edBiz Update

A Newsletter for Education Business Leaders

Todd Hand
Managing Director and Education Principal
todd@bsgtv.com

Ralph Protsik
Co-Founder and Managing Director
ralph@bsgtv.com

Mary Axelson
Editor

www.bsgtv.com

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February Feature: M&A ACTIVITY FROM CHERRY TREE

Shutterfly Agrees to Acquire Lifetouch
ASSIST Agrees to Acquire Advantages School International
National-Louis University Agrees to Acquire Kendall College
Jumpstart World Acquires Sokikom
LivingTree Acquires Edbacker
Asteria Education Acquires ECS Learning
Ellevation Raises $10 Million
Lambda School Raises $4 Million
Wonderschool Raises $2.1 Million
TeacherGaming Raises $1.6 Million
Silver Lake to Buy Majority Stake in Weld North Education
Intermediate Capital Group Acquires PSB Academy
Saw Mill Capital Partners Acquires MeTEOR Education
Centre Lane Partners Acquires Infobase
Brainly Acquires Bask
Sequel Youth and Family Acquires Rebecca School and Aaron School
Pearson Agrees to Sell Stake in Utel
Thinkful Raises $9.6 Million
LearnPlatform Raises $3.2 Million
ParentPowered Raises $2.65 Million
Degree Analytics Raises $1 Million


Recent BSG Search Activity:

Active searches
Sotheby's Institute of Art, Global Head of Admissions and Recruitment
CIG Education Group, Sr. Director of Global Information and Technology
KIPP Texas, Chief Operating Officer
Herzing University, Chief Marketing Officer
One CEO search currently underway under a non-disclosure agreement.

Closed 2017-2018 searches
Walton Family Foundation, Senior Advisor
Edmentum, President and CEO
Rosetta Stone, CEO
The School of The New York Times, Director, Pre-College Division
AltSchool, Chief Academic Officer
KIPP Foundation, Chief of Programs and Impact
American Public University System (APUS), President
Burning Glass, VP Business Development
Illuminate Education, VP Sales
OnCourse Learning, Chief Technology Officer; Chief Marketing Officer
Turnitin/Insight Venture Partners, SVP Sales
eDynamic Learning, SVP Sales & Marketing
Quad Partners, Chief Financial Officer; Chief Marketing Officer
InsideTrack, SVP Program Development
Elsevier, Head of Adaptive Solutions
GEMS Education, Chief Financial Officer
Cambridge Education Group, General Manager
American Honors/Quad Learning, VP Business Development
Illuminate Education, VP Sales
MeTEOR Education, VP Sales
Center for the Collaborative Classroom, Chief Technology Officer
Human Capital Institute, Chief Learning Officer; Chief Marketing Officer
ILSC, Managing Director
DecisionDesk, CEO
Jones & Bartlett Learning, VP Content Production
Penn Foster, EVP Business Solutions; General Counsel
Teachers for Tomorrow, Chief Revenue Officer
Tiber Health (a University Ventures portfolio company), Chief Product Officer




Sources
  • Academic Business Advisors, LLC
  • Associated Press (AP)
  • Academic Business Advisors, LLC
  • The Atlantic
  • Bostinno
  • Brookings Institution
  • Campus Technology
  • Center for American Progress
  • Center for Digital Education
  • Center on Education and the Workforce
  • Christian Science Monitor
  • The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • The Clayton Christensen Institute
  • CLO Media
  • CNBC
  • CNET smartplanet.com
  • Computer World
  • Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
  • eCampus News
  • eLearning
  • The Economist
  • The Economic Times
  • edSurge
  • Education Dive
  • Education News
  • Education Next
  • Education Sector
  • Education Week
  • Educause Review
  • Edudemic
  • Edutopia
  • EdWeek Market Brief
  • eLearn Magazine
  • Entrepreneur
  • eSchool News
  • Fast Company
  • Forbes
  • Fortune
  • FoxNews.com
  • Geekwire
  • GettingSmart.com
  • Harvard Business Review
  • The Hechinger Report
  • The Heritage Foundation
  • Huffington Post
  • Inside Higher Ed
  • IT World
  • Journal of Applied Research on Children
  • KQEDMind/Shift
  • McKinsey Quarterly
  • MDR EdNet InSight
  • MIT Technology Review
  • Mother Jones
  • National Journal
  • NBCNews.com
  • NewsDay
  • NewsWeek
  • The New Republic
  • The New Yorker
  • The New York Times
  • The Week
  • NPR
  • OnStartups.com
  • Politico
  • Psych Central
  • Rolling Stone
  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • Scientific American
  • The 74 Million
  • SkilledUp
  • Skoll World Forum
  • Slate
  • The Stifel Equity Research Group
  • Social Science Research Network
  • TechCrunch
  • Tech Radar
  • T.H.E. Journal
  • Thomas B. Fordham Institute
  • Time
  • University Business
  • University Ventures
  • University World News
  • US News & World Report
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Washington Post
  • Venture Beat

K-12
Getting Smart: The Implications of Gartner's Top 10 Tech Trends of 2018 for Education
In October, Gartner released a report with predictions about the top tech trends for business in 2018. Gartner uses the term the intelligent digital mesh to describe "the entwining of people, devices, content and services" that will create the "foundation for the next generation of digital business models and ecosystems...more>>
EdSurge: Former Google Design Ethicist: Relying on Big Tech in Schools Is a 'Race to the Bottom'
Researchers, filmmakers, teachers, policymakers and technologists gathered in Washington, D.C. this morning to continue the growing national conversation on the problems and solutions to technology addiction and the consequences it has on young minds...more>>
