edBiz Newsletter

A Newsletter for Education Business Leaders

Mary Axelson
Editor


www.bsgtv.com




Recent Podcasts from Todd Hand
Forbes | Best Executive Recruiting Firms 2018

Active searches

Teachstone, Chief Revenue Officer
BrandEd, Chief Financial Officer
MindEdge Learning, SVP University Partnerships


Selected 2017-2019 searches

Camelot Education, CEO
Edmentum, President and CEO
Northeastern early childhood education provider, CEO
Cambridge Education Group, General Manager
AltSchool, Chief Impact Officer
KIPP Texas, Chief Operating Officer; Chief People Officer
KIPP Foundation, Chief of Programs and Impact
Thinkful, Chief Operations Officer
OnCourse Learning, Chief Technology Officer; Chief Marketing Officer
Tiber Health (a University Ventures portfolio company), Chief Product Officer
Elsevier, Head of Adaptive Solutions
Walton Family Foundation, Senior Advisor
HelioCampus, SVP, Market Development
Learning Ally, Senior Vice President Sales
eDynamic Learning, SVP Sales & Marketing
BrandEd, Vice President, Global Information and Technology
Revolution Foods, VP Sales
Catapult Learning, VP Sales
MeTEOR Education, VP Growth Strategies
Sotheby's Institute of Art, Senior Director of Global Admissions and Recruitment
The School of The New York Times, Director, Pre-College Division
Confidential, Board of Directors




