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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May Feature: M&A ACTIVITY FROM CHERRY TREE

NetDragon Agrees to Acquire Edmodo
Thinkful Acquires Bloc
Frontenac Acquires TPC Training and Jade Learning from Renovus Capital Partners
Campus Labs Agrees to Acquire Chalk & Wire
Strada Education Network Acquires Economic Modeling LLC
Edmentum Raises $25 Million
CampusLogic Receives $55 Million Investment from JMI Equity
Holberton School Raises $8.2 Million
Nexford University Raises $4 Million
New Harbor Capital Invests in Blueprint Test Preparation and Next Step Test Preparation
Kroton Educational Agrees to Acquire Stake in Somos Educação
Vista Equity Partners to Merge PowerSchool and PeopleAdmin as Part of Deal with Onex Group
New Mountain Learning Recapitalized by CIP Capital
Credly Acquires Acclaim
Ebix Agrees to Acquire Stake in Smartclass Educational Services
Vector Solutions Acquires Convergence Training
Connexeo Receives $110 Million Investment from Great Hill Partners
Edovo Raises $9 Million
Teachable Raises $4 Million
BookNook Raises $2 Million
Lingumi Raises Approximately $1.7 Million


Recent BSG Search Activity:

Access our podcast series: EdTech Leader Interviews with Todd Hand

Active searches
Learning Ally, VP of School Sales and Account Management
Higher Education EdTech Company, VP of Sales and Marketing
Two CEO searches currently underway under non-disclosure agreements.

Closed 2017-2018 searches
KIPP Texas, Chief Operating Officer
Walton Family Foundation, Senior Advisor
Edmentum, President and CEO
Rosetta Stone, CEO
Camelot Education, CEO
Sotheby's Institute of Art, Senior Director, Global Admissions and Recruitment
The School of The New York Times, Director, Pre-College Division
Revolution Foods, VP Sales
AltSchool, Chief Impact Officer
KIPP Foundation, Chief of Programs and Impact
American Public University System (APUS), President
Burning Glass, VP Business Development
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
Voyager Sopris Learning, President
Elsevier, Head of Adaptive Solutions
GEMS Education, Chief Financial Officer
Cambridge Education Group, General Manager
American Honors/Quad Learning, VP Business Development
Catapult Learning, VP Sales
MeTEOR Education, VP Growth Strategies
Illuminate 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
EdSurge: Why Schools Are Superior to Startups When It Comes to Building Edtech
Today's teachers are expert innovators. They create classrooms designed to maximize student learning, and do everything from fine-tuning lesson plans and homework assignments to organizing the physical layout of their learning spaces...more>>
EdSurge: K-12 Entrepreneurship: Slow Entry, Distant Exit
In October 2007, Larry Berger, then chief executive of Wireless Generation (which later became Amplify) and his colleague, David Stevenson, a Wireless Gen vice president, gave a presentation at the American Enterprise Institute conference about why entrepreneurs faced formidable obstacles in building technology for schools and districts...more>>
Washington Post: New research: Teachers deeply concerned about digital devices, but parents take rosier view
Teachers and parents are at odds when it comes to how much they think digital devices are affecting children's mental and physical health, according to new research by Gallup...more>>
edscoop: Study: Virtual schools are gaining momentum, but performance lags
The National Education Policy Center finds enrollment in virtual and blended learning schools is on the rise, but says a better model needs to be in place...more>>
The 74: Petrilli: the 7 Key Storylines in This Year's Disappointing NAEP Results
As feared, the new results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show that national trends are mostly flat...more>>
Education Week: What Principals Really Think About Tech
On one hand, principals say they're worried about technology's potentially harmful effects...more>>
Observatory: Study: Impact of Virtual Reality on kids
A recent survey conducted by the non-profit organization Common Sense, applied to parents, has unveiled some of our doubts regarding kid's usage of Virtual Reality (VR) devices, as well as evidence of some of the concerns that parents have about this new technology...more>>
TechCrunch: Empathy technologies like VR, AR, and social media can transform education
In the Better Angels of Our Nature, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker makes the case for reading as a "technology for perspective-taking" that has the capacity to not only evoke people's empathy but also expand it...more>>
eSchool News: Can today's new technologies totally revamp learning?
