Stepping Up During a K12 Emergency
Edovate portfolio companies are rising to the challenges posed by COVID-19 in K12 education
During this COVID-19 crisis, I’m inspired every day by the amazing efforts of entrepreneurs and their teams to positively impact the lives of those touched by K12 schools and districts. Not only are they addressing challenges to help teachers, administrators, and students continue educating and learning, but they’re also supporting hundreds of employees and their families. Here’s a sample of some of the amazing work that Edovate Capital portfolio companies are doing to create impact during COVID-19.
BookNook is an adaptive digital reading platform that helps students make measurable reading gains. They’re offering the BookNook platform at no cost to new partners affected by closures during this outbreak. Free access includes remote sessions where students use video conferencing to log in to teacher guided sessions. Access also includes parent guides in which parents can login and provide near school-quality lessons to their kids at home.
KickUp helps school districts use data to power job-embedded professional learning. As K12 districts shift to distance learning, KickUp and McRel International have partnered to create a free suite of resources for professional learning leaders to support coaches and teachers implementing virtual learning. Learn more about these resources here.
LearnPlatform is an edtech effectiveness system that equips education organizations to control their “Wild West” ecosystem by empowering them to organize, streamline, and analyze their technology to save time, save money, and improve outcomes. LearnPlatform’s free EdTech Insights series is a collection of data-driven analyses and resources providing actionable, timely, and intellectually honest insights into how edtech is actually used across the country. The series is designed to provide a look at what is actually happening in remote and online learning while helping district and state leaders expand equitable outcomes for all students.
Paper is an Educational Support System (ESS) designed to augment teaching and promote learning. For schools and districts that have no other choice than to adopt remote learning because of COVID-19, Paper’s ESS is an extra source of support ensuring that all students get 1:1 support. Students receive instant live help from certified educators and teachers save time and energy by receiving transparent reports into their classes and supporting intervention tools for Tier 2 and Tier 3 RTI initiatives. Learn more here.
Pear Deck is on a mission to help teachers deliver powerful learning moments to every student, every day. Educators use Pear Deck for teaching synchronous and asynchronous lessons remotely, ready-to-teach content, and to find tips and trick from fellow educators. To make sure all teachers can have Pear Deck in their teaching tool kit, the company has opened up access to all of Pear Deck’s Premium features for free. Learn more about free resources for teachers here.
Schoolrunner is a powerful, comprehensive management system for school leaders and educators that helps them improve student outcomes using actionable data. The system is vital for schools working to keep tabs on attendance, behavior, grades, and more in a remote environment. The team has put together a curated list of remote learning resources for schools to access to help them level up.
Story2 helps individuals launch, plan, and grow their careers through the neuroscience of storytelling. HirePower™ teaches anyone how to build a portfolio of career stories and match them to specific job opportunities. As the COVID-19 health crisis deepens into an economic crisis, more and more people are unemployed and looking for their next job. Story2 can help them tell their stories, find a good job match, and achieve measurable results. Start free here.
Swing Education provides a best-in-class platform for matching substitute teachers with schools and districts that need them. With school closures, school demand for substitute teachers has subsided, but the desire for substitute teachers to work and the need for student support in remote learning settings has increased. So, Swing Education launched a tutoring service that pairs their certificated teacher network with students in need of support. Learn more about the Swing Education tutoring service here.
ThinkCERCA delivers rigorous literacy instruction to students in a remote learning environment and helps them build critical thinking skills. Partners can achieve two years of reading growth with ThinkCERCA’s literacy software and curriculum. The ThinkCERCA team has curated a series of free lessons on COVID-19 that are free to teachers, parents and students. Free lessons can be accessed here.
At Edovate Capital, we’re inspired every day by the talent and dedication of both entrepreneurs and educators around the world who are stepping up to address the many challenges of COVID-19. During this difficult time, we deeply appreciate the efforts of so many in the K12 community including school administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and their families who work tirelessly to help young people develop and grow. We’re hopeful that schools can emerge from this crisis more prepared than ever to provide opportunities for all students to succeed.