Washington Post: Private school with global ambition to open in D.C. and China in 2019
Whittle School & Studios will offer foreign-language immersion - Chinese in the United States, English in China - with a curriculum centered on mastery of core academic subjects, student-driven projects and off-campus learning opportunities in major world cities...more>>
Chalkbeat: With new focus on curriculum, Gates Foundation wades into tricky territory
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a new plan intended to help public schools: improve the materials that teachers use to teach...more>>
The 74: Helping Schools Follow Their Money - and Make Sure It's Working for Every Student
Jess Gartner, a former Baltimore middle school teacher and the CEO/founder of Allovue, knew education had a real budgeting problem when she saw schools in the same district with wildly divergent resources for their students...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Blurry Lines Around K-12 Funding Means Schools Have Options to Pay for Ed-Tech Products
Recently at the LearnLaunch Across Boundaries conference in Boston, a moderator posed a question to a panel I attended that made me think: Digitization breaks down the buckets of funding. Do these blurry lines help or hurt ed-tech companies?...more>>
The 74 Interview: Joel Rose on Personalized Learning's 'Overdue Transition,' Building Better Tests - and Meeting Kids Where They Are
Personalized learning will dominate the 2018 education conversation in deeper and more meaningful ways, predicts one of its earliest adopters...more>>
WSJ: As Online Schools Expand, So Do Questions About Their Performance
Online classrooms offer greater flexibility and freedom, but a review of more than 400 full-time virtual schools shows they deliver relatively poor performance and low graduation rates...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Why Startups Fail: Lessons for Education Companies
Bad pricing. Hard-to-use products. Shortages of cash. And worst of all: Selling something nobody wants...more>>
EdWeek: Tech Companies Are Buying Their Own Education Research. That's a Problem
A teacher's take on screentime addiction, 1:1 technology, and other ed-tech dilemmas...more>>
Bloomberg: How Much Would You Pay to Cure Your Kid's Learning Disability?
The Brain Balance franchise is selling a 12-week package to tackle ADHD, autism, and other conditions, and parents are buying it...more>>
Telegraph: UK early learning education is hot property for Chinese investors
The demand for 'Western education' and a favorable exchange rate is fueling interest from China in the acquisition of British early-years provision...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: 5 Insights to Help Prepare Students for the Future of Work, From the Economist and Google
Preparing students for 21st-century jobs that have yet to be imagined will require teaching "soft skills" and new teaching strategies, a worldwide study by the Economist's Intelligence Unit found...more>>
Getting Smart: 8 Examples of the Future of EdTech, Fresh from FETC
Heralding the need for a revolution in education, Sir Ken Robinson was the keynote speaker that kicked off the 39th annual Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando, FL...more>>
EdTech: FETC 2018: New Technology for 21st Century Learners Takes Center Stage
A keynote focusing on incredible innovations paired with a number of tech debuts showcases exciting updates to education...more>>
Venture Beat: 6 industries on the verge of VR disruption
The last few months have been exciting for those interested in the advancement of virtual reality technology. Two leading headsets (the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive) saw permanent price cuts, following reported sales jumps from the Rift's temporary price cut this summer...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Virtual Reality 'Class Kits' Expected to Gain Foothold in U.S. Schools
The next wave of technology adoption in U.S. schools is likely to be virtual reality "class kits," said Ben Davis, a senior market analyst for education at Futuresource Consulting, a research firm that held an event here Thursday evening...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Student-Centered Learning in Spotlight at World's Largest Ed-Tech Show
What will today's kindergartners need in order to succeed in the world as the Class of 2030? "Student-centricity," according to research conducted by McKinsey & Company on behalf of Microsoft Education, and showcased on the opening day at Bett, the world's largest educational technology show here...more>>
Business Insider: An education startup you've never heard of is now in 70% of US school districts
A startup called Kiddom is in 70% of US school districts, and it's quickly enticing teachers with the "personalized learning" model...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Microsoft Unveils Lower-Cost K-12 Devices in Fight for School Market
Microsoft has unveiled lower-cost laptop devices and revamped features within its classroom-productivity tools, a series of changes that come as the corporation battles Google and Apple for supremacy in the school market...more>>
EdDive: What's on the horizon for ed tech in 2018?