Technologies such as AR, VR, and wearables might be able to support more responsive learning environments...more>>
Education Week: Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Team Up to Seek 'State of the Art' Ideas for Schools
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative are teaming up on a new research-and-development initiative aimed at identifying "state-of-the-art" educational strategies and bringing them to the classroom...more>>
EdDive: School gardens grow plants, food and stronger students
Gardening curriculum can spread across all core subjects, taking learning outside of the classroom walls...more>>
The Atlantic: The Perks of a Play-in-the-Mud Educational Philosophy
Most American kids don't spend large chunks of their day catching salamanders and poking sticks into piles of fox poop. In a nation moving toward greater standardization of its public-education system, programs centered around getting kids outside to explore aren't normal...more>>
EdSurge: Private Equity Firm Buys Renaissance Learning—and Buys Back MyON
In what's playing out like a game of edtech musical chairs, digital literacy platform myON is changing hands again-for the third time in 15 months-as part of the just-announced acquisition of its parent company, Renaissance Learning, by private-equity firm Francisco Partners...more>>
EdTech: Schools Must Invest to Protect IoT Devices
Why is so much security necessary for the Internet of Things? and what's the payoff for K-12 schools?...more>>
Business Insider: What schools looked like the year you were born
Here's what schools have looked like from the 1940s to the present day...more>>
The Hill: Zuckerberg group gives $14 million grant to Chicago schools
A philanthropic group founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, is giving $14 million to Chicago Public Schools and a local nonprofit to bolster so-called personalized learning...more>>
EdSurge: Study: Why Some Children's Apps Might Not Be as Safe as You Think
To paraphrase the Bard, what's in a certification? According to the authors of a study on the privacy protections in children's apps, perhaps not much...more>>
GeekWire: Project Unicorn signs first companies to help schools handle the hairball of edtech data
The rise of education technology in schools has also expanded one of edtech's biggest hairballs: exchanging school, teacher and student data across different apps and systems...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Research Guidance for Ed-Tech Industry Updated on Usage, Other Criteria for ESSA Evidence Levels
Research guidelines for ed-tech companies, produced in conjunction with an industry association, have been revised to provide more information about different levels of research, and to get faster answers about "what works" in the K-12 marketplace...more>>
Bloomberg: New York-Bred, Private Equity-Backed School Shakes Up Brazil
A New York import is set to shake up the elite segment of the Sao Paulo education scene. and your city may be next...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: ISTE Unveils Plans to Match Ed-Tech Companies With Educators for Feedback on Apps
Ed-tech product developers often express frustration about being unable to find teachers to review their apps before going to market...more>>
Chalkbeat: Tennessee says its online testing was hacked. and it has happened in other states, too
As the vendor that administered Tennessee's glitch-filled standardized testing last week blamed the problems on a cyberattack, lawmakers and students were left wondering how the system could have been hacked...more>>
Forbes: This Steve Jobs-Favored Education Startup Made Smart Flash Cards To Help Kids Teach Themselves
In 2010, Montessori schoolteachers June and Bobby George were so inspired by Steve Jobs' introduction of the iPad, that they decided to pour their life savings into the hands of app developer Y Media Labs to make Montessori-inspired education apps...more>>
Chalkbeat: One big upside of career and tech programs? They push more kids to graduate
As a high school teacher in Pennsylvania, Shaun Dougherty noticed that students in career-focused programs seemed much more engaged than his other students...more>>
Observatory: Study reveals the importance of computer science in primary education
Computer Science doesn't play a fundamental role in primary education programs. the subjects that usually occupy most of the children's school time are Math and literacy. a recent study tries to demonstrate that adding CS to this mix can generate better education outcomes...more>>
eSchool News: K-12 computer science education makes strides
States' efforts to increase access to computer science education is growing...more>>
EdSurge: a Primer for Scaling Your Education Business-Successfully
There is no more powerful lever one can pull to transform a person's life than to provide access to quality education. But for education entrepreneurs to reach students at scale, they need access to people, systems and capital...more>>
Education Week: Thousands of Android Mobile Apps Improperly Track Children, Study Says
Thousands of free apps available in the Google Play store are potentially violating a major federal data-privacy law intended to protect children from online tracking, according to a new study published by researchers affiliated with the International Computer Science Institute...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: K-12 Teachers' Receptiveness to Email Marketing On the Rise, Analysis Finds