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

EdWeek Market Brief: Mergers and Acquisitions in Education Industry Jump 9 Percent Over Last Year
The number of mergers and acquisitions across the education industry climbed by 9 percent over the most recent year, with private-equity deals driving much of that growth...more>>
THE Journal: IES Announces Funding for Ed Tech Companies
The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences is looking to fund innovative technology solutions that can aid student learning, teaching, special education and school administrators...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: K-12 Dealmaking:
Follett Helps Libraries With Genre Organization; McGraw-Hill Launches New Math, Science Curricula...more>>
LearnPlatform, TeacherGaming Raise Funds; ASSIST, Brainly Make Acquisitions...more>>
HMH Acquires Waggle; National Geographic Launches Pathways; Instructure Gets New CEO...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Ed-Tech Startups at FETC Promote Both Mission and Profitability
Among more than 30 startups vying for the top spot at the Future of Education Technology Conference's Pitchfest competition were those focused on coding, reading comprehension, writing and social-emotional learning...more>>
Deal Street Asia: Warburg Pincus leads $255m Series D round in China's English tutoring platform DaDa
Established in 2013, Shanghai-based DaDa operates an artificial intelligence-powered online-streaming portal that helps K-12 children aged 4 to 16 to learn English from native speakers...more>>
Forbes: Can AltSchool-The Edtech Startup With $174M From Billionaires Like Zuckerberg And Thiel-Save Itself From Failure?
"We might not be around in five years," says Max Ventilla, AltSchool's 38-year-old cofounder and CEO, as the two publicists minding our interview cringe...more>>
Forbes: This Edtech Company Just Secured $30 Million In Venture Capital And Gives Its Product Away
Evolution Media, the investment arm of the well-known and influential Creative Artists Agency (CAA), has made a $30 million investment in Epic!, a consumer-facing, five-year-old education technology company...more>>
Education Week: Koch Group Touts Education Push on Curriculum, Technology
Officials with the powerful political network led by conservative billionaire Charles Koch said Monday that they are promoting a state-level education strategy that they hope educators and teachers unions will support...more>>
ECS: Trends in Pre-K Education Funding in 2017-18
An analysis of 2017-18 state appropriations for pre-K in all 50 states and the District of Columbia shows continuing support from both republican and democratic governors, legislators and state boards of education. In 2017-18, 28 states increased funding levels for pre-K programs; and overall, state funding for pre-K programs increased by $256 million, or 3.42 percent, over the previous fiscal year...more>>
VentureBeat: Why India's ed-tech firm Byju's paid $120 million for kids AR game maker Osmo
Last week, India's ed-tech startup Byju acquired Osmo, a kid-focused augmented reality games for iPhones and iPads, for $120 million. That was a big move that signals the global ambition of Byju, which recently raised a $540 million war chest from South Africa's Naspers Ventures and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board...more>>
EdSurge: Hero K12 Gets a Facelift and a New Edtech Acquisition
When Hero K12 acquired SchoolMint two years ago, it didn't just buy some school enrollment software. It also got a new boss-and a new brand...more>>
CrunchBase: Microsoft Buys Startup BrightBytes's DataSense Service
This morning Microsoft announced in a carefully-worded blog post that it is "bringing BrightBytes Data Management platform DataSense into the Microsoft Education family," a deal that appears to involve BrightBytes's SaaS product along with its "data management team."...more>>
EdSurge: A Welder of Digital Curriculum Companies Buys Its Latest
Since 2010, Weld North Education's CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Grayer, has been scooping up online educational assets and fusing them together in an effort to create "the largest provider of digital curriculum serving preK-12 schools,"...more>>
TechCrunch: LittleBits lays off employees as it shifts focus toward education
New York City open-source maker startup LittleBits began to lay off staff last month, TechCrunch has learned. The loss of jobs comes as the company looks to shift more focus toward the K-12 market...more>>
EdSurge: At the Top of Teachers' Wish Lists? Tactile STEM Projects, Flexible Furniture and Books
Last year, 274,000 classroom projects were imagined, funded and fulfilled because of an idea one teacher had almost two decades ago...more>>
RAND: Artificial Intelligence Applications to Support Teachers and Teaching
Recent applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have been successful in performing complex tasks in health care, financial markets, manufacturing, and transportation logistics, but the influence of AI applications in the education sphere has been limited. However, that may be changing...more>>
Forbes: When It Comes To Blockchain, Education May Need To Wait For The Next Generation
There is considerable excitement around the potential for blockchain technology to transform the way we learn -ushering in the next generation of education innovation...more>>