We asked four experts what they see as the biggest trends - and what they're most wary of...more>>
EdSurge: A Clever Way to Measure How Students Actually Use Edtech (and Whether It Works)
If you buy it, you better use it. That especially holds true for K-12 school officials who altogether spend more than $8.3 billion on education software each year, according to estimates from the Software and Information Industry Association...more>>
Getting Smart: Not Much New in EdTech in 2017; 3 Things Could Change That in 2018
Despite more global investment in EdTech, not much happened in 2017. Last year the rise of artificial intelligence (as reported here) was evident everywhere-not so much in education. There were some minor advances in adaptive learning and some ad copy about AI but few new applications...more>>
Ed Dive: 6 K-12 trends to watch in 2018
Efforts to rethink the existing model and the impact of ESSA implementation will continue shaping education this year...more>>
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation with Stanford Social Innovation Review: A New Impact Investing Model for Education
School entrepreneurs in India have a new option, with loans that encourage better test scores...more>>
Education Week: Trump Seeks to Cut Education Budget by 5 Percent, Expand School Choice Push
President Donald Trump is seeking a roughly 5 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Education's budget for fiscal 2019 in a proposal that also mirrors his spending plan from last year by seeking to eliminate a major teacher-focused grant and to expand school choice...more>>
Education Week: Almost Three-Quarters of Superintendents Say Schools Inadequately Funded: Survey
Seventy-three percent of superintendents say their school districts are inadequately funded, and about 62 percent say that they do not have a way to make up the shortfall if federal and state aid are cut in the upcoming school year. Forty-percent said they expected state and local revenues to be cut...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: K-12 District Spending Analysis Raises Red Flag About ESSA School Comparisons
A study of school district spending patterns in 2016-17 has found it can be difficult to track equitable use of resources across schools because of the way budgeting is done and spending is reported...more>>
Education Week: Trump Education Dept. Hits the Start Button on Innovative Tests
State education leaders: Thinking about applying for the Every Student Succeeds Act Innovative Assessment pilot? You've got until April 2 to get your application in, according to an advance notice released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education...more>>
Edutopia: Will Letter Grades Survive?