Yes, educators do respond to email marketing, and a new report looks into just how much, and what devices they use to access email and complete other tasks...more>>
Wired: As Apple and Google fight for edtech dominance, the industry is still failing kids and teachers
Educational technology is a booming market, and really can help kids learn. But at present, technology is the cart before the horse in education, and this needs to change...more>>
EdSurge: To Fuel Turnaround, Edmentum Secures $25 Million in Debt Financing
Founded more than 50 years ago and formerly known as Plato Learning, the company went public in 1992 before it was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2010. It rebranded as Edmentum in 2012...more>>
EdSurge: Homework App Knowbox Raises $100M in Series C Round
Homework management app Knowbox has raised $100 million in a Series C funding round led by Yunfeng Capital, China Money Network reports...more>>
The Educator: Hong Kong sees uptrend of 'worldschoolers'
Hong Kong is seeing a growing trend of parents "worldschooling" their children, said psychologist Daisy Chow Hoi-sze. Worldschooling refers to self-directed learning in the form of travelling. Chow observed that more local parents are seeking creative alternatives to teach their children and escape the city's high-pressured education system...more>>
Bloomberg: Raging Demand for Tutoring Makes Math Teacher a Billionaire
It's all adding up for Liu Yachao. the chief operating officer of TAL Education Group, a Beijing-based provider of tutoring services for Chinese students in core academic subjects, became the company's second billionaire as its stock more than doubled in the past year...more>>
EdSurge: China's NetDragon to Acquire Edmodo for $137.5 Million
China's NetDragon has gobbled up another education technology company. This time, it's Edmodo, one the largest online social communities of teachers and students in the world...more>>
Politico: Public preschool programs see attendance growth
State-funded preschool programs are enrolling more 3- and 4-year-olds than ever before, though per-student funding has lagged, according to a report today from the National Institute for Early Education Research based out of Rutgers University...more>>
The Broad Center: Hire Expectations
Big-district superintendents stay in their jobs longer than we think...more>>
Getting Smart: Social Emotional Learning and the Future of Education
Despite widespread access to education in most parts of the world, today's children have massive variability in their skills. This reflects the context and environment in which children grow up, and in many cases, school may be the only place where any deficiencies in a child's entire self-development can be addressed before they become an active member of society...more>>
Education Week: Is Curiosity as Good at Predicting Children's Reading, Math Success as Self-Control? Study Says Yes
Ever since the landmark "marshmallow test" highlighted the importance of early self-control in later achievement, educators have worked to find ways to build self-regulation among young children. But a new study in the journal Pediatric Research suggests boosting children's natural curiosity may be equally crucial to their long-term learning...more>>
Getting Smart: Building the Cognitive Muscles to Thrive in the Automation Age
The Information Age was a four decade long global sprint to incorporate information technology; the World Economic Forum calls it the Third Industrial Revolution. It changed how we live, work, play, and, just in the last few years, how we learn...more>>
EdDive: Survey: Just over half of middle, high school students feel safe at school
A new survey of 35,000 5th through 12th graders in eight states shows that about two-thirds of students feel safe in their classrooms, while a smaller percentage - 59% - say they feel safe at their schools in general, according to data released today by the YouthTruth Student Survey...more>>
The Economist: Behind the teacher strikes that have roiled five states
Why non-union states have seen the most unrest...more>>
Education Week: A sea of red-clad teachers stormed both the Arizona and Colorado state capitols today.
The teacher walkouts will continue on Friday. an estimated 1.4 million public school students in both states missed classes on Thursday, according to news reports...more>>
Time: the Oklahoma Teacher Strike Has Ended - Here's What They Got. and What They Didn't
The Oklahoma teacher walkout ended Thursday on its ninth day. Teachers applauded the passage of millions of dollars in new education funding, but they are also returning to their classrooms without the full raises or classroom funding they demanded...more>>
EdSurge: Social-Emotional Learning May Be a Limited Solution for Reforming School Discipline
The United States Government Accountability Office recently released a report confirming decades of anecdotal research saying, among other things, that Black male students who account for 15.5 percent of all public school kids, represented about 39 percent of students suspended from school...more>>
District Administration: How K12 is outwitting anxiety
District leaders deploy range of strategies to confront unprecedented levels of student stress...more>>
WSJ: School Is Expensive. Is It Worth It?
