensuring student privacy. At the same time, you’ll learn strategies to overcome challenges such as preventing bias and plagiarism and bridging the digital divide. 

With this guide, IT, educators and administrators will gain strategies to: 

  • Establish clear guidelines and revise academic policies to include Generative AI use. 
  • Facilitate district-wide learning and professional development on AI applications. 
  • Seamlessly integrate AI into your district’s culture, enhancing teacher-learner interactions. 
  • Promote continuous improvement with regular feedback and AI-specific workshops. 

Join the vanguard of educational innovation. Get your copy now. 

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Lightspeed Systems® Announces Craig Chanoff as Chief Revenue Officer  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-announces-craig-chanoff-chief-revenue-officer/ https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-announces-craig-chanoff-chief-revenue-officer/#respond Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:05:00 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=15984 Industry Veteran to Drive Company’s Continued Growth and Further Enhance Client Experience  Austin, Texas—November 6, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced the appointment of Craig Chanoff to the role of Chief Revenue Officer. In his role, Chanoff will lead all functions of the revenue team, including...

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Industry Veteran to Drive Company’s Continued Growth and Further Enhance Client Experience 

Austin, Texas—November 6, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced the appointment of Craig Chanoff to the role of Chief Revenue Officer. In his role, Chanoff will lead all functions of the revenue team, including Client Success, Sales, Field Marketing, and Revenue Operations, and as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, will report directly to Brian Thomas, Chief Executive Officer at Lightspeed Systems. 

“We are excited to add Craig to our world-class team,” said Thomas. “His passion for connecting education and technology to help educators and students thrive, coupled with his proven record of accomplishment in leading teams to record-breaking results, make him a powerful addition to our team. 

“Today, schools face more challenges than ever with a mental health crisis, funding challenges, staff shortages, new technologies like generative AI (Artificial Intelligence), and new regulations with which to comply. Lightspeed Systems is uniquely positioned in the marketplace with its people, its solutions, and its supporting services to help them. With the addition of Craig and his strategic leadership, our go-to-market teams will be united in serving K-12 educators quickly and effectively, helping more schools than ever deliver safe, secure, and equitable learning—effortlessly.“  

Experienced EdTech Professional to Align Functions and Drive Growth 

Chanoff comes to Lightspeed Systems with over 20 years of executive leadership experience at education technology firms Blackboard, EVERFI, and most recently, Pearson. At every step in his career, he has proved successful in facilitating client implementation and support with technology, making him an ideal complement to the company’s veteran edtech leaders. 

Craig Chanoff, Chief Revenue Officer

“I’m excited to join the Lightspeed Systems team and leverage both my skill set and my experience in furthering the company’s consistent growth,” said Chanoff. “By consolidating and aligning the company’s go-to-market functions, we’ll be better positioned to serve our customers and further differentiate ourselves from competitors as a pioneering company in the edtech category.” 

Corresponding with the appointment of Chanoff, Christopher Travis will move to the role of Executive Vice President of Sales, reporting into Chanoff, where he will continue to focus on bringing new districts onto the Lightspeed platform.  

The organizational moves to expand and strengthen Lightspeed Systems’ Executive Leadership Team come after naming Brook McShane Bock as Chief Product Officer in August 2022. With an executive bench strong on K-12 education experience and proven results, Lightspeed Systems positions itself uniquely to further its industry leadership.  

About Lightspeed Systems® 

Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com. 

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Media Contact: 

Ray Hartjen 

Lightspeed Systems 

rhartjen@lightspeedsystems.com 

(925) 895-5441 

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Lightspeed Systems® Sponsors the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness Walk in Austin  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-sponsors-american-foundation-suicide-preventions-out-of-the-darkness-walk-austin/ https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-sponsors-american-foundation-suicide-preventions-out-of-the-darkness-walk-austin/#respond Mon, 30 Oct 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=15960 Annual Event Raises Awareness and Unites Around Remembrance, Support, and Hope  Austin, Texas—October 30, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced its sponsorship and participation in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness Walk scheduled for November 4, 2023, at the Texas State Capitol...

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Annual Event Raises Awareness and Unites Around Remembrance, Support, and Hope 

Austin, Texas—October 30, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced its sponsorship and participation in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness Walk scheduled for November 4, 2023, at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. The event will mark Lightspeed Systems’ fourth year as a participant in the fundraising and awareness-building event. 

Held in communities across the United States, the Out of the Darkness Community Walks are conducted as journeys of remembrance, hope, and support. The events aim to unite local communities and provide opportunities to acknowledge the ways in which suicide and mental health conditions affect our society. 