NEPC: Examining the New Phenomenon of Teachers as Brand Ambassadors
A brand ambassador receives some form of compensation or perk in exchange for the endorsement of a product. This research brief explores the ethical, legal, and policy issues associated with the hiring of teachers as brand ambassadors, a new and disturbing foray into corporate marketing within schools...more>>
Hechinger: Five years after Common Core, a mysterious spike in failure rate among NY high school students
Potential signs of long-lasting problems for low-achieving students...more>>
District Administration: Industry News
Discovery Education, Curriculum Associates, VIPKid, Kickboard, EMC School, WURRLYedu, and U.S. Cellular and JASON Learning...more>>
District Administration: Voice-activated technology sounds better in education
How AI speakers, such as Alexa and Google Home, are now being used in everyday instruction...more>>
Education Week: What Educators Really Think About Innovation (Infographic)
In October 2018, the Education Week Research Center conducted a nationally representative online survey of nearly 500 K-12 teachers, principals, and district leaders to learn more about their views on innovation...more>>
RAND: Are Educators Setting Goals for Social-Emotional Learning?
Evidence from Nationally Representative Surveys... Results indicated that about 60 percent of teachers and principals report setting goals for student SEL growth...more>>
EdSurge: Educators Share How Video Games Can Help Kids Build SEL Skills
Paul Darvasi is teaching his 12th graders that if there's something about themselves they don't like, they have the power to change it...more>>
eSchool News: Student wellbeing & SEL are more important than you think
Through monthly articles on the eSchool News and eCampus News media platforms, The Brzycki Group & The Center for the Self in Schools will cover the latest psychological, educational, and wellbeing models, policies, and practices in SEL and student wellbeing...more>>
EdDive: Aspen Institute: SEL integration moves US from 'nation at risk' to one 'at hope'
After a two-year process, the institute's National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development outlines a series of "conditions to enable good practice."...more>>
The 74: Despite Prevalent Trauma, From School Shootings to the Opioid Epidemic, Few States Have Policies to Fully Address Student Needs, Study Finds
Despite the pervasive effect of stressful experiences - from mass school shootings to the opioid epidemic - on student performance, only 11 states encourage or require staff training on the effects of trauma. Half of states have policies on suicide prevention...more>>
EdSurge: Report: A New Cybersecurity Incident Strikes K-12 Schools Nearly Every Three Days
Just a little over a month into 2019, already about a dozen cybersecurity incidents have struck U.S. school districts. And if the past is any indication, more are likely to come...more>>
The 74: Student Data Needs Protecting, New Report Says. Hiring a Chief Privacy Officer Can Help Schools and Districts Do Just That
A principal names suspended students in a widely circulated newsletter, violating student privacy laws. A district inadvertently uploads students' names, grades, and special education status to a public website. An ed tech company's bankruptcy puts student records at risk of being sold...more>>
BuzzFeed: A Huge Climate Change Movement Led By Teenage Girls Is Sweeping Europe. And It's Coming To The US Next.
Students are going on strike around the world to demand action on climate change, in a movement led almost entirely by teenage girls...more>>
EdDive: Tracker: 50 states of education policy
With the 2019 legislative sessions underway, lawmakers are showing that education policy remains a priority. Here's an extensive overview of laws, bills and proposals from every state in the nation...more>>
The 74: A Federal Right to Education: Necessary Change to the Foundations of America's Education System, or No Lawyer Left Behind?
There isn't currently a federal right to education. The Supreme Court made that much clear in the 1970s. But should there be? For one side of the debate Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute, guaranteeing a federal right to education is the only way to fix the sinking ship of inequitable American education...more>>
Data Quality Campaign: Growth Data: It Matters, and It's Complicated
Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have committed to measuring and reporting individual student growth under ESSA. This means everyone in those states - from parents to policymakers - will have more information than before on student performance and school quality...more>>
The 74: Analysis - The Uncertain Future of Teaching: How Personalization, Specialization, Soft Skills, and a Talent Shortage Could Reshape the Profession
Platitudes about lifelong learning are hardly new in education, but they seem especially urgent today. As Thomas Friedman writes, "When the pace of change gets this fast, the only way to retain a lifelong working capacity is to engage in lifelong learning."...more>>
Edutopia: Bringing the Science of Learning Into Classrooms
Years of research prompt a group of scientists to ask whether we should rethink the way we do school...more>>