For your kids, yes-at least assuming they graduate. But the author of 'the Case Against Education' says the benefits to society are vastly overstated...more>>
NYT: 25-Year-Old Textbooks and Holes in the Ceiling: Inside America's Public Schools
Broken laptops, books held together with duct tape, an art teacher who makes watercolors by soaking old markers...more>>

Higher Ed
Education Department Unwinds Unit Investigating Fraud at For-Profits
Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees. the unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, had previously worked...more>>
The Atlantic: The Future of College Looks Like the Future of Retail
Similar to e-commerce firms, online-degree programs are beginning to incorporate elements of an older-school, brick-and-mortar model...more>>
NPR: What Adult Learners Really Need (Hint: It's Not Just Job Skills)
More than 2 out of 3 college students today are not coming straight out of high school. Half are financially independent from their parents, and 1 in 4 are parents themselves. David Scobey says that, as an American studies and history professor at the University of Michigan for decades, he was "clueless" about the needs of these adult students...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Blended Is Best
The most bullish proponents of online learning have argued for years that the modality can lead to better outcomes for students, lower costs for institutions and more access for underrepresented minority groups. Authors of a study released today say their work supports that view. "Making Digital Learning Work," a wide-ranging new report from the Arizona State University Foundation and the Boston Consulting Group, offers six case studies of prominent online offerings...more>>
MarketWatch: the net worth of college graduates with student debt is truly depressing
Despite economic and stock market gains over the past nine years, many young adults are still struggling to get ahead in their financial lives and, in some ways, things may have actually gotten worse. Americans age 25 to 34 with college degrees and student debt have a median net wealth of negative $1,900...more>>
Washington Post: The financial forecast for colleges is gloomy. How can they weather the storm?
As another academic year winds down on campuses nationwide, the news about the financial underpinning of colleges and universities keeps getting worse. Two studies out in the past week show that key revenue sources at public and private universities continue to shrink without any immediate signs of slowing...more>>
Washington Post: Pearson conducts experiment on thousands of college students without their knowledge
Pearson, the largest education company in the world, conducted a "social-psychological" experiment on thousands of college students in the United States - without asking for permission - by adding language into some of its software programs and then tracking how much the messages affected problem-solving...more>>
EdSurge: Longtime Higher Ed Leader (and Former U.S. Congressman) Argues For a 'Networked College'
The campus of the future will be "networked," argues Peter Smith, meaning that more and more academic-related services will be outsourced. That, in theory, will allow each campus to focus its energies on what it can do best and turn to outside companies and nonprofits for the rest...more>>
EdTech: 5 Ed Tech Trends Redefine the Connected Campus
New thinking in higher education drives IT investments in networking, security and analytics...more>>
EdSurge: Should Professors (a) Use Multiple Choice Tests or (b) Avoid Them At All Costs?
Multiple-choice questions don't belong in college. They're often ineffective as a teaching tool, they're easy for students to cheat, and they can exacerbate test anxiety...more>>
EdDive: iPads part of trend addressing diversity, inclusion in learning
An increasing number of universities and colleges are leveraging one-to-one iPad initiatives as part of their strategic campus goals and efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion...more>>
Venture Beat: Cybersecurity engineering: a new academic discipline
Cyber startups and legacy technology companies know exactly how to attract top undergraduates: a six-figure salary, a signing bonus, even a new car. With these luxuries in reach, choosing to forgo the job offer in pursuit of advanced higher education seems irrational for most new grads...more>>
EdSurge: Transcription and Accessibility-New Partnerships from Microsoft and Amazon
On the heels of one another, two tech titans recently announced higher-education partnerships that leverage transcription technology to make educational materials more accessible to a broader swath of learners...more>>
PR Web: Noodle Partners, MassMutual, and Flowpoint Announce $100 Million Financing Partnership
Noodle Partners, the nation's fastest-growing online higher education provider, today announced a $100 million financing partnership with MassMutual and FlowPoint Education Management. MassMutual and FlowPoint have committed to fund universities to create online programs with Noodle Partners using its unique temporary revenue share financing arrangement...more>>
EvoLLLution: Pursuing National Accreditation to Create Access Quickly While Proving Quality and Rigor
Earning national accreditation was critical to eVersity's capacity to serve its learners, but accreditation standards must evolve to ensure innovative education providers like this are able to follow through on their missions and expand access to education...more>>