“As an organization, we are excited and proud to once again support and participate in the Austin Out of the Darkness Walk,” said Amy Bennett, Chief of Staff at Lightspeed Systems. “Suicide awareness and prevention is core to the Lightspeed mission. It’s a cause our employees are passionate about and eager to come together to support.” 

Image of the logos for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and its Out of the Darkness Community Walks.

Register Today  

Registrations for the Austin Out of the Darkness Walk can be completed up to the event’s start at 10:00 am on Saturday, November 4. To register in advance, as well as access a variety of resources for fundraising, promotion, and other toolkits, please visit https://supporting.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=9494

“Mental health issues have been growing in our country for many years,” commented Bennett, “and the pandemic only intensified the problem, especially for young people like the students our software protects. Please consider joining Lightspeed Systems, its employees, and hundreds of other participants as we walk to prevent suicide.” 

About Lightspeed Systems® 

Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com

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Media Contact: 

Ray Hartjen 
Lightspeed Systems
rhartjen@lightspeedsystems.com 
(925) 895-5441 

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Lightspeed Systems® Introduces Merge Classes Feature in Lightspeed Classroom Management™  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-introduces-merge-classes-feature-lightspeed-classroom-management/ https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/media-release/lightspeed-systems-introduces-merge-classes-feature-lightspeed-classroom-management/#respond Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=15944 Time-Saving Tool Allows Teachers to Quickly Combine Sections to Manage Classes and Monitor Students in One Place  Austin, Texas—October 24, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced a new Merge Classes feature of its Lightspeed Classroom Management product, saving teachers time and allowing them to teach more...

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Time-Saving Tool Allows Teachers to Quickly Combine Sections to Manage Classes and Monitor Students in One Place 

Austin, Texas—October 24, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in digital safety, security, and equity solutions, announced a new Merge Classes feature of its Lightspeed Classroom Management product, saving teachers time and allowing them to teach more effectively by easily combining sections and managing classes in one place.  

“In a dynamic educational landscape where teachers are tasked with instructing diverse students and classroom environments, Merge Classes emerges as a valuable tool to streamline their daily tasks and elevate the teaching experience,” said Brook Bock, Chief Product & Marketing Officer of Lightspeed Systems.  

Merge Classes addresses a teacher pain point common across classroom management solutions, in which classes are fragmented into multiple sections. With Lightspeed Classroom Management’s Merge Classes feature, teachers can now save time and streamline their workflow by easily creating a consolidated view of all their students.  

“At Lightspeed Systems, we continue to provide districts with tools to optimize success in the classroom,” continued Bock. “We’re excited to add onto the new user experience launched over the summer with yet another resource for teachers to create even more efficient classroom control.” 

Lightspeed Classroom Management Saves Teachers Time and Streamlines Instruction 

Teachers often face diverse classrooms, with students from different campuses, grade levels, and abilities. Merge Classes equips teachers to streamline their tasks and enhance the instructional experience, whether teaching a virtual class spanning multiple campuses or a traditional classroom with students of mixed grade levels—all without enlisting IT support. 

Michael Floyd, a Social Studies teacher at Klein Independent School District in Spring, Texas and an early adopter of the Merge Classes feature, uses this new tool to simplify class monitoring at his district’s alternative education center. “I love being able to view all of my students on one page and see what they are doing,” shared Floyd. 

With the consolidated class view in Lightspeed Classroom Management, teachers can more seamlessly manage students in one place—monitoring progress on students’ screens, sharing important messages and links to digital instruction, selectively blocking sites from student access, and ensuring appropriate online activity.  

Using Lightspeed Classroom Management’s Merge Classes feature, teachers benefit with:  

  • Streamlined Workflows: Instructors save valuable class time by eliminating the need to switch between different sections during a single class period.  
  • Real-Time Visibility: Teachers can view student activity in real-time, in one place, allowing them to immediately respond to student questions and support them throughout class lessons.  
  • Enhanced Learning: Teachers utilize an increased ability to send messages and apply Web Rules to student groups to support differentiated instruction more efficiently. 

For more information about Lightspeed Classroom Management and its Merge Classes features, please visit https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/products/lightspeed-classroom-management/.  

About Lightspeed Systems® 

Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com. 

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Media Contact: 

Ray Hartjen 

Lightspeed Systems 

rhartjen@lightspeedsystems.com 

(512) 439-3995 

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Confronting the New Reality of Today’s Student Mental Health Crisis https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/resources/webinars/confronting-new-reality-todays-student-mental-health-crisis/ Fri, 29 Sep 2023 20:48:02 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=15907 Learn about some of the biggest student safety and wellness challenges facing schools today, and how technology can help to address them.