Higher Ed

Brookings: Top 6 trends in higher education
Innovations in how post-secondary education are delivered, financed, and recognized are driven by a range of actors-from large public universities like Arizona State University to elite private institutions like MIT to the many relatively new education companies entering the sector like Make School, Coursera, and Trilogy Education...more>>
EDUCAUSE Review: The EDUCAUSE 2019 Top 10 IT Issues [video]
Analytics CIO Cybersecurity Data Administration and Management Privacy Security Management Student Experience Student Success...more>>
EDUCAUSE Review: A Corporate Perspective on the EDUCAUSE 2019 Top 10 IT Issues
Four corporate community leaders, representing industries dedicated to serving the higher education IT sector, offer unique insights and recommendations on the EDUCAUSE 2019 Top 10 IT Issues...more>>
EdSurge: Higher Ed's Biggest Pressure Cookers in 2019
Last year my colleagues at Entangled Solutions offered their predictions for what would unfold in higher education in 2018. We talked about financial challenges facing schools, mergers and closures, cutting-edge technology, personalization and more...more>>
Forbes: Four Predictions For Higher Education In 2019
Only two weeks into 2019, and already Capitol insiders are buzzing about new higher education laws, presidential hopefuls are heading to Iowa, and governors across the country are rolling out new ideas...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Takedown of Online Education
Fully online programs widen achievement gaps and often are unaffordable, says report seeking to discourage politicians from pulling back on federal policy protections...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Alternative Credentials as Institutional ‘Imperative'
Report from international group focused on open education asserts that institutions that don't embrace digital certifications will be increasingly irrelevant...more>>
Chronicle: Think ACT Is Just a College-Admissions Test? Think Again
Fewer students took ACT's college-admissions test in 2018 than in the previous year. That's the kind of news that you'd expect would be troubling to the organization's chief executive...more>>
Catalyst: Education testing company, venture fund back Tampa tech firm Knack
Knack, a Tampa educational technology company, won the Village Capital U.S. Education Program, a venture development program for a dozen U.S. education startups...more>>
EdSurge: As OER Grows Up, Advocates Stress More Than Just Low Cost
Open educational resources hit a turning point in 2018. For the first time ever, the federal government put forward funds to support initiatives around open educational resources, and recent studies show that faculty attitudes towards using and adapting these openly-licensed learning materials are steadily improving...more>>
WSJ: International Student Enrollment Drops for Second Year, Report Says
Institutions that primarily offer masters degrees but not doctorates are hardest hit...more>>
EdDive: As borrower defense gets another rewrite, for-profits wrestle with uncertainty
After failing once to undo Obama-era rules aimed at for-profits, the Ed Department has signaled it will try again. But a confusing regulatory landscape remains...more>>
Hechinger: Weakest students more likely to take online college classes but do worse in them
Survey of rigorous academic research on online education finds lower grades and higher dropout rates...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: The Long and Short of Online Courses
Online education has spurred institutions to experiment with courses shorter than a full semester, weighing pedagogical and financial factors as they decide on the proper length...more>>
EdSurge: Small Liberal Arts Colleges Are Sharing Online Courses
When Nathan Schertz, a 21-year old student at Eureka College, hit some relationship troubles last year that distracted him from his studies, his grades slipped...more>>
Fast Company: With 2U, WeWork is becoming a global campus for adult learners
Since WeWork teamed up with online education company 2U last year, more than 1,000 students enrolled in 2U-managed graduate programs have taken advantage of the coworking giant's hot desks, communal meeting spaces, and free-flowing coffee...more>>
eCampus News: More states are recognizing the importance of non-degree credentials
Although no state has comprehensive data about all types of non-degree credentials, including certificates, licenses, and industry certifications, states are improving their data-collection practices around non-degree credential attainment, according to Measuring Non-Degree Credential Attainment from the Workforce Data Quality Campaign...more>>
EdDive: Report: Colleges must offer digital credentials to stay relevant
Colleges that offer online programs should grow their digital credential options in order to stay competitive, according to a new report from the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)...more>>
eCampus News: We need to rethink how students learn
...Perhaps the biggest trend that has the attention of colleges and universities is "microcredentialing," as enrollment continues to decline in traditional college degree and master's programs...more>>
Psychology Today: Can College Visits Improve College Aspirations?
Helping students set foot on campus may expand their perspective...more>>