A century-old pillar of the school system is under fire as schools look to modernize student assessment...more>>
EdDive: FETC 2018: Ken Robinson argues 2 key points in support of creative schools
More pressure is needed from the bottom up if a push for creativity over standardization is to continue forcing change...more>>
Washington Examiner: The armed forces have an education problem
Recently, the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service held its first meeting. Established by Congress in 2016, the Commission is tasked, among other things, with making recommendations by 2020 on how to increase Millennial participation in our armed forces...more>>
NPR: America's Schools Are 'Profoundly Unequal,' Says U.S. Civil Rights Commission
The 150-page report, titled "Public Education Funding Inequity: In An Era Of Increasing Concentration Of Poverty and Resegregation," reads like a footnoted walking tour through the many ways America's education system fails vulnerable students...more>>
Education Week: Quality Counts 2018: Report and Rankings
Education Week's annual state-by-state assessment of public education paints a portrait of middling performance overall with patches of high achievement, along with perennial struggles to improve on the part of states mired at the bottom...more>>
Education Week: D.C.'s Scandal and the Nationwide Problem of Fudging Graduation Numbers
The headlines made a big splash, and yet they were strangely familiar: Another school system was reporting a higher graduation rate than it deserved...more>>
MDR: Nation's Schools Earn a "C" from Education Week Quality Counts
Education Week released the 22nd edition of Quality Counts this week. This year, Quality Counts will be issued in three installments, allowing a more in-depth approach to the data underpinning the report. This first installment presents the annual "report card" that Education Week delivers to grade the nation's and the states' education progress...more>>
Chronicle of Philanthropy: A Venture Capitalist Uses Philanthropy to Reimagine Education
As a venture capitalist, Ted Dintersmith made bets on fledgling tech companies. The work did more than make him wealthy; it also spurred his passion for reimagining education and has shaped his hands-on approach to philanthropy...more>>
Chalkbeat: Before Families for Excellent Schools' sudden implosion, waning influence and a series of stumbles
Years before its public implosion this week, Families for Excellent Schools stood at the center of New York's charter-school sector and the rough-and-tumble politics surrounding it...more>>
EdSurge: Big Data, Different Visions: Why Charter Networks Are Investing Heavily in Data Teams
At a time when qualified teachers are in high demand, there's another role that districts are looking to fill: data experts...more>>
Education Week: Budget Deal Offers Funding for Disaster-Ravaged Schools, Child Care, But No DACA Fix
Congress and the White House came together Friday on a two-year budget deal to boost domestic spending, help schools ravaged by hurricanes and wildfires, and invest in child care and children's health...more>>
EdDive: Pre-to-3: It's legislative season - time to take another look at kindergarten policies
In many states, kindergarten still isn't treated like 1st through 12th grade...more>>
Politico: How Betsy DeVos softened her message on school choice
Trump's most controversial Cabinet member backs away from divisive rhetoric...more>>
NYT: As DeVos Approves Education Plans, She Finds Skeptics in G.O.P. Governors
The majority of states now have the green light from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to begin implementing a sweeping federal law passed in 2015 to replace the much-maligned No Child Left Behind law. But state and federal education policymakers are running into a surprising source of opposition: governors...more>>
eSchool News: Net neutrality repeal widens opportunity gap for students
In the face of dangerous action around internet access, the federal E-rate program could face uncertainty...more>>
EdDive: Marijuana sales creating new revenue for schools, children's programs
Educators, however, are concerned about negative messages to students...more>>
U.S. News/Hechinger: Three-Quarters of Public School Spending Cuts Restored
The 2008 recession may seem like a long time ago, hitting before Barack Obama began his presidency, but public elementary, middle and high schools around the country are still feeling the pinch from it...more>>

Higher Ed
EDUCAUSE Review: Top 10 IT Issues, 2018: The Remaking of Higher Education
The 2018 Top 10 IT Issues show how digital technology is remaking higher education through four key themes: institutional adaptiveness, improved student outcomes, improved decision-making, and IT adaptiveness...more>>
EdDive: 8 global trends impacting higher ed
When it comes to the future of universities and colleges around the world, higher education leaders are all too aware it's not just domestic trends that can impact the way they operate their institutions...more>>
Times Higher Ed: Universities face 'Olympian' competition in new technological era
Universities will be caught up in "Olympian" levels of competition in coming years as countries race to make advancements in fields such as artificial intelligence and robotics, a vice-chancellor has warned...more>>
EdDive: 'The sky is falling, stuff is tanking!'