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Confronting the New Reality of Today’s Student Mental Health Crisis

Read the Transcript

0:21
Hi, everyone, welcome to our webinar, We’re going to give everyone about 30 more seconds to
join us, and then we’ll dive in. Thank you.
0:58
Hello, welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Sheryl Black, and I’m the
Vice President of Marketing here at Lightspeed.
1:05
Before we get started with this presentation, I just want to cover a couple of housekeeping items
for you. Today’s session is being recorded, and you will receive a copy of that recording by
Friday.
1:15
We’ll have a Q and A session at the end, but at any point in the webinar, if you have questions,
please submit them, and we will save them up for that time. But don’t, don’t wait until the end. So
you don’t want to forget them.
1:27
Finally, we will have a short survey at the end that will pop up on your screen We really
appreciate if you can take the time to fill that out. It helps us understand What the most
interesting and important topics for you are as well as the next steps to help you learn more.
1:40
Let’s start today by meeting our speakers.
1:43
Amanda, would you start by giving us a little bit about yourself?
1:47
Sure Thanks everybody for joining. I’m Amanda Center. I am the Vice President of Product here
at lightspeed, so all of our solutions roll up to me and my team.
1:57
Perfect.
1:58
And Matt, you introduce yourself, please?
2:03
Hi, I’m Mark McClellan. I’m the Administrator for IT Beaverton School District.
2:09
Well and June.
2:12
Good afternoon, everybody. My name is June Kim, I’m the Director of Technology for more
public schools in Moore, Oklahoma.
2:18
Thank you. We’re very excited to have all three of you here today.
2:23
Today’s conversation is part of lightspeed, ongoing commitment to K 12 districts, specifically
focusing on our efforts to provide you with effortless equitable education for your students.
2:35
A lot of these, they’re for one person.
2:38
We know that the Digital Learning Divide refers to inequitable access to technology and digital
resources for learning.
2:44
And this has long been a challenge for K 12 students and their educators, despite wide adoption
of 1 to 1 programs across the country and students having returned back to campus at the
pandemic.
2:56
It’s telling that still in 20 23, this continues to be a focus for districts. And arguably, this divide
has widened all the way to a canyon.
3:06
So for the start of today’s webinar, we’re going to talk about why has that happened?
3:10
one of the clear reasons is the proliferation of digital learning so the student doesn’t have access.
3:16
It provides a larger challenge than it did when more things were done on pen and paper
compared to today.
3:22
Let’s start our discussion with more about parent surveys.
3:26
Parents surveys are a long standing method for understanding which students need support, and
we want to hear how y’all are dealing with those. So, we’ve got a quick poll that we’re going to
launch for you. And we want to know what are the response rates that you’re getting on your
parent surveys.
3:45
So, you just click right there.
3:48
Great. We see a couple answers coming through.
3:55
All right, let’s go ahead and close that survey, Thanks for responding.
4:02
So, 80% of our audience today said they have less than 50% response rates on their surveys.
4:13
All right.
4:14
We’ll go back to sharing the screen.
4:19
Um, June, can you share with us what your experience has been with parent surveys?
4:26
I want to know who got 75% or better because that’s phenomenal.
4:31
We’re lucky to get 20% think at the most, we got was around 0.25% of that.
4:38
But the thing about the surveys that when covert Hitt, we didn’t know what, we didn’t know what
we didn’t know, we didn’t know what questions to ask.
4:46
So, we’re missing information. So, yes, you got connectivity, but what’s connectivity cell? Is it an
ISP provider? Is that enough connectivity? How many kids are connected to that device or to that
to that ISP?
5:00
All those factors were unknown when all this happened, and even now trying to get those kind of
questions answered or through survey, is very, very challenging.
5:11
I wish I could say, I’m surprised, but that’s very consistent with what we hear when we talk to
other district leaders. Not only is the data incomplete in terms of getting responses from the
parents, but also incomplete, as you describe that it’s just not deep enough and what the problem
is.
5:27
Another thing that Amanda and myself and the team have heard, and we talked to district
leaders, is it self reporting has similar challenges.
5:33
Due to the stigma around self reporting. A lot of students don’t self identify.
5:38
And then, especially among younger students, even if they are self identifying, they’re just not
fully capable of communicating their needs, and what the circumstances at home.
5:48
So lots of challenges there with the reporting and the self identification by students.
5:53
When I was speaking with Matt a couple of weeks ago, he also talked about, because of those
challenges with self reporting and student identification, they were using what I think of as proxy
data.
6:04
The Free Lunch Program during coven 19, undoubtedly had many benefits for students and their
families. But it also created some data challenges.
6:13
Matt, can you tell us about how you were using that? As proxy data, and the challenges it created
