Children's classrooms are fast becoming high-tech hubs. New education tech applications are changing what teachers can do, who they can reach and how much power they take back from a standardized system. Others strive to give teachers a precious gift: time.

Clever is also gaining ground at a time when many districts use legacy student information databases that were not designed to integrate directly with dozens of learning apps or allow students to access them through a single portal. “It’s a barrier to learning, ” said Mr. Bosmeny. “Our goal is to open up access as quickly as we can.”

“On our end, it’s a one-time action, and then Clever does the rest,” said Debbie Karcher, Miami-Dade's chief information officer. “It saves us so much time. When we hear that a vendor’s using Clever, our ears perk up. That automatically makes it easier on our side.”