EdDive: IBM invests $2B for SUNY artificial intelligence hub
IBM will invest $2 billion in its New York footprint that will help create an artificial intelligence (AI) research center at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last week...more>>
Harvard Graduate School of Ed: The Future of College
Exploring the experiences of students, faculty, and staff, Howard Gardner and his Project Zero team seek to illuminate the road ahead for higher education...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Giving to Colleges Is Up 7.2%
Charitable giving to colleges reached $46,730,000,000 in 2017-18, a one-year increase of 7.2 percent, or 4.6 percent when adjusted for inflation...more>>
Observatory: Top universities in emerging economies 2019
Once again, Chinese universities continue to excel. But this year, Egypt and Malaysia stood out, climbing spots and claiming 30 positions altogether...more>>
Arizona Republic: Argosy University in Phoenix is withholding financial aid for students, who can't pay bills
Facing financial woes and accreditation issues, Argosy University campuses across the country have not paid millions of dollars in financial aid to students this semester...more>>
EdDive: For-profit Laureate sells St. Augustine for $400M, holds onto Walden U
Laureate said its strategic plan will be built around its campus-based business in Latin America and Walden's online-only platform in the U.S...more>>
EdDive: On for-profits' horizon: more regulatory uncertainty, closures
Regulatory "ping pong" will harm the sector no matter how broader accountability and outcomes issues are addressed, two experts said...more>>
EdDive: How buying the Art Institutes brought Dream Center to the brink of collapse
Court filings blame revenue tens of millions of dollars short of what its previous owner projected...more>>
EdDive: Loans are worth the cost for some community college students, study finds
Community colleges often discourage their students from taking out loans to cover their education, but new research suggests students who receive some forms of loan aid perform better and have higher earnings when they graduate, according to a new report in EducationNext...more>>
BuzzFeed: How Student Debt Dragged A Generation Down - And What We Can Do About It
A social and financial divide is forming - between those who have student debt, and those who do not - that will have ramifications for decades to come...more>>
Forbes: Student Loan Startup Climb Credit Raises $50 Million From Goldman Sachs
For 30 Under 30 alumni Raza Munir, things have come full circle. The former Goldman Sachs employee founded Climb Credit - a company that offers ROI lending for collegiate students...more>>
Gallup/CECU: Toward a Better Future: Exploring Outcomes of Attending Career Colleges and Universities
The study reveals that post-secondary career education provides a relevant learning track that helps graduates find meaningful work, which can provide a powerful pathway to financial independence. The majority of CECU alumni report successful lives after graduation, and employed report a 62% increase in median personal earnings after their education than before...more>>
Aspen Seeks Federal Grant for Community Colleges
The Aspen Institute's Economic Strategy Group released a series of policy papers Monday that focus on increasing Americans' work-force skills and expanding private-sector wage growth among low- and middle-income workers...more>>
Scientific American: The Emotional Toll of Graduate School
Mental health disorders and depression are far more likely for grad students than they are for the average American...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Gates Seeks Partners to Help Transform Campuses
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this week announced a major new grant program in postsecondary education. To advance its goal of improved student success -- particularly for low-income and first-generation students, students of color, and working adults -- the foundation said it is seeking up to 10 "intermediaries for scale" that can work intensively with colleges and universities over a multiyear period...more>>
Campus Technology: Christensen Institute: Now's the Time for a Makeover in College Accreditation
As a committee charged with rulemaking for the U.S. Department of Education dukes it out on accreditation matters in higher education, the Christensen Institute has weighed in with recommendations to keep innovation in mind...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: ‘A Marginally Better Year' for State Funding
Latest annual survey finds state support for higher education rose 3.7 percent in fiscal year 2018-19, up from just 1.6 percent the previous year...more>>
Bloomberg: Foreign Students Sour on America, Jeopardizing a $39 Billion Industry
They provide critical revenue to U.S. universities. But the administration's immigration crackdown has them going elsewhere...more>>
EdDive: Ending Pell Grant ban for prisoners could give 463,000 college access, report finds
Restoring Pell Grant access to people in state prisons could stand to help some 463,000 individuals enroll in postsecondary education, boost their job prospects and reduce their chance of recidivism, according to a new report by the Vera Institute of Justice and the Georgetown University Center on Poverty and Inequality...more>>