for your district?
6:19
Yeah, so, you know, with the free and reduced lunch, it gave us a least a baseline of people we
knew who were indeed. And, you know, during coated with all of the stimulus money that came
out, we were able to offer families, you know, free lunch, no fees.
6:35
So, kind of reduce that incentive for families to identify, and families are being able to get that
benefit without having to identify there, like you separate the stigma of A were free and reduced,
or, you know, were less economic, Lee Challenged.
6:54
Dan, know, why do that if you’re already getting those benefits. So, for us, and, you know, it’s
great for our families, but at the same time, for us as a district, can provide an challenge because
now we’re not getting that data on where those families are that we need to reach out to help.
7:10
Right, right, Yeah, I mean a lot of benefits from having that stimulus money, but there were
probably some challenges like you just described that weren’t weren’t necessarily anticipated.
7:20
It makes a lot of sense that you were using that as a proxy because we know that across the
country one in four socioeconomically disadvantaged students are also below the guidelines for
connectivity. Outside of school hours. I think that was a really smart use of the data that you all
did have at your disposal.
7:38
So, we’ve got all these challenges of getting accurate data, and I want to talk about what position
does that put district leaders in. June, can you talk about what that did for your district and your
data quality?
7:51
It put it, put us in a very big tailspin. Is the data accurate? Do we have enough information?
7:58
Do we plan for the worst case? Fake?
8:00
You know, if you used free and reduced count, your, you potentially could be overbuying
because not everybody that’s free and reduced, um, is lacking Internet connectivity. They may
have something at home.
8:13
Um, so it was a lot of spend in the beginning, getting enough hotspots or connectivity through an
outside source based on your assumptions, right.
8:24
Because the surveys were so inaccurate.
8:27
So, what you’re seeing now is that you have districts that went from one thousand hotspots down
to maybe 5200, whatever that number is, because they’re finding that information is there not
using it.
8:39
Both parents or vice versa. You may have provided a hotspot.
8:43
but, or parents said, Hey, we have Internet connectivity, but then you have both parents working
from home.
8:49
You have four kids working from home, so the bandwidth wasn’t enough, so, or they were
reaching that cap, so it created a lot of other issues.
8:57
We work aware.
9:01
So there’s a lot of spend, I think I won’t say wasted money, but money that we didn’t know we
needed or didn’t really need to use and providing hotspots, because that What does that number
look like?
9:12
It’s hard to find Or identify those individuals Because of that self reporting, they may not want to
be stigmatized as in need.
9:21
So, it’s, it’s created, a lot of good conversation, but no solutions.
9:26
Know, I also think about the self reporting and how quickly that data can become outdated,
right? A family can be in a really good position.
9:34
one day, there’s a job loss in the next week, they’re not in a good position, and if the week that
their situation changes is not the week when the survey is running, then you may not have the
full picture.
9:51
June, one thing that we had talked about the other day was also that your district had pulled back
on assigning digitally dependent homework as an approach to making sure that every kid had
equal access. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?
10:05
So what we were finding was that there was a big disconnect on kids.
10:11
Even though they have hotspots, it wasn’t enough for a family of 3 or 4 kids.
10:18
Being able to do XOOM work with four kids in the household, just wasn’t working.
10:22
And then trying to balance that out when high school kids do they follow their schedule
elementary. What, what?
10:29
What is plotted?
10:31
And even nowadays, for us in Tornado alley here, we don’t know when they’re going to be
here. We don’t know when they’re going to be gone.
10:40
So, it’s one of those situations with the unknown.
10:44
So, what are districts has done is try to minimize the amount of homework that is going home,
especially our at our elementary and junior high levels, and providing an opportunity to make it
up the next day. or when they return back to school.
11:00
Same thing for our staff. If you’re not teaching craik, if you don’t have internet connectivity,
don’t worry about teaching those classes.
11:06
Just check back in when you can. So, there’s a lot of give and take.
11:10
Because of the unknown situation, You can’t just dictate, This is what you shall do and will
do. And you will not Turk.
11:17
It doesn’t work in education at any level.
11:20
So we were we, we are, we adjust accordingly and trust our families to know what’s best and
what they can and can’t do. Can we trust or staff to help them re-engaged when they do get back
and do have connect?
11:35
I think that’s a very creative and empathetic approach to the situation.
11:40
I can imagine, though, that it’s, it’s not perfect because then you’ve got instruction time during the
day that is lost for students to be doing what was maybe ideally, homework.
11:55
Oh, absolutely.
11:56
It’s not a perfect answer by any means, but if we’re in the business, kids, we gotta do what’s best