Pearson: Grade Increase: Tracking Distance Education in the U.S. [Infographic]
In 2016, distance education enrollment continued to grow for the 14th straight year. This is the headline coming out of Grade Increase: Tracking Distance Education in the United States - a recent report released by Babson Survey Research Group (BSRG)...more>>
Campus Technology: Research: Online Courses Associated with Improved Retention, Access
Online courses are associated with higher retention and graduation rates, increased access and cost savings of as much as 50 percent, according to a new study from Arizona State University...more>>
WSJ: Private Colleges Dole Out Scholarships to Boost Enrollment, but It Isn't Working
Private colleges have been aggressively discounting tuition in an effort to boost enrollment, a risky strategy that now may be backfiring as students aren't signing up in droves, even at sale prices...more>>
EdSurge: Financial Aid Startup CampusLogic Raises $55M to Fund Future Edtech Acquisitions
For some, the words "financial aid" stirs up reminders of grueling applications and the anxiety of coping with skyrocketing college tuition. Phoenix-based CampusLogic aims to chip away at some of those challenges by helping institutions manage and award financial aid to more students, as well as reduce student borrowing by connecting colleges with private grant and scholarship opportunities for students...more>>
NYT: How to Level the College Playing Field
Despite the best efforts of many, the gap between the numbers of rich and poor college graduates continues to grow...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Relevance and Perceptions of Higher Education
People are much more likely to have positive perceptions about the value and quality of their college experience when they feel their college courses are relevant to their work and daily lives, according to the results of a survey conducted by Strada Education Network and Gallup...more>>
TechCrunch: These schools graduate the most funded startup CEOs
There is no degree required to be a CEO of a venture-backed company. But it likely helps to graduate from Harvard, Stanford or one of about a dozen other prominent universities that churn out a high number of top startup executive...more>>
Slate: City Planning 101
Why universities became big-time real estate developers...more>>
Observatory: Poll: Americans think research universities are the primary force of innovation
A recent study revealed that the majority of Americans believe that innovative leadership should start at research universities. However, is it in the universities where the most transformative ideas are currently born?...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: from Diversity Chief to College President
Changing demographics and demands for inclusion on campuses open a nontraditional path to the presidency. But two recent appointees have been subject to anonymous email campaigns...more>>
Axios: Go to college, on and off, for life
At a time technologists are stressing that, to stay employed, workers need to keep learning their whole lives, the graduate business school at the University of Michigan is offering alumni lifetime rights to return for refresher classes for free...more>>
CUPA-HR: Survey Results: Short Tenure for Higher Ed's Top Leaders
Presidents and provosts in U.S. colleges and universities tend to change jobs frequently; in fact, administrators in higher education overall tend to have fairly short tenures, with a median of five years in their position...more>>
EdDive: Leaders discuss 'rebooting' higher ed to remain competitive
Colleges and universities are on track to produce 11 million fewer credentialed individuals than the workforce will need by 2025, Dan Greenstein, a senior strategy adviser with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said Tuesday in an ASU+GSV session on how institutions are radically "rebooting" themselves to serve more students at lower costs...more>>
EdSurge: New Report Sheds Light on Higher Ed's Innovation Challenges
A new report surveying academic administrators released Wednesday by the Online Learning Consortium and Learning House sheds some insight on innovation challenges at higher education institutions...more>>
Chronicle: Top-Ranked Colleges Spend Their Money Differently from the Rest
Here's how they devote more of their payrolls to human resources, for example. But don't take that as a recipe for success, says Paul Friga, the researcher behind a new data analysis...more>>
EdDive: Many colleges fall short on digital marketing strategies
More than 3/4 - 77% - of higher ed institutions fall below what is considered successful use of digital analysis tools, which a University Business article laments as a huge missed opportunity, given the ease with which digital marketing efforts can be measured...more>>
Hechinger: For-profit colleges lose when two-year colleges offer B.A. degrees
Traditional four-year schools see boost in degrees when community colleges compete...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Focusing on the Finish Line
A new analysis sheds light on the need to help students who are 75 percent of the way toward a degree but are at risk of dropping out...more>>
Hechinger: Are America's colleges promoting social mobility?