Higher education set current campus policies when growth was the norm. What does the industry do now that the norm has shifted?...more>>
NYT: Corporations Will Inherit the Earth
...The nimbleness of corporations gives them an edge over hoary, complacent institutions, including those in higher education. Corporations' creep into that sphere is looking more and more like a sprint...more>>
Forbes: The Changing Business Model For Colleges And Universities
Colleges and universities face daunting challenges to long-established business models. The cost of providing higher education continues to rise with fewer students either able or willing to pay the price...more>>
WSJ: Giving to Colleges Jumps 6.3% to Record $43.6 Billion in Fiscal 2017
Donations to Harvard, Stanford top $1.1 billion each...more>>
Washington Post: Millions of Americans are living in higher-education deserts, report says
Despite the indelible image of some fresh-faced 18-year-old heading out of state for college, the truth is nearly 40 percent of students attend a school less than 50 miles from home...more>>
Chronicle: International Grad Students' Interest in American Higher Ed Marks First Decline in 14 Years
First-time enrollment rates for international graduate students declined by 1 percent from the fall-2016 to the fall-2017 admission cycles. In addition, final application counts from international graduate students declined by 3 percent...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: A Rankings Mess, Getting Worse
Were four years of top ratings from U.S. News based on incorrect data?...more>>
EDUCAUSE Two Skills That Will Help You Navigate the Fast Pace of Change Across Your Campus
People who are responsible for leadership in higher education are at the vanguard of a powerful, persistent, and ever-present force: change. This really shouldn't be a surprise, especially to those who are familiar with the fast pace of technological advancement and the challenges it presents to the people who must adapt to it...more>>
EdDive: Higher Ed can take the lead in growing IoT economy
Carnegie Mellon and University of Wisconsin are among schools active in IoT curriculum...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Checking on Vendors
Universities are turning to secret shoppers, not to spy on competitors, but to keep tabs on third-party vendors that run key functions like admissions...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: The 'Huh?' Button
A lecture-capture platform with a "confusion alert" button is changing the way some instructors teach...more>>
Chronicle: Outlook for Higher Ed in 2018 Is Bleak, Ratings Agency Says
Higher education will face many of the same challenges in 2018 that it has in previous years, but additional state and federal pressures suggest a bleak outlook for the sector this year, according to the ratings agency Standard and Poor's...more>>
Campus Technology: Online Course Enrollment Sees Relentless Growth
According to the Babson Survey Research Group's latest annual report on distance education in the United States, online student enrollment has grown for the 14th year in a row...more>>
EDUCAUSE Review: Best of 2017
A look at the most-read EDUCAUSE Review articles and blogs in 2017...more>>
EdDive: As companies step up to train workers in rapidly changing technologies, can universities keep up?
Steve "Woz" Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple, has joined a growing pool of business leaders looking to take matters to upgrade higher education to meet the needs of today's tech industries into his own hands...more>>
EdSurge: EdX Quietly Developing 'MicroBachelors' Program
EdX, the nonprofit online-education group founded by MIT and Harvard, is quietly developing a "MicroBachelors" degree that is designed to break the undergraduate credential into Lego-like components...more>>
Campus Technology: Report: MOOCs Attracting More Paying Customers
If anybody stays on top of the massive open online course segment, it's Class Central, a search engine that taps into every MOOC platform...more>>
EdSurge: A Product at Every Price: A Review of MOOC Stats and Trends in 2017
The MOOC landscape has grown to include 9,400 courses, more than 500 MOOC-based credentials, and more than a dozen graduate degrees...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: The Cost of Attending For-Profits
A new analysis finds that students enrolling in certificate programs are more likely to experience economic gains from enrolling in programs at public institutions, generally community colleges, than at for-profit institutions...more>>
Chronicle: DeVos's Education Dept. Relaxed Rules for For-Profits Under Accreditor That Closed
As a controversial accreditor of for-profit colleges sought new federal recognition, the Department of Education relaxed requirements for institutions affected by its loss of that recognition...more>>
EdDive: Are college benefit corporations a new model for higher ed?
Three years ago, Laureate Education lifted an obscure new class of corporations into the mainstream when it became the first public benefit corporation to sell shares on the stock market...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Laureate Shifts Focus
Global education giant Laureate sells off some international institutions and refocuses on emerging markets...more>>
Washington Post: Are states doing enough to regulate for-profit colleges? This study says no.
A study from the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law says too many states fail to protect students from bad actors in the for-profit college industry...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Phase 2 for Boot Camps
Skills boot camps continue to grow and diversify despite wave of consolidation, while traditional higher education increasingly absorbs aspects of the short-term training model...more>>
Chronicle: Here's What the $400-Billion Federal Spending Deal Means for Higher Ed
Soon after the federal government shut down, at the stroke of midnight on Friday, Congress passed and President Trump signed a two-year, bipartisan budget deal that not only keeps the government running until late March but also provides more funding for higher-education programs...more>>
EdDive: What approval of the budget deal really means for higher ed
Following a brief government shutdown, Congress approved a 652-page two-year bipartisan budget proposal Friday that raises spending caps by over $300 billion for military and domestic affairs, while allotting $90 billion for disaster relief, and funding the government for the next six weeks as a revised appropriations plan is hashed out...more>>
WSJ: Student Aid Would Fall by $15 Billion Under GOP Bill, CBO Says
Proposal would eliminate debt-forgiveness programs for future borrowers and allow interest on student loans to accrue sooner, but also boost Pell Grants...more>>
NASFAA: Final Rules on State Authorization of Distance Education Become Effective July 1, 2018
In December 2016, the Department of Education (ED) published final rules relating to state authorization of distance education...Summary of the Major Provisions...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Dividing Lines Take Shape in Senate
As key committee strives for consensus on Higher Education Act, Republicans push for innovation and Democrats focus on protecting students from low-quality programs...more>>
Chronicle: State Spending on Higher Education Has Inched Upward. But Most Public Colleges Can't Celebrate.