Et Alia

EdSurge: US Edtech Investments Peak Again With $1.45 Billion Raised in 2018
For many U.S. cities and states, 2018 marked the wettest year on record. There was also plenty of rain in the education technology industry, where venture capitalists and private-equity investors unleashed a deluge of cash...more>>
eLearninginside: Next 10 Ventures is Prioritizing the Creator Ecosystem
Next 10 Ventures, a new venture capital (VC) firm focused on the global creator economy, has announced its first round of minority investments. Among the companies who will benefit are several in the edtech sector, but this is not surprising. Next 10 Ventures also recently announced a new incubator for founders in the edtech space...more>>
Brookings: Education system alignment for 21st century skills
There has been a major shift in educational learning goals-as seen most recently by Goal 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals-focused on global citizenship education and education for sustainable development...more>>
EdSurge: ETS Tests the Waters of Investing in Education Technology Startups
The world's biggest private nonprofit test maker is dipping its toes into the world of education technology investments...more>>
VentureBeat: Verbit.ai raises $23 million to automate transcription and captioning
There's a lot of value inherent in services that can capture and automatically transcribe phone calls, keynotes, and recorded content - if nothing else, they save an enormous amount of manual labor...more>>
EdSurge: Owl Ventures Just Closed a $315M Edtech Fund. Here's What It Sees From Its Perch
Owl has been on a streak, having closed on a new fund every other year since its start. It launched in 2015 with $100 million, and re-upped in 2017 with a $185 million coffer...more>>
EdSurge: The Clock Is Ticking for This Edtech Buyer to Find a Deal
If it seems baffling that companies with no revenue can raise money from private investors (ahem, as some edtech startups did in the early 2010's), then EdTechX Holdings might just sound outright crazy at first...more>>
Gartner Survey Shows Global Talent Shortage Is Now the Top Emerging Risk Facing Organizations
The survey of 137 senior executives in 4Q18 showed that concerns about "talent shortages" now outweigh those around "accelerating privacy regulation" and "cloud computing", which were the top two risks in the 3Q18 Emerging Risk Monitor...more>>
Gallup: Impacts and Perceptions of Career-Focused Education
The high price of a college education and the time associated with obtaining a bachelor's degree are prompting people to seek alternatives to a four-year education. In fact, Gallup has found that four in 10 working college graduates say their work doesn't require a degree...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: The Great Bundling of Work-Force Development
Colleges may be facing pressure to separate their credentialed learning from their other offerings, Ryan Craig writes. Our work-force development system, meanwhile, could learn a thing or two from higher education...more>>
WSJ: The ‘Hybrid' Skills That Tomorrow's Jobs Will Require
Jobs that tap both technical and creative thinking will be likely to pay well-and resist automation...more>>
The Baffler: Fables of School Reform
Over the past five years, more than $13 billion in venture capital has been sunk into education technology startups. But in spite of all the money and political capital pouring into the sprawling ed-tech sector, there's precious little evidence suggesting that its trademark innovations have done anything to improve teaching and learning...more>>
Pew Research: Generation Z Looks a Lot Like Millennials on Key Social and Political Issues
Among Republicans, Gen Z stands out in views on race, climate and the role of government...more>>
EdSource: Gun violence in schools and college affordability highest priorities for California voters, poll finds
In a poll released Monday, 2,000 registered voters ranked making schools safe from gun violence and college affordability the most important education issues in California, far higher than early educations...more>>
Pew Research: Smartphone Ownership Is Growing Rapidly Around the World, but Not Always Equally
In emerging economies, technology use still much more common among young people and the well-educated...more>>
HBS Working Knowledge: These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership
Four titans who defined a new era in business during the past decade recently concluded their terms: PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi, Unilever's Paul Polman, Mayo Clinic's John Noseworthy, and US Bancorp's Richard Davis...more>>
CNBC: Here's where the jobs are - in one chart
Leisure and hospitality saw big gains in job growth in January as a swell in hiring at restaurants, bars and casinos catapulted the month's total above 300,000. The construction and education and health sectors also added to their big job gains for the year...more>>
Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two
A small group of well-educated professionals enjoys rising wages, while most workers toil in low-wage jobs with few chances to advance...more>>
Brookings: Automation and Artificial Intelligence: How machines are affecting people and places
At first, technologists issued dystopian alarms about the power of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to destroy jobs. Then came a correction, with a wave of reassurances...more>>
Getting Smart: Envisioning the Future of Education and Jobs
The new year has begun with a flurry of activity from the World Economic Forum and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that provides a blueprint for education and business leaders concerned with the future of work...more>>
