About Metiri’s RoI for Technology in Education/Digtial Learning.
What problem does our RoI solution solve? Many districts have not yet clearly identified how they will measure their Return on Investment (RoI) for Digital Learning; nor have they established clear indicators of success, the metrics and instruments by which to measure R0I, nor a reporting structure that documents change over time to inform continuous improvement.
The Metiri RoI Solution for Digital Learning: Metiri Group will use its proprietary framework for RoI in Digital Learning – and existing datasets — to help districts understand, document, collect/analyze evidence, in order to track, analyze, and report RoI status in Digital Learning over time. As background, districts and schools in New Jersey already annually collect device, infrastructure, and digital learning readiness and progress for all their schools in NJTRAx, a software for service provided by the Metiri Group through a contract with the NJ Department of Education (currently in its sixth year). This solution would map these existing datasets to Metiri’s RoI framework to extract the RoI status of the district. This proposed solution would start by securing written permission of the district to access the NJTRAx data. Once secured, Metiri would download the following from NJTRAx: 1) District and school device inventories, 2) District and school broadband capacities, 3) The results from schools’ last set of reports from the school-based NJTRAx Digital Learning component. NJTRAx DL uses the national FRS framework and surveys of 5 respondent groups at each school to gauge readiness and current progress in digital learning at each school. Metiri would then confirm the accuracy of infrastructure reports with the district’s CFO. Once confirmed, Metiri would combine these datasets, along with key academic indicators and the results from a district infrastructure questionnaire (conducted with the CFO of the district) to create a report that documents the RoI for the district.
The beauty of the Metiri RoI for Digital Learning solution is that it uses existing datasets in NJTRAx, combined with academic reports (and one new questionnaire) to frame and document R0I for the district. This process could be repeated annually to establish trend data over time. The results would provide the district with insights into its strengths and weaknesses that could inform strategic and tactical planning and the continuous improvement required to achieve a digital learning R0I.
Note: Service provided only for those districts that have updated their data in NJTRAx Technology Readiness and NJTRAx Digital Learning within the prior 12 months. While this service could be provided for single districts, pricing is also offered on a statewide basis for 20 or more districts. The latter approach would provide states a turnkey, on demand RoI reporting systems. For districts, Metiri will serve as an RoI coach to teach the CFO from a district how to calculate their own R0I from NJTRAx data in a 4 to 6 hour workshop, plus 8 hours of consulting.
Research Methodology
The Metiri RoI Solution was developed under the leadership of Cheryl Lemke, internationally recognized leader in evaluation of digital learning and Dr. Jody Britten. Dr. Britten is a methodologist and education researcher, a former professor, former teacher, and former assessment coordinator and curriculum director.
The research team followed a rigorous development process that involved multiple rounds of piloting and refinement of the RoI calculations.