Not Your Corporate ROI… Defining and Measuring eROI

A corporate CEO and a district superintendent walk into a coffee bar…

These two leaders have more in common than one might initially think. 

Both are charged with making smart decisions to drive strategic goals. Both oversee many programs and people that bring their organizations’ visions to life. Both must carefully steward their funds, investing in those efforts that make the biggest impact. And both leaders need the right data to understand the returns on investment, also known as ROI. 

How they analyze ROI, however, is where the similarities end.

This article will answer essential questions about ROI in the context of K–12 education, such as:

• What is “educational return on investment” (eROI)? How does it differ from the traditional ROI of the business world?
• Why is eROI both critical and complicated to measure? 
• How can districts leverage this metric to make better financial and instructional decisions? 

Let’s dive in.

What is eROI, anyway?

To understand eROI, we must first look at its counterpart in the corporate world. ROI is calculated as a ratio of costs and profits and guides crucial business decisions for organizations across most sectors. 

Costs also matter to school districts, but the real “profits” in this case are student learning outcomes. Educators sometimes think of eROI as a measure of their “return on instruction” or “academic ROI.” But it involves more than curriculum or instruction alone. Other investments, such as professional learning for teachers, recruiting efforts to fill vacancies, supplemental learning tools, after-school programs, and more, also contribute to student success.

Why does eROI matter?

Understanding the eROI of even one educational investment is a game-changer for many districts. With eROI, leaders clearly see how their dollars correlate with student achievement. 

It is the difference between hiking with a compass and trail map, versus wandering the path based on gut checks and a hazy memory of the park map.

Take, for example, an online math program purchased to boost third-grade math scores. A district leader measuring its success with eROI will understand not only how many purchased seats have been filled, but also how many students experience gains in their math scores based on their use of the program, whether particular subsets of students gain more or less than others, what dosage or frequency of program use correlates with maximum gains, and more. 

With this insight into the program’s eROI, this leader can take a number of actions to minimize costs while maximizing impact, such as scale the program to new grade levels, train teachers on effective usage strategies to maximize the program’s potential, eliminate or redistribute unused seats, use program data to advocate to the school board to redirect funds away or towards the program, and so on. 

That is the power of eROI.  

What makes eROI difficult to measure?

However, what makes eROI powerful is also what makes it complex to calculate. 

Districts quickly become overwhelmed while trying to quantify the cost of their many investments against specific learning outcomes. Below are just a few challenges districts face when measuring eROI:

• Staying at the surface with usage data: Most instructional products, programs, and services tend to focus on usage as a signal of success. However, this data cannot reveal how students benefit from a particular investment, let alone how it maximally impacts learning per dollar spent. 
• Limited data accuracy and availability: Even if districts dig past usage data, it is cumbersome for teams to pull together the right metrics from the right places. Some data may be inaccessible or only available at certain times of the year; other data is not accurate to begin with. Efforts to clean and retrieve data cost valuable team time and effort.
• Isolated teams and conversations: How often do teams like Curriculum, Student Services, Operations, Human Resources, Finance, and more sit down together to jointly assess student outcomes against funding? Despite conceptually understanding the many factors affecting student learning and their costs, these conversations tend to be isolated to specific departments. This makes it tough for the organization as a whole to invest limited funds strategically to boost student achievement. 

Fortunately, any district can work through these challenges with the right systems and processes in place. Read this blog to discover three critical strategies for measuring eROI successfully. 

How can districts use eROI?

There are two ways to apply eROI in district decision-making: eliminate wasteful spending and maximize the impact of investments made.

Save district money

eROI offers a quick way to save money by illuminating which resources are underutilized. Whether a district discovers unused licenses for a program or double-purchases at the district and school levels, they can easily align costs with usage accordingly. 

However, those resources with 100% utilization also require scrutiny. Why? Districts have an obligation to ensure funds are well spent, achieving their goals for student learning. As we will explore below, eROI helps districts examine if even their most popular or well-used investments deliver on their promises.

Districts can further leverage eROI to determine how to continue or adjust programs with at-risk funding sources, especially with the ongoing budget concerns unique to the 2025-2026 school year. eROI allows leaders to tease apart which programs may be worth reinvesting dollars from another source based on their impact, and which to cut.

Watch our webinar to learn how Lee County Schools aligned their budget with their strategic plan by measuring every instructional investment.

Maximize limited funding

eROI continues to support leaders by detailing how well remaining investments deliver on student learning outcomes. This assessment involves understanding not only which resources drive student growth but also how they maximally impact learning. 

This latter piece is essential. By understanding the “how” of a program’s impact on learning, districts can focus on\ spreading these best practices across schools. 

Let’s revisit that online math program we discussed earlier. Perhaps this district discovers that students who utilize the program according to vendor instructions see double the gains in their math scores within one school year. Equipped with this insight, the district team can then partner with school principals to help staff better use this program to its full potential. This may include:

• Educating principals and teachers about vendor recommendations and why following them matters
• Pointing out best practices found at schools where student gains are particularly strong
• Offering training and other support to create time for students to use the math program more frequently
• Reallocating devices across campuses to ensure students can access the math program

And the list goes on.

Targeted support like professional learning is indeed another investment of district time and money. But with eROI, leaders can feel confident that these investments are most likely to move the needle most effectively on student learning outcomes. 

Improve the returns on your educational investments with Level Data

As a district leader, you shouldn’t have to lean on gut checks or incomplete data to know which investments deliver your organization’s promises on student learning.

Level Data’s Return On Instruction (ROI) platform eliminates the guesswork by bringing participation, performance, and funding data under one roof for everything from professional learning and coaching to digital tools and programs. Leverage at-a-glance dashboards, in-depth reporting beyond usage, and configurable goals for every investment to understand the academic impact of your educational spending and ensure every student succeeds.

Contact us today to see the solution in action.