Economists dig into the data to understand which schools are doing the most to help revive the American Dream...more>>
EdDive: 'Lots of models for undergrad' are necessary to meet demands of today's learners
Higher education institutions have adapted to the needs of today's students by offering online options, focusing on retention rates and allowing those with skills to demonstrate and gain credit for their competencies. Even with those changes, however, traditional institutions are not keeping up with the "talent lifecycle," Lisa Wardell, president and CEO of for-profit Adtalem Global Education, suggested Wednesday during an ASU+GSV Summit session on the future of undergraduate education...more>>
Politico: Trump blamed as U.S. colleges lure fewer foreign students
U.S. colleges blame the administration's immigration policies as they fall behind foreign competitors in vying for international students...more>>
EdSurge: a Slow-Moving Storm: Why Demographic Changes Mean Tough Challenges for College Leaders
The financial crisis of 2008 was tough for the country, but the real impact will hit colleges in the year 2026. It turns out those fiscal anxieties a few years ago coincided with a dramatic "birth dearth"-a reduction in the number of children born, which means that the number of kids hitting traditional college age will drop almost 15 percent around 2026...more>>
EdDive: Report illustrates vulnerability of first-generation college students
A new study from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) shows that students whose parents did not attend college are 19% less likely themselves to finish college than students whose parents have some college experience...more>>
EdSurge: MOOCs Are Global. So Where Do They Stand With New European Privacy Laws?
In less than three weeks, strict privacy regulations will go into effect for the European Union. and that's forcing companies and colleges around the globe to reevaluate their data policies and practices...more>>
EdSurge: How Harvard Is Trying to Update the Extension School for the MOOC Age
You could call extension schools the original MOOCs. Universities first opened these offshoots more than 100 years ago, and at the time they were innovative-throwing open the campus gates by offering night classes without any admission requirements...more>>
EdDive: Stackable degrees could be the future of higher education, experts say
The alternative credential market is growing and the pace will not slow down, higher education experts said during a Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board briefing last week about the Higher Education Act...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: White House Spending Cuts Would Hit AmeriCorps Funding, Preserve Student Aid
A $15 billion package of proposed spending cuts released by the White House Tuesday would leave student aid and campus-based research untouched...more>>
Atlantic: American Higher Education Hits a Dangerous Milestone
Drawing almost no attention, the nation crossed an ominous milestone last year that threatens more economic polarization and social division: For the first time, public colleges and universities in most states received most of their revenue from tuition rather than government appropriations...more>>
WSJ: Betsy DeVos to Consider Fate of For-Profit College Accreditor
Education secretary's decision about ACICS could send a strong signal about her broader approach to colleges and universities...more>>
Politico: States move ahead on student loan bills after DeVos guidance
It's been more than a month since the Trump administration sought to put an end to states' regulation of the companies that collect federal student loans. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in March issued guidance saying that federal law preempts efforts by states to regulate the companies, which include some of the nation's largest student loan servicers...more>>
NYT Magazine: How Liberty University Built a Billion-Dollar Empire Online
With a hard sell to prospective students and huge amounts in taxpayer funding, Jerry Falwell Jr. transformed the evangelical institution into a behemoth...more>>

Et Alia
Forbes: How General Assembly's $412.5 Million Deal Signals a Classroom-To-Career Revolution
If you are searching for clues about the future of higher education, look no further than last week's $412.5 million acquisition of coding boot camp General Assembly by the world's largest recruitment and staffing firm, Zurich-based Adecco Group...more>>
EdDive: It's time to break silos, look at education as a continuum, leaders say
A recent Gallup poll revealed that only about one in four adults believe that students who graduate from high school this year are prepared for college or a career, and Lone Star Community College Chancellor Stephen Head agrees...more>>
CLO: The Future of the Corporate University
A dual focus on business strategy and employee engagement can ensure a corporate university's guiding principles align with those of the company...more>>
McKinsey: Linking talent to value
Getting the best people into the most important roles does not happen by chance; it requires a disciplined look at where the organization really creates value and how top talent contributes...more>>
NPR: High-Paying Trade Jobs Sit Empty, While High School Grads Line Up For University
Like most other American high school students, Garret Morgan had it drummed into him constantly: Go to college. Get a bachelor's degree...more>>
EdDive: What is the role of public education in the US?
Leaders at a summit sponsored by the Reagan Foundation debated the purpose of schools - and the role of the federal government in helping them achieve that purpose...more>>
Fast Company: No Pain, No Brain Gain: Why Learning Demands (a Little) Discomfort
The brain isn't a muscle, but it still needs to "feel the burn" in order to build new neural connections that actually last...more>>
EdDive: ASU+GSV 2018: Our recap of the annual higher ed and K-12 innovation showcase
We've rounded up our coverage of last week's summit in San Diego in one location for your convenience...more>>
EdSurge: What's Next for Pearson? (Not Buying Your Education Startup.)