State appropriations for higher education increased nominally over the last year, according to an annual survey. But the small rise and wide variations across the nation underscore why many public colleges still have reason to fret about their states' economies...more>>
EdDive: The key higher ed issues for states in 2018
For the first time since the American Association of State Colleges and Universities started tracking the top state concerns impacting higher education 11 years ago, changes to federal policy tops the list...more>>
Huffington Post: U.S. Higher Education vs. the Government
There has always been a historic tension between America's colleges and universities and the government, whether at the state or federal level. It's unavoidable. Once the government began to fund students and institutions in the late 20th century, its leaders believed that they had a right and responsibility to oversee the use of government funds...more>>
Politico: Amazon's Bezos to give $33M for 1,000 Dreamer scholarships
Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced Friday that they are donating $33 million to provide college scholarships for undocumented students who were brought to the country illegally as children...more>>
NCES: First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor's Outcomes
...A considerable body of research indicates that students whose parents have not attended college often face significant challenges in accessing postsecondary education, succeeding academically once they enroll, and completing a degree...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: The 9th Graders of 2009, 7 Years Later
Nearly three-quarters of ninth graders tracked in a major federal study had received some kind of postsecondary education or training within seven years -- and nearly a quarter of them had left their programs without a credential of any sort...more>>
EdDive: The state of retention and completion in higher education in 9 charts
Overall, U.S full-time student retention is 74.4% for full-time students. At 81.6%, four-year private not-for-profit colleges had the highest retention of all education sectors...more>>
EdDive: A Democrat and a Republican mapped out higher ed reform. Here's what they came up with
Two former White House advisers under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are urging states and the federal government to better leverage data to improve student outcomes, in a pair of recently released reports titled "Moneyball for Higher Education."...more>>
Observatory: Study shows college students feel unqualified once they get a job
Almost every college student jumps on a new learning journey with a positive attitude, and the intent to acquire enough knowledge and experience to succeed in the world. The reality is that most of them feel powerless and unprepared once they leave college...more>>
EdDive: One-third of nation's best high school students don't finish college
The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce estimated that one-third of nation's top-performing high school students do not obtain a college degree, though nearly all of these students attempt college...more>>
EdTech: Tech that Provides Flexibility Can Drive Up College Completion
By embracing digital tools, universities can make sure their students are poised for success...more>>
EDUCAUSE: Student Success: Our Ultimate Goal
In case you missed it ... we've curated some of our most-read content illuminating the opportunities surrounding student success...more>>
EdDive: 5 higher ed leaders to watch in 2018 (and beyond)
Strong financial savvy, fundraising prowess and a pronounced desire for students to succeed make these administrators stand out above the rest...more>>
Washington Post: CBO estimates show House higher ed bill could hit student loan borrowers hard - The Washington Post
College students would lose $15 billion in federal student aid over the next decade if House Republicans are successful in turning their higher education bill into law...more>>
EdSurge: Have We Decided What 'Gainful Employment' Means Yet?
The Obama Administration's "gainful employment" regulations are among the most contentious federal education regulations...more>>
Chronicle: Federal Student-Loan Program Is Rapidly Losing Money, and Income-Based Repayment Is to Blame, Report Says
The federal government is well on its way toward lending more money in student loans than it is repaid, according to a new report from the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General...more>>
Brookings: The looming student loan default crisis is worse than we thought
This report analyzes new data on student debt and repayment, released by the U.S. Department of Education in October 2017...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Shocker: Humanities Grads Gainfully Employed and Happy
New data suggest that STEM majors are not the only route to success...more>>
EdDive: Study: Digital learning may not be the answer to liberal arts institutions' woes
While many traditional liberal arts schools are turning toward online education options amidst criticism they are not providing student return on investment, incorporating online programs may actually not yield higher student enrollment, are resource-demanding and may be hindered by a learning curve from faculty, finds a new report from research group Ithaka S+R...more>>
EdDive: The future of higher ed accountability - where accreditors, administrators divide
From a public relations perspective, accreditation needs to be more than a pass or fail experience, said Ed Klonoski, president of ?Charter Oak State College, at a panel discussion during the annual Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) conference last week...more>>
The Economist: Going to university is more important than ever for young people
But the financial returns are falling...more>>
EdDive: How much is a master's degree worth?