for kids.
12:04
And what’s probably not easy for the rest of us.
12:07
I said, it’s the 1, 1 stop answer.
12:09
It doesn’t work from one classroom to the next much less, a district of 36 different sites.
12:17
Debit.
12:18
The loss of connectivity at home can definitely present a lot of challenges.
12:22
What have you found in Beaverton that having this imperfect data as resulted in what kind of
accommodations and things I have all been doing?
12:34
Yeah.
12:34
I think, like June said, it’s not knowing and not knowing that, you know, what a family has at
home whether they, you know, like you said, they have Internet but you know, it may not be
adequate for Mom and Dad doing stuff. You know working evenings at home and then or
multiple students. During the pandemic we saw a lot of families that had to move in together.
12:57
So, on that one little Internet connection, you had multiple families using it as well. So we’ve
done kinda similar, you know, especially in our elementary, we’ve tried to cut down on electronic
homework, especially because we don’t want, you know, obviously the connectivity, but also the
issues of, now parent has to help a kid who may not be comfortable, that comfortable with
technology.
13:19
So at our high school levels, we’ve kinda kept it. We’ve tried to keep some of the homework
down a little bit and try to get some of the afterschool stuff.
13:27
Not as part of that, as he said, is a requirement. But there are still those times where students are
going to have to go home and we still have hotspots.
13:36
We still, you know, try to direct them to some of it, lower cost internet places.
13:42
Because one of the things we found here in our study was when we are part of the … study or
internet activity is we have and beaver scenario, we have availability.
13:52
We don’t have affordability for a lot of markets.
13:57
I think that’s an important distinction, And different communities struggle with different parts of
those challenges, or combination of it.
14:05
This is definitely something that’s a frustrating situation for everyone, and it’s, it’s hindering our
students’ learning and their ability to succeed.
14:12
Clearly, we need reliable, incomplete data so that district leaders such as yourselves, can strive
toward digital equity and help serve those students’ needs.
14:23
We have Amanda with us today, and she’s going to talk about how lightspeed has found and
created new opportunities to get that information. Amanda?
14:35
Yeah. Thank You, Cheryl. So, yeah, we just heard from knocking June about the challenges of
getting information about connectivity when students are off campus, and while, as they spoke
to, there are some ways to get that data. It’s a very manual process that often leaves districts with
incomplete or inaccurate information.
14:54
So, we know it’s hard to get the whole story, is their Wi-Fi, but low bandwidth is their poor
Internet access due to a device issue, or their students in neighborhoods that just can’t get good
service.
15:05
And our new digital equity module, as part of the Light Speed, digital, Incyte product, and it
helps answer all of these questions with real-time visibility and insights on both an individual
student and neighborhood level. So, I’ll jump in and walk through some of the key features.
15:23
And we’ve designed this module with feedback from clients, including from Mac, keeping in
mind the myriad of different equity issues that districts face.
15:32
It’s made up of three key components, and the first is the internet access report, which you see on
the screen.
15:38
So, this is accessible from the new Digital Equity drop-down in the top navigation bar, and the
report was designed to give you an overview of digital equity across the entire district.
15:49
So, at the top of the Internet access report, you see a quick district snapshot of the total number
of students with four Internet, and that’s in the top left.
15:57
No Internet, which is in the middle box, and then you see that for the last seven days, that’s the
default. It tells you exactly how many students are experiencing connectivity issues outside of
school, and really eliminates the manual outreach and effort involved with sending home
surveys, which can quickly become outdated, or, as we saw, has low response rates.
16:20
And then while seven days is the default, you do have the ability to change that time period,
along with a number of other filters.
16:28
So, if we expand and see all the filtering options, you will see that you can change the time
interval.
16:34
You can filter to specific schools or grades. You can specify the download speed, and many
more options.
16:44
Then below the filters, you see the User Level Details. So, the student’s name, their e-mail grade
campus, Along with the internet connection speed and additional info.
16:57
And, if you click into the individual user, here, you’ll see the second component of the digital
equity module, and that is the user profile.
17:08
So, by clicking into the student’s user profile, you get an instant view of their complete Internet
experience.
17:14
You can see the student activity data and that shows activity per day, most used apps, and helps
you understand which programs might be contributing to access issues. So, it’s not really enough
to know, oh, they have poor internet connection, right? But, what if that?
17:29
because, as they’re using, you know, Minecraft and it’s taking up all their bandwidth, that’s an