Getting Smart: Commentary: In Our Changing Economy, We Need New Flexible Education Systems to Usher in an Age of Agility for Tomorrow's Workforce
Recently, Pathway 2 Tomorrow: Local Visions for America's Future (P2T) announced the winners of its $100,000 Innovation Award for bold, transformative education solutions. One theme that emerged from among the 240 stakeholders who submitted proposals involves disrupting the traditional education pathway...more>>
Politico: Ladders to Success
Rethinking education and skills training for tomorrow's workforce...more>>
Bloomberg: Burned-Out Millennials Need Careers, Not Just Jobs
Mapping out a professional path has never been harder as old-line work vanishes...more>>
Hechinger: U.S. continues to slip behind other countries in percentage of population with degrees
A lack of highly skilled workers leaves American employers unable to fill jobs...more>>
World Economic Forum: Towards a Reskilling Revolution
Industry-Led Action for the Future of Work...more>>
Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Entangled Solutions: On-ramps to Good Jobs
Our current education and training system is already lagging and failing too many unemployed and underemployed Americans. We need better solutions for our most vulnerable citizens...more>>
Community College Daily: Employers stress need for soft skills
As automation increases, "uniquely human" or soft skills are among the most important skills sought by employers. Nearly three-quarters of employers (73 percent), however, have trouble finding workers with those skills, according to a survey of 650 employers and more than 1,500 current and former college students...more>>
TechCrunch: Varsity Tutors acquires Veritas Prep to expand into live online classes
Veritas Prep launched in 2002 with a suite of test prep courses. Over the years, Veritas built out its online live classes as well as a business around admissions consulting. As Varsity Tutors focuses on geographical and product expansion, the Veritas Prep acquisition allows the company to get into live online courses (alongside one-to-one tutoring)...more>>
eLearningInside: CosmoSafe Is Disrupting Beauty Industry Training With an Innovative Online Platform
For years, the beauty industry has been plagued by low-quality training schools that often fail to deliver on promises and leave students in debt and worse yet, without the credentials needed to land a high-paying job. Angela Ivana, a recent alum of the NYU Steinhardt Edtech Accelerator, wanted to found a company that would finally bring affordable, reliable, and quality training to beauty industry professionals...more>>
Politico: Betsy DeVos' bet on boot camps
Why the Department of Education wants to get behind a popular-but unaccredited-new style of education...more>>
Bloomberg: Al Gore's Firm Leads $100 Million Investment in African Outsourcing Startup
Andela trains developers in Nigeria and Kenya for contract work with U.S. employers; its investors say remote work could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions...more>>
EdSurge: Massive Online Courses Find a New Audience With Continuing Medical Education
Applications are surging for New York University's School of Medicine after the university announced last year that its medical program would be tuition-free for all students...more>>
EdSurge: Hone Brings Home $3.6 Million to Expand Workforce Training for Remote Teams
Hone, a San Francisco and New York-based startup behind an online workforce training platform, has raised $3.6 million in a seed round led by Cowboy Ventures and Harrison Metal...more>>
HRDive: Accenture says it retrained 300K workers in 4 years
In just the past four years, Accenture has retrained nearly 300,000 of its 469,000 global employees, according to Ellyn Shook, the company's chief leadership and human resources officer, who spoke on a Business Insider panel at the recent World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland...more>>
Fast Company: Davos Dialogues: Walmart International CEO: Workplace education is not just about "competitive advantage"
"I'm an optimist," Walmart International president and CEO Judith McKenna proclaimed Wednesday morning. She was talking about the inevitability that technological advances would lead to the obsolescence of some jobs...more>>
CLO: Corporate Training Tech Developments You Need to Watch in 2019
Innovation in learning and cost efficiencies are being realized through virtual training and IT labs. Here are specific areas to consider as you look ahead...more>>
Pulse 2.0: Chicago-Based Online Learning Platform BenchPrep Raises $20 Million
BenchPrep, a Chicago-based provider of an advanced white-label online learning platform for education and training organizations, announced that it has raised $20 million in Series C funding...more>>
EdSurge: UK's CamBioScience Raises £1.1M to Expand AI-Powered Enterprise Learning Platform
CamBioScience, a Cambridge, UK-based startup that develops AI-powered learning platforms academics and researchers in life-science disciplines, has raised £1.1 million (approx. US $1.4 million) from UK investment firm Beaubridge Ltd...more>>
HRDive: Why employers are spending more on learning and development
When deciding whether to invest in L&D for employees, employers can choose between paying now or paying later...more>>
Reuters: Ultimate Software agrees to $11 billion buyout by investor group
Ultimate Software Group Inc, a cloud-based human resources applications developer, said on Monday it agreed to be bought by an investor group led by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for about $11 billion...more>>