Around 760,000 master's degrees were granted between 2014 and 2015, finds the American Enterprise Institute, but economic return on students' investments are not clear cut...more>>
Times Higher Ed: US state systems freeze tuition fees as enrolment falters
Growing numbers of US state university systems are predicted to freeze tuition fees in response to faltering enrolment levels, but a leading researcher has warned that this could undermine efforts to widen participation...more>>
Observatory: Open educational resources are gaining track
Open access to educational resources is becoming a trend in universities and governments, stated experts at the keynote Open Access: Challenges and Opportunities in Education...more>>
The Atlantic: Why Students Are Still Spending So Much for College Textbooks
New technologies are revolutionizing education-but they're also keeping prices high...more>>

Et Alia
Observatory: Top tech trends for 2018
During the media day at CES 2018, in Las Vegas, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) unveiled the tech trends to watch this year: 5G, artificial intelligence, robotics, smart cities, digital healthcare, and virtual reality...more>>
NPR: Screen Addiction Among Teens: Is There Such A Thing?
Look up from this screen right now. Take a look around. On a bus. In a cafe. Even at a stoplight. Chances are, most of the other people in your line of sight are staring at their phones or other devices...more>>
MIT Technology Review: A phone that says "no" to little kid fingers
An algorithm for detecting who's swiping the screen could help make phones child-proof...more>>
MIT Technology Review: Facebook's app for kids should freak parents out
Messenger Kids, its first grab at the under-13 crowd, is not to be trusted. After all, you've seen how the company treats adults...more>>
NYT: America's Real Digital Divide
...If you think middle-class children are being harmed by too much screen time, just consider how much greater the damage is to minority and disadvantaged kids, who spend much more time in front of screens...more>>
Venture Beat: How the 'digital divide' is holding the U.S. economy back
Today, Danilo Campos is a successful programmer in New York City. He previously served as the technical lead for Github, one of the rising giants in Silicon Valley and currently the largest open source web development platform in the world...more>>
Fast Company: Is The Internet Of Things Dead, Or Is It Growing Up?
R/GA is betting big on the internet of things' next phase-and it doesn't involve smart fridges or speakers...more>>
Observatory: Andrew Ng announces a 175-million-dollar fund to boost AI startups
Andrew Ng will make many machine learning and artificial intelligence entrepreneurs happy. The AI guru announced the formation of a startups incubator with the aim of building transforming companies and improving human life...more>>
Fast Company: Why Your Brain Clings To False Beliefs (Even When It Knows Better)
How do you calculate a dog's age in human years? Most people think you just multiply by seven, but they're wrong. It's just a made-up number that's been circulating since the 13th century...more>>
Forbes: 10 Conferences You Should Attend If You Are An Education Entrepreneur In 2018
The meetings below provide education entrepreneurs with the ability to network with like-minded people, learn from teachers, share their innovative ideas, and find new capital opportunities...more>>
Hechinger: Researchers can predict when a student's mind is wandering. What should we do about it?
Personalized learning software reveals that human intuition is often wrong about what mind wandering looks like...more>>
EdSurge: Quizlet Raises $20 Million to Bring More Artificial Intelligence to Its Study Tools
Big numbers are nothing new to Quizlet, one of the most widely-used digital study tools in the United States...more>>
EdSurge: ACT Bets Big on Analytics, Adaptive Learning With $7.5M Investment in Smart Sparrow
When most people hear the letters ACT, they likely think of the test that helps determine which colleges they get into. But the organization's chief executive, Marten Roorda, wants to provide more than a score...more>>
Observatory: Amar Kumar talks about the future of education in an interview for the Observatory
Amar Kumar, Head of Product Management at Pearson Online & Blended Learning, a world leader in educational services, spoke with the Observatory on the future of education...more>>
PR NewsWire: Mattel and NetEase Launch New Joint Venture
Companies form joint venture to develop and publish mobile games and education apps inspired by Mattel's iconic portfolio of brands...more>>
Observatory: Status of education according to the World Economic Forum 2018
Each year Davos, a small town in Switzerland, receives top international political figures, business leaders, intellectuals and journalists to discuss the problems that afflict our world. Undoubtedly, education plays an essential role in the issues addressed...more>>
TechCrunch: Education quiz app Kahoot says it's now used by 50% of all US K-12 students, 70M users overall
With HQ Trivia continuing its viral and popular run, and education remaining a perennially strong category in app stores, it was only a matter of time before someone came along that combined elements of both to hitmaking effect...more>>