important data points. So, you have visibility into those types of apps that might be, you know,
high bandwidth apps and helps you just better understand how they’re using the device in and out
of school.
17:45
And, then, when we scroll down further on the user profile, you see details about Device
Activity, device health, and Internet connectivity outside of school, so, that gives you the
granular details to troubleshoot more quickly than ever before.
18:01
And the device area gives you information about the student’s district level device or district
issued device, so you can better understand if there’s a problem with that device that can be
affecting Internet accessibility.
18:13
Then, on the right hand side of this piece of this page, the Internet Access pain gives you
information, like the connectivity, status, the meeting speed, and the service provider. So, you
really don’t have to rely on students or parents to give you that information anymore.
18:30
So, for example, let’s say you have a student who’s having a connectivity issue, even though they
have good device howls and they have a Wi-Fi connection.
18:37
When you look at this panel, you can see that there’s a high number of users on their IP address,
and it’s being shared with, you know, a thousand users.
18:45
So a lot of people sharing on the network, and that maybe not sufficient enough to get school
homework done, and that could be an indicator that this is a student that needs their own hotspot
to help support that digital learning at home.
18:58
OK, and then, um, The third component of digital equity, is the Internet Access Map.
19:06
So this is accessible from the third box, on the top of the report. And the map is really designed
to help you drive large-scale community level solutions.
19:17
The map shows a neighborhood neighborhood level heat map, and outlines geographic areas
with poor or no internet connectivity.
19:24
So that’s especially valuable for identifying needs, like community center partnerships or other
strategic investments.
19:31
For example, if you’ve got rural areas with internet dead zones, or, you know, maybe you have
migrant camps for students, don’t have access to good internet, just kind of shows you at that
neighborhood level where you’ve got poor and no connection.
19:46
And then each of those, honey calms, you can see a little bit more detail when you hover over
them. It represents a neighborhood of region.
19:52
So you can view additional insights about service providers, device OS’s that are being used, and
how many networks are being shared with others.
20:00
And you can filter the map by details, like time intervals, schedule, so in and out of school,
provider, or upload and download speeds. So really kind of customize into what’s most important
for you to see.
20:13
Um, Excuse me.
20:16
So, another kind of example use case for this map, and just how, how valuable it is, right?
20:20
It’s like, if the districts don’t know where to open community centers gage, you know, existing
ones, that might be overwhelmed. But now they have this combined data of this three part
module.
20:31
And you can really access those insights and communicate with stakeholders, parents, district
level, administrators, and make more informed decisions.
20:43
Then, just to give you a view of the agent settings and how you enable these reports. So, from a
top level navigation, if you go to Reports.
20:52
and then Agents, you can see the Agents settings, you can set your school’s schedule and break
schedule and then the hours outside of that will default to out of school on the reports.
21:07
Then, by device type, you can also select if you want to collect data outside of school hours. And
you can enable or disable that for Internet Speed Data collection, which speeds the Internet
Access report, and then location data for the map.
21:23
Then, finally, down at the bottom, you can set your Internet speed thresholds. So, whatever value
you search will be used to determine poor internet for your district, and then anything below that
will flag as a poor connection.
21:36
So, there’s a lot of configure ability options there to customize and best fit your district.
21:42
Wednesday, I, throw it back to you.
21:44
Cheryl: Yeah, thank you, Amanda. That was a great overview.
21:48
Before we go to Q and A, I want to select Makin June, share a little bit about some discussions
we’ve had on early thoughts about what they’ll do in this data, is accessible to them. So, June, I
know you and I discussed a triage approach, so to speak, to the districts connectivity needs.
22:05
Hopefully it’s under your eyes, as well as from what our discussion, but can you talk us through
an idea that you might use to tackle this?
22:12
So, one of the areas that this could assist us is future planning with our city, um, managers, as
well as our ISP providers, and Telco companies, to use that overlay map, possibly with the GIS
systems.
22:32
We talked about data at exports and creating this free and reduced layer, whereas all are Free and
Reduced Kids, or where’s all the connectivity hotspots or ISP providers for future planning?
22:44
What’s the city doing to create a mesh network for students who are users?
22:51
And we can use this data to say, hey, this is where a lot of our kids are struggling or we’re bulk
Laura hotspots are being utilized or there’s not enough connectivity.
23:01
And we can also use that to talk to our ISP providers, saying hey, the minimum bandwidth that
you’re providing for the, for example, kocsis connect to compete, hey, the bandwidth you’re
