Case Study: Naperville Community Unit School District 203 achieves districtwide K–12 adoption and 4x faster teacher adoption with Canvas LMS

Engaging All Learners Kindergarten through High School and Beyond

Naperville Community Unit School District 203, a high-performing suburban K–12 district outside Chicago serving over 17,500 students, needed a modern learning management system in 2012 that was simple enough for kindergarteners, powerful for high school seniors, and better at supporting media, mobile access, and collaboration. Their legacy LMS was outdated and underused, so district leaders engaged more than 200 parents, students, and teachers to define requirements and run an RFP to find a better solution.

After piloting three finalists, Naperville chose Canvas and rolled it out in phases so teachers could switch at their own pace. Adoption was rapid—50% of teachers and 69% of students were using Canvas within three months, teacher adoption was four times faster than expected, and the platform is now used districtwide (20,401 users), improving engagement, parent visibility, and continuity across K–12.

Naperville Community Unit School District 203

John David Son

Director of Instructional Technology