NYT: Bill and Melinda Gates Tackle 'Tough Questions' and Trump
In their annual update for the Gates Foundation, they say that they remain optimistic about the world's progress, but that President Trump's policies could hurt their efforts...more>>
Pew Research Center: Economic Issues Decline Among Public's Policy Priorities
Environment, transportation, addiction rise on public's agenda. Terrorism ranks first, education second...more>>
NYT: In Her Words: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Assesses a Year on the Job
For a year now, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been trying to give away her $199,700 salary...more>>
Education Week: Betsy DeVos: A One-Year Progress Report
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took the oath of office on Feb. 7, 2017, which means that this week marks her first anniversary as the head of the Department of Education. Her first year in office has been a bumpy ride...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: President Trump Uses the Wrong Word (as Usual)
When our wordsmith in chief says community colleges should become more vocational, he may not mean what he thinks he means. But he does have a point, writes Ryan Craig...more>>
NYT: Trump's Vision for Vocational Education Gets a Tepid Reception
President Trump's calls this week for more vocational schools have received a lukewarm reception from the higher education community, including from the educators who teach in the programs he is championing...more>>
HBR: As AI Makes More Decisions, the Nature of Leadership Will Change
It is tempting to regard artificial intelligence as a threat to human leadership. After all, the very purpose of AI is to augment, improve, and ultimately replace human intelligence, which is still widely regarded, at least by us humans, as our key competitive advantage...more>>
HBR: The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers
Kundapur Vaman Kamath was a teacher. But he didn't work at a school or stand in front of a class. Instead, he delivered his lessons at the office...more>>
How to train employees for jobs that don't exist yet
What does the future hold for business and employees - and how do we prepare for this bold new world?...more>>
Fast Company: Screw Emotional Intelligence-Here's The Key To The Future Of Work
This Y Combinator alum and former IBM Watson strategist believes the market value of one particular capability will soon outpace EQ...more>>
HRDive: LinkedIn seeks to define the LMS market by delving into data
The e-learning market is booming. An estimated $165 billion was spent on the industry in the U.S. in 2015, and growth is projected to hit $240 billion by 2023. In essence: there's no end in sight for growth in e-learning...more>>
HBR: How Automation Will Change Work, Purpose, and Meaning
The vast majority of humans throughout history worked because they had to. Many found comfort, value, and meaning in their efforts, but some defined work as a necessity to be avoided if possible...more>>
Amazon Snags a Higher Ed Superstar
Candace Thille, a pioneer in the science of learning, takes a leave from Stanford to help the ambitious retailer better train its workers, with implications that could extend far beyond the company...more>>
Bloomberg: How Demand for Social Skills Helps Women at Work: Eco Pulse
Soft skills are in vogue, and it may be helping women gain more high-wage jobs...more>>
University Ventures Whitepaper: Making Apprenticeships Work
It seems like everyone's talking about apprenticeships. Apprenticeships were the Trump Administration's first postsecondary education initiative; in June 2017, President Trump signed an executive order aiming to use apprenticeships to train five million Americans who would otherwise be disconnected from the labor market. Currently, there are only about half a million apprentices in the US...more>>
World Economic Forum: Reskilling Revolution Needed for the Millions of Jobs at Risk Due to Technological Disruption
A new report, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All, finds that, with 1.4 million US jobs alone expected to disrupted by technology and other factors between now and 2026, of which 57% belong to women, a huge effort is needed to safeguard workers from the Fourth Industrial Revolution...more>>
Georgetown Public Policy Review: Lifelong Leveraging of Human Potential: The Role of Public Libraries in Lifelong Workforce Training
Job displacement is nothing new to the American economy, but technological developments and the growing interconnectedness of global markets have created a new wave of challenges for the American worker...more>>
The Atlantic: Filling America's 6 Million Job Vacancies
Real-time data on the labor market promise to finally help employers and job-seekers make better decisions. Will it work?...more>>
The Atlantic: The False Promises of Worker Retraining
Despite assurances from policymakers that retraining is the key to success, such programs have consistently failed to equip workers with the preparation they need to secure jobs...more>>
McKinsey: What the future of work will mean for jobs, skills, and wages
In an era marked by rapid advances in automation and artificial intelligence, new research assesses the jobs lost and jobs gained under different scenarios through 2030...more>>