providing at that rate is just not enough.
23:14
You know, so we can get into a lot of different conversations with a lot of different agencies to
help support this process.
23:22
I love it. You’re thinking about it from a community perspective, right?
23:24
And so how do we really help the whole, the whole district at scale, I think there’s also, for some
of our conversations, the opportunity for student by student support.
23:34
And, you know, identifying those students who are not connecting, and combining that with
understanding from a curriculum perspective, if we’re expecting them to connect to already, or if,
if they’re not connecting, but they’re not collecting because they haven’t been asked, Right.
23:49
So, the data, you know, we can actually go in and pinpoint, Hey, you’ve been given homeworker,
you’ve been given assignments, or are they not doing it because the device is messed up?
23:59
Or is it just no got enough bandwidth if we’re asking them to join a webinar like this, and it’s
Blue Screen of death, or the spinning wheel of death?
24:10
What’s happening, so we can start gaging that and providing alternatives, or talking to our
curriculum providers are, You know, whatever that company X may be saying?
24:23
When you provide video Instruction, you need to bring that resolution down to where it’s
manageable, right? So, a lot of good conversations.
24:31
And then being able to, are they not connecting, because they’re just not home, or what’s
happening, you know.
24:37
So it just, it raises more questions to really start drilling down instructional methods, are we
teaching to the kids into and change looking at our processes Because the way we’re teaching
now with digital curriculum is gotta change from the way we’ve done it traditionally.
24:56
And to your point, you can do this much more quickly at scale.
25:00
And without having to rely on that outdated data to inform it.
25:05
Thank you. And Mac, you brought up a use case that I hadn’t even thought of until our
conversation about using this, to understand your infrastructure, investments that are coming up
this summer. Can you just share a little bit about that?
25:18
Yeah, so, you know, anytime we get data, we’re always looking at how can we use this data in
different ways, And one of the things we hit kinda conceptualizes.
25:27
Can I use this same data?
25:28
we’re using first kids out of school, but can I use that same data in school to see where, you
know, my deficiencies are within my network infrastructure?
25:38
If I see a bunch of kids having an age issue, that might be able to tell me that, Hey, I don’t have
enough access points in this era, or they’ve reconfigured the school.
25:48
And you’re using different rooms. so we didn’t know about that.
25:51
We don’t have enough bandwidth or access in those specific areas, So it’ll be interesting to see
how we can use that to help better plan for our future infrastructure.
26:01
I love that you’re thinking about not just the afterschool, but the in school, so it really becomes a
24 7 resource for your district.
26:09
OK, great. And at this time, we’re going to switch over to Q&A. So for everyone who joined us,
please type them into the questions.
26:18
We’ve gotten a couple already so I will get us started on that.
26:22
Amanda, you mentioned poor internet connectivity. Can you describe what constitutes for
internet connectivity in that report?
26:31
Yeah. So we have a default setting of 25 megabits per second that we did receive district
feedback. We kind of shopped out, you know, what we were thinking in the prototype that
schools would like the ability to customize that. So, that’s the default, but then you have the
ability to go in and change that setting. You can set it to: greater than, or less than or equal to, 5,
10, 25, or 50. And so whatever threshold you set within the product, anything below that will be
designated as poor internet.
27:03
Perfect, thank you.
27:06
Then, another question about how to manage school breaks, This is particularly timely. I know
my fourth grader gets out of school. In seven days, he’s counting down.
27:15
So, what’s the school break plan here?
27:18
Yeah. For sure. So, you might have noticed in the demo that we have the ability to set the school
hours, so that works when you’re in school, right? You can say, school starts at eight ends up for,
but then below that, there is also the option to add in breaks.
27:33
So, you can set in, like winter breaks, spring breaks, summer vacation, all of that, and anything
that you can figure as a break will registers out of school time as well, OK?
27:45
That’s a great Some parts of the country are just days away. I’ve heard Louisiana has got some
schools getting out tomorrow, so I know those kids are excited to be on break, and it’s also good
that we can, during school breaks, like winter break and spring break at the appropriate data.
28:01
All right. Well, yeah, we are at about the top of the hour. And we have racked up our
questions. So thank you everyone for joining us today. Matt, June, Amanda, really appreciate
your time with us.
28:11
Very excited to get this product out for other districts and to start collecting the data that we need
to serve our students. As a reminder for everyone who joined us, you will receive the recording,
and there is a short poll when we close the webinar. So, thanks, everybody. Have a great day,
and we look forward to talking with you soon.
RE-GENERATE TRANSCRIPTSAVE EDITS

