With the start of the 2024-2025 school year, LCPS purchased the use of Lightspeed within its classrooms to ensure students are engaged and focused while in class. It provides teachers full access to what students are doing during class time. In LCPS, it has been implemented on school-issued chromebooks. The software itself  is compatible with OS, iOS, and Windows.

Based and founded in Austin, Texas, Lightspeed is a software for grades kindergarten through 12 that ensures security and technology management throughout class. Lightspeed provides real-time visibility over student activities on devices using the school WiFi. Instructors are permitted to see the screens of their student’s devices and close unnecessary tabs, making sure students are focused and engaged while in the classroom.

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Sitwat Mian

According to Lightspeed, Filter works to process hundreds of thousands of websites into more than 100 categories daily, “differentiating types of sites such as adult gaming versus educational gaming, promoting a safe digital learning experience.”

According to Lightspeed Systems, “Educators can safely message a distracted student or the entire class, redirect a student’s browser, close windows and tabs, and enable screen sharing for in-classroom collaboration.” Additionally, administrators are able to set boundaries and restrictions on their students by live screen recording and real-time alerts, notifying instructors of “unusual or inappropriate online behavior for effective intervention.”

Lightspeed is not required by the school and is only an optional tool for teachers to use. Instructors are able to choose whether to use Lightspeed during their instructional class time; oftentimes, students are not informed of when the software is being used. “I would actually prefer teachers telling [us] in advance if they use Lightspeed in the classroom, at least at the beginning of the year because students are not aware of  Lightspeed,” sophomore Isha Veera said. “They tell us what Gaggle is, but they didn’t tell us about Lightspeed.”

Many instructors have started informing their students about the implementation of the software during class hours. Sophomore Joanne Manancheril knew about the software due to her teachers. “My teachers used to bring it up a lot at the start of the year,” Manancheril said. “[They] bring it up or on the board to show [us], but they haven’t really done anything big with it.”

Instructors have used it as a tool to see if their students are on task. AP Government teacher Eric Duke has used it in class and had “enlightening” experiences. “I absolutely have used it in the classroom. [It is] probably just confirming what we already know that a laptop in front of a student is just as much of a distraction as a cell phone is in front of a student,” Duke said. “While they might have the assignment in front of them, they have 30 other tabs open, and the ability to leave that assignment at any given time, and [go] around on the internet, and watch what they want, is still there.”

Instructional Facilitator of Technology (FIT) Sarah Putnam helps teachers use LCPS-supported softwares for their classroom. “Lightspeed classrooms cannot detect phone messages like Snapchat or [Instagram],” Putnam said.  “It [cannot] see anything on your phone, and I would remind the students that they signed a student policy where it says when you’re in school, you should only use school devices for school purposes.” 

Aside from phones, many are concerned about whether it’s compatible with personal computers in LCPS. “The most recent guidance that building level staff have received is that a lightspeed classroom for lcps has parameters on it that it should only work on school issued chromebooks not on personal,” Putnam said. “Lightspeed classroom management is a cloud based system so it can work on devices. Anytime anywhere, since we (LCPS) understand the importance of data privacy controls are in place to prevent the use of this platform on non-lcps issued chromebooks.”

Additionally, in terms of safety and security, Lightspeed complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC), and National Data Processing Agreement (NDPA).  Lightspeed only has access to student school accounts through a verified instructor, school, or organization. The software protects the privacy and security of student educational records.

With regard to visibility, in addition to the security acts, Lightspeed has no direct contact with the students and parents. Teachers and administration are in prominent contact with Lightspeed. However, parents and guardians may opt-in to weekly reports summarizing their child’s internet usage during school hours. To receive the reports, they must update their settings in ParentVUE.

The Lightspeed Parent Portal can be accessed to see real-time visibility of student technology activities. Reports are sent every Sunday through email. 

“I don’t need Lightspeed — I don’t put my notes into the online system until after the class, so somebody that actually has their laptop open during class is doing something they’re not supposed to be doing,” Duke said. “That’s how I monitor the class — you don’t have access to the notes yet, so why are you online? You should be taking notes on hand since that’s the way we present notes for quizzes anyway.”

With freedom comes great responsibility: LCPS provides each of its students with a school-issued Chromebook, and regulates the devices with softwares such as Lightspeed. With this new technology, students and teachers learn to adapt to the new environment. There is still concern over whether it should have been implemented in the first place and whether real-time visibility was necessary. Over the course of the school year, it will become clear whether Lightspeed provides assistance to teachers and students or hinders education and trust.