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,  

2. 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  

3. 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 

[email protected] 

(512) 439-3995