It's hard not to pick on Goliath when things unravel. For Pearson, the world's largest education company, some of its recent tumult in past years have been self-imposed, even deliberate, under the helm of John Fallon...more>>
Washington Post: Free textbooks? Federal government is on track with a pilot program.
The federal government's first major investment in the free use of textbooks remains on track, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday in a letter examining a pilot program by the Education Department...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Are Etextbooks Affordable Now?
New print textbooks can still cost students hundreds of dollars, but the cost of etextbooks is falling fast, according to data from etextbook distribution platforms VitalSource and RedShelf -- both of which work with all major publishers...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Publishers Win Big in Fake-Textbook Lawsuit
Publishers Wiley, Cengage, Pearson and McGraw-Hill Education have won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against a seller of fake textbooks. Book Dog Books, a textbook-selling company, was last week found guilty of multiple counts of trademark and copyright infringement. the company was fined $34.2 million -- thought to be one of the largest amounts ever awarded to publishers in a counterfeit-textbook case...more>>
EdSurge: In Move to 'Unlimited' Pricing Model, Cengage Hopes for a Comeback
It's been about five years since Cengage Learning filed for bankruptcy, stumbling under the weight of shrinking print sales, a rough transition to digital and too much debt...more>>
Washington Post: Battle over college course material is a textbook example of technological change
Brandan Hudgins, an engineering student at Virginia's Tidewater Community College, has used traditional textbooks and electronic books. He has paid for digital codes to get homework assignments and, sometimes, gotten free, unlimited access to texts...more>>
EdSurge: Can a For-Profit, Venture-Backed Company Keep OER Free-and Be Financially Sustainable?
From 2006 to 2016, the cost of textbooks increased by 88 percent, more than nearly any other college student expense-including tuition and fees (63 percent) or on-campus housing (51 percent)-according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics...more>>
EdSurge: Edovo Raises $9M To Bring Tablets and Digital Learning To Incarcerated People
EDOVO, a Chicago-based company that provides an online learning platform for incarcerated people, has raised $9 million from investors including the Lumina Foundation, Impact Engine and Kapor Capital...more>>
IES: Projections of Education Statistics to 2026
Projections of Education Statistics to 2026 is the 45th report in a series begun in 1964. It includes statistics on elementary and secondary schools and degree-granting postsecondary institutions. This report provides revisions of projections shown in Projections of Education Statistics to 2025 and projections of enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures to the year 2026...more>>
Bloomberg: China's iTutorGroup Targets $2 Billion Valuation Ahead of IPO
ITutorGroup is raising as much as $300 million at a valuation of about $2 billion, which would make it the world's biggest education technology startup, according to CB Insights...more>>
encoura: Be All That You Have Been: How the Military is Innovating Education
It's commonly understood that adult learners want degree or certificate programs that are low in cost and high in speed-to-completion. Less understood is how schools can provide these features along with high quality learning experiences and a legitimate chance to find a well-paying job upon graduation...more>>
EdSurge: 'Talent' Has Become the New Theme Uniting Education and Employment
The postsecondary education sector is on a collision course with the world of work. Entrepreneurs and investors, government leaders, foundations and others are increasingly framing their goals around the concept of developing "talent"-or human capital-with less regard to where and how the education takes place...more>>
EdSurge: Bringing Order to 'Badges': Nonprofit Works With Colleges on Framework to Measure Soft Skills
If a student masters a subject such as English or Chemistry, then professors give them letter-grades for their transcripts indicating their level of mastery. But students learn much more than that at college, and some higher ed leaders are looking for ways to measure the other, softer skills student pick up while on campus...more>>
EdDive: Institutional Innovation: How blockchain could transform student ROI
Blockchain is best understood through one of its more well-known products, bitcoin - a type of cryptocurrency that functions based on a decentralized network of peers ensuring that the transactions are valid...more>>
Ars Technica: Hundreds of big-name sites hacked, converted into drive-by currency miners
Sites that were hacked included those belonging to computer maker Lenovo, the University of California at Los Angeles, the US National Labor Relations Board, the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners, and the city of Marion, Ohio, Troy Mursch, an independent security researcher, told Ars on Monday...more>>
The EvoLLLution: Clear as Mud: Finding Ways to Improve Upon the College Transcript
The opacity of the official college transcript is another reminder of the more institution-centric history of higher education. With the shift to student-centricity comes a demand for new and more flexible approaches to communicating student achievements, knowledge and outcomes...more>>
Edsurge: New York Startup Credly Acquires Pearson's Badging Business
It used to be that startups sought to get acquired by big publishers like Pearson. But how the tables have turned. This week, Credly, a New York-based digital credentialing platform provider, is acquiring Pearson's badging business, Acclaim...more>>
McKinsey: Will artificial intelligence make you a better leader?
