Because the second largest district within the nation, it’s no small feat to investigate and perceive the wants of Los Angeles Unified College District’s broad spectrum of educators and college students to greatest serve their distinctive academic necessities.
“In the course of the pandemic, we had been on the lookout for methods to make sure worth on the apps we bought,” says David Kooper, Senior Director of Info Know-how at Los Angeles Unified College District. “We wished to ensure the apps had been being applied with constancy and whether or not our inside divisions ought to proceed to fund varied apps primarily based on how usually they had been being utilized in the very best curiosity of the district.”
For this and different efforts, Kooper, Senior Director of Info Know-how at LAUSD, was not too long ago acknowledged with the Modern Know-how Director Award on the Tech & Studying Regional Summit in Austin, a part of the Modern Chief Awards.
Betting On Large Information
A part of the accountability of discovering new tech options is to find out the very best bang for the price range buck. Validating the funding via evidence-based outcomes is good.
“Budgets are made by selections,” says Kooper. “Whereas a part of the price range entails mounted prices like staffing, the opposite aspect is discretionary spending. In the event you put money into one space that gives you with the information that you just want, it may doubtlessly prevent cash in one other. It is one factor to purchase a product, it is one other totally completely different factor to determine on the faculty degree and on the district degree whether or not or not these apps are being utilized.”
One other concern in a district as giant and broad as LAUSD is connecting disparate colleges to gather usable info. Kooper broke down silos by equipping 400+ principals and district/faculty leaders with visibility into pupil system and app utilization, paired with focused skilled studying to make sure leaders may act on the information. This enabled principals to retire ineffective instruments, maximize investments, and ship extra constant digital studying throughout one of many nation’s largest faculty techniques.
Getting access to a software to find out true tech use worth throughout an unlimited district utilizing information demonstrated the place cuts may very well be made with out affecting the scholar or educator expertise. For this, Kooper relied on perception supplied by Lightspeed Programs, which proved invaluable.
“You simply have to have a look at it from a large lens to see what the affect is,” Kooper says. “What are you shedding by not investing on this, versus the amount of cash that you just’re spending. It is sensible for many districts. Districts additionally acquire the power to barter or renegotiate contracts utilizing this utilization information. I do not know the way a college district may perform with out wanting on the operational and structural affect inside their information.”
For LAUSD, financial savings reaped via eradicating ineffective instruments and sensible steering for future purchases greater than compensated for investing within the tech.
Find out how to Use Information Perception to Inform Skilled Improvement Plans
Recommendation from Kooper to different districts seeking to replicate LAUSD’s success:
Take a look at the information. Analyze information on the app, faculty, and district degree to resolve what coaching must happen.
Observe implementation of not simply paid apps, however unpaid apps. Use perception from information as visibility of how usually rising applied sciences reminiscent of AI or engineering-type apps are getting used at colleges.
Ask questions. Are there limitations to the know-how implementation? Is it resulting from an absence of coaching? Is it due to an absence of path? Is another issue limiting the publicity to a selected app or to a selected know-how?
Extrapolate which means from the information. Ask why would one faculty be using an app or know-how, whereas it’s being underrepresented at one other faculty. It offers perception which may result in observe up and focused PD on the faculty degree.
The Proper Tech Helps in Occasions of Want
Southern California faces added challenges resulting from excessive climate and pure disasters. When wildfires compelled faculty closures at Eaton and Palisades, Kooper created school-site teams to trace pupil engagement and entry in actual time.
“We measured utilization information among the many impacted college students to determine who was logging in and who doubtlessly was utilizing key apps we use in our faculty district for supply of instruction,” he says. “It instructed the story of the place folks had been and their capability to start out accessing studying instruments. It gave some perception by way of college students getting again to a way of normalcy primarily based on their capability to log in, entry the curriculum and get the assist they wanted. It additionally gave us one further software to have a look at the affect that know-how performs on instruction.”
By surfacing variations in system and utility use throughout campuses, Kooper ensured equitable digital studying continued regardless of the disruption — demonstrating how innovation via information use can immediately assist college students in moments of disaster.
Greater Builds A Higher Product
Because the second largest district within the nation, LAUSD gives a broad and diversified alternative for focus teams. Kooper constantly drives Okay–12 innovation by piloting rising applied sciences and constructing partnerships that form the way forward for academic know-how.
“We wish to suppose we take care of companions, not simply distributors,” he says. “Every part we do is at scale, with all of the functionalities that make an implementation tougher for a bigger faculty district. Firms want to know beforehand how their techniques are going to be impacted by the variety of customers now we have.”
That huge array of person expertise is an asset. Kooper brings a collaborative strategy — making certain principals, academics, and IT leaders are included in testing and suggestions. This inclusive course of has accelerated adoption, decreased resistance to vary, and given districts confidence that new instruments will translate to higher studying experiences for college kids.
“We would like folks to have the ability to see working with LAUSD as a bonus,” he says. “They could have a canned product that works properly for 60 or 70% of the folks. We’ll assist them create a product that may very well be utilized in methods they might not even be anticipating. The publicity is grander, with a whole lot of customers, so we are likely to see issues a bit of bit sooner than folks.”
Past know-how pilots and roll-outs, Kooper’s applications in enterprise intelligence, system administration, utility effectiveness, and community safety have supplied nationwide fashions for secure, scalable, and impactful edtech adoption. Care is at all times put into new additions to this system.
“We’ve to essentially suppose out of the field and suppose issues via 100% earlier than implementation to keep away from rolling the cube on affect for any person’s expertise,” he says.
In 2025, Kooper led LAUSD’s first districtwide display time evaluation, equipping leaders with information that immediately knowledgeable faculty board selections and guardian engagement. This mix of coverage management, disaster response, and neighborhood trust-building highlights how Kooper’s work extends past lecture rooms to form districtwide tradition.
By sharing clear, clear developments, Kooper strengthened belief between colleges, households, and the neighborhood, whereas setting a precedent for evidence-based coverage.
Procurement of Digital Options (PoDS)
PoDS is the system LAUSD makes use of to evaluation and approve all digital instruments, apps, and on-line providers earlier than they’re utilized in lecture rooms or workplaces.
Why is PoDS vital?
- Protects pupil and employees info. Many apps acquire private information. PoDS ensures distributors deal with this info safely and legally.
- Retains our community safe. One unsafe app may put a whole system in danger. PoDS prevents that.
- Ensures high quality and compliance. PoDS checks that instruments meet District requirements, align with instructing objectives, and work inside current techniques.
- Applies to all merchandise. Free, paid, tutorial, or administrative. Whether it is digital, it goes via PoDS.
- Lightspeed Programs
- Mind Pop
- Discovery Schooling
- Dreambox
- EdPuzzle
- IXL
- Kami
- Labster
- Nearpod
- Newsela
- Studying Horizon
- Renaissance
- Rosetta Stone
- Seesaw
- Shmoop
- SmartMusic
- Soundtrap
- ST Math
- Zearn
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