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Lightspeed Digital Insight™ Recognized as Winner in Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence: Back to School 2023  https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/lightspeed-digital-insight-recognized-as-winner-in-tech-learning-awards-of-excellence-back-to-school-2023/ https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/en-au/lightspeed-digital-insight-recognized-as-winner-in-tech-learning-awards-of-excellence-back-to-school-2023/#respond Mon, 18 Sep 2023 22:02:13 +0000 https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=15847 Digital Equity Module Empowers School Districts to Bridge the Digital Divide and Empower All Students to Excel   Austin, Texas—September 19, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in online student safety and learning effectiveness, announced its Lightspeed Digital Insight™ product, along with its integrated Digital Equity module, was recognized as a winner of this year’s...

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Digital Equity Module Empowers School Districts to Bridge the Digital Divide and Empower All Students to Excel  

Austin, Texas—September 19, 2023—Today, Lightspeed Systems®, the edtech market leader in online student safety and learning effectiveness, announced its Lightspeed Digital Insight™ product, along with its integrated Digital Equity module, was recognized as a winner of this year’s Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence: Back to School 2023 in the Primary Education category. These awards are bestowed annually by Tech & Learning to products that offer schools versatility, value, and solutions to specific problems to support innovative, effective teaching and learning. 

“Lightspeed Systems is honored to receive this award for our Digital Insight product,” said Brook McShane Bock, Chief Product & Marketing Officer at Lightspeed Systems. “We are extraordinarily proud of the Digital Equity module, as it unlocks visibility into students’ internet access and device health outside of school with real-time data districts can’t find elsewhere. As a result, administrators proactively identify students with poor or no internet access at scale, saving considerable time troubleshooting and maximizing the impact of digital learning. Most importantly, they empower all students to excel!”  

Addressing the ‘Digital Divide’ in K-12 Learning 

According to the 2022 Student Home Connectivity Study from CoSN (Consortium for School Networking), gaps exist in network performance and internet speeds at all grade levels for students connecting outside of school, with approximately one-third of high school students experiencing “Far Below” or “Below Guidelines” for connectivity from home. In addition, large disparities exist among student subgroups, particularly by ethnicity and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. 

The Digital Equity module of Lightspeed Digital Insight helps schools identify and address the digital divide by providing complete, real-time views of each student’s internet experience, including connectivity status and contributing factors such as a device’s overall health, the service provider, and more. District leaders can drill-down into specific data on each individual student and their devices, as well as view overall district-wide usage to help identify local communities that need additional support and resources.  

Actionable insights help leaders by allowing them to: 

  1. Identify students experiencing poor or no internet connection outside of school without waiting for an IT ticket, relying on self-reporting or annual family surveys,  
  1. Address issues in real-time and save time troubleshooting school-issued devices with student-level data, including internet speeds at home, service providers and more, and  
  1. Make data-informed decisions to ensure all students have access to adequate digital tools and broadband internet through introducing large-scale solutions such as hotspots, Wi-Fi enabled community centers and more. 

Obtaining Full Visibility of Edtech Use Across the School District  

Lightspeed Systems’ Digital Equity module is a component of its uniquely differentiated Digital Insight product. “K-12 school districts invest considerable financial resources into digital learning and technology programs, including both devices and software,” continued Bock. “However, too many leaders lack data on district edtech usage, and therefore are blinded as to app engagement, the value and security of their investments, and the overall health of their digital learning ecosystem.” 

Lightspeed Digital Insight delivers a single view of district edtech usage to IT and instructional technology leaders, allowing them to easily understand app engagement, quickly differentiating those apps that provide a return on investment from those that aren’t being fully utilized. Importantly, the solution also saves scarce time and improves compliance with app approval workflows and real-time privacy policy scanning with industry-leading policy management tools. 

For more information on Lightspeed Digital Insight and the Digital Equity module, please visit https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/products/lightspeed-digital-insight/.  

About Lightspeed Systems® 

Lightspeed Systems is dedicated to providing K–12 districts with time-saving solutions to create safe, secure, and equitable education, so they focus where it matters most—students and learning. Lightspeed Systems provides cloud-managed solutions: Security & Compliance, Safety & Wellness and Engagement & Impact, purpose-built for school networks and devices. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students using 11 million devices in 28,000 schools throughout 42 countries. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com. 

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Media Contact: 

Ray Hartjen 

Lightspeed Systems 

rhartjen@lightspeedsystems.com 

(512) 439-3995 

The post Lightspeed Digital Insight™ Recognized as Winner in Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence: Back to School 2023  appeared first on Lightspeed Systems.

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