From 38 Programs to 4: How Bamberg County School District Reclaimed More Than $100,000 with Level Data’s ROI

Background

Bamberg County School District in the eastern portion of South Carolina serves approximately 1,700 students across six schools. Following the consolidation of Bamberg 1 and Bamberg 2 into a single district in 2022, leaders faced a common challenge: understanding whether the instructional programs they were paying for were actually being used and making a difference for students.

The Challenge

As the newly consolidated district took stock of its instructional investments, Charlotte Schlamp, the district’s Instructional Technology Coach and Curriculum Director, quickly realized there was no consistent process for evaluating program usage or impact. While many of the tools were intended to support teaching and learning, district leaders had limited visibility into how frequently they were being used, whether they were improving student outcomes, or if they justified their cost.

At one point, the district had more than 38 active programs in use across schools. Decisions about renewals often relied on anecdotal feedback rather than comprehensive data. “We had to have some type of way to track it,” Schlamp said. “Nobody was checking to see the
usage. It was like, ‘Oh, I want this, we’ll purchase it.’”

Without a clear view of usage, costs, and outcomes, it was difficult to identify underutilized programs, prioritize spending, or make confident decisions about future investments.

The Solution

After learning about Level Data at a Title I conference, Bamberg County School District implemented Level Data’s Return on Instruction (ROI) analytics platform to gain a clearer picture of program usage and effectiveness across the district.

ROI helps districts connect instructional investments to student outcomes by bringing together data from multiple systems, including digital learning programs, assessment platforms, gradebooks, student information systems, and financial systems. By combining usage, cost, and performance data, district leaders can identify which programs are delivering value and where resources can have the greatest impact.

The implementation process began in January and was largely managed by Schlamp. With support from Level Data’s customer success team, the district connected data from multiple systems and began reviewing reports that combined program usage, assessment data, grades, and financial information.

One of the first findings was eye-opening. The district maintained a districtwide subscription to IXL, yet ROI revealed that only 8% of students were actively using the program. ROI quickly became a tool for making more informed spending decisions.

“We started looking at the data coming in from Level Data, and it helped us make financial decisions based on data. Here’s what we’re not going to renew, and so our process started that way.”

What began as a review of software utilization quickly expanded into broader conversations about instructional effectiveness and accountability.

As district leaders and principals began examining ROI analytics, they were able to quantify patterns they had previously only suspected, including instances of grade inflation and discrepancies between classroom grades and student performance on state assessments.

“We knew there were inflated grades. We just didn’t have the data that showed there were inflated grades,” Schlamp said.

Results

Using ROI, Bamberg County School District gained a clearer understanding of which instructional investments were being used, delivering results, and deserving continued funding.

In just the first year the district eliminated more than 30 instructional technology programs, reclaiming more than $100,000 that they have reallocated higher-impact initiatives.

The platform’s data provided new insights into grading patterns, instructional consistency, and student growth. District leaders used those findings to inform staffing and instructional decisions, including restructuring sixth grade into a single-subject teaching model that is now being considered for expansion into additional grade levels.

What began as a tool for evaluating return on investment has become an important resource for academic planning, resource allocation, and continuous improvement.

Looking Ahead

Bamberg County School District has expanded its partnership with Level Data by adopting Grow, an online teacher coaching platform, that streamlines professional development tracking and standardizes teacher evaluations, replacing a time-consuming paper-based system. They are also exploring Level Data’s Brolly IEP management solution to document services, improve collaboration among teachers, and monitor progress toward IEP goals.

“We’re looking forward to having PD tracking and observation data live in one place, making it easier to see growth over time, target coaching support where it’s needed most, and give our administrators a tool that fits naturally into their existing walkthrough routines rather than adding another disconnected system.”