Agile leadership and AI both depend on learning to let go...more>>
McKinsey: Eight shifts that will take your strategy into high gear
Developing a great strategy starts with changing the dynamics in your strategy room. Here's how...more>>
Stanford Business: Hit the Mark: Make Complex Ideas Understandable
Six ways to communicate challenging concepts to an audience...more>>
EdSurge: Google Assistant and Edwin Want To Be Your Next English Tutor
Google Assistant can remind users about appointments, turn off TVs, and help drivers manage tasks from behind the wheel. But the tech giant has plans to go further than that for its virtual assistant. Part of that next move? English tutoring...more>>
Reuters: Fuse takes Fidelity funding to expand its bite-sized learning system
Fuse Universal, a learning management platform which companies use to train employees on phones and computers, has raised $20 million in expansion funding from Eight Roads Ventures, Fidelity International's venture arm, the company said on Wednesday...more>>
Seeking Alpha: Pluralsight Finalizes Terms For $228 Million IPO
Pluralsight (PS) intends to raise $228 million in an IPO from the sale of its Class a common stock, according to an amended regulatory filing. the company provides an e-learning system aimed at businesses and individuals to help them obtain additional business skills and knowledge...more>>
CLO: Corporate U: The History and the Future
Fred Harburg, former CLO and president of Motorola University, shares his thoughts on the future of the corporate university...more>>
VC Circle: IL&FS PE, Kae Capital back corporate training startup Disprz
Disprz, which offers an employee development and engagement platform for enterprises, has raised $2.5 million (around Rs 16.5 crore) in a Series a round of funding from IL&FS Private Equity and existing investor Kae Capital...more>>
HR Dive: As voluntary benefits become 'must haves,' employers focus on education
From professional development to student loan repayment, companies are positioning themselves as partners when it comes to the education of employees and their families...more>>
Forbes: Education As a Benefit: More Companies Support Degree Pathways
Susana married her high school sweetheart who joined the Coast Guard. a baby came and they moved around. She always wanted to go to college, but it was hard to make the commitment. Working as a Starbucks barista, Susana heard about the College Achievement Plan and signed up the day it was announced...more>>
The Economist: The $100bn bet--the meaning of the Vision Fund
Succeed or fail, Masayoshi Son is changing the world of technology investing...more>>
Business Insider: Apple will invest $1 billion into the world's largest technology venture fund
Apple will invest $1 billion into the SoftBank Vision Fund, a spokesperson told Business Insider. the fund will be the world's largest technology venture fund if it hits its $100 billion goal...more>>
Fast Company: These are the uniquely human skills that employers say robots can't do
Fear not, robots aren't coming for your work. Ninety-one percent of employers in the U.S. say they're keeping their workforce as is, or plan to hire more people in the next two to three years as a result of automation. This is according to a new report from ManpowerGroup that surveyed 19,718 employers across six industry sectors in 42 countries (2,000 of which were in the U.S.)...more>>
Hechinger: Study: the U.S. isn't doing enough to prepare students for the automation age
The country ranks ninth when it comes to upgrading curricula and teacher training for the labor market of the future...more>>
The Economist: The Automation Readiness Index: Who Is Ready for the Coming Age of Automation
There are few terms as emotive, and few subjects that elicit as much angst, within societies as that of automation. This might seem odd, given that automation technologies have long been present in our factories and offices. the advent, however, of highly intelligent technologies such as robotics and those based on the different forms of artificial intelligence (AI), which have the ability to perform more than just assembly-line types of tasks, has added a new dimension to discussions of future automation...more>>
HBR: Why Talented People Don't Use Their Strengths
Often our "superpowers" are things we do effortlessly, almost reflexively, like breathing. When a boss identifies these talents and asks you to do something that uses your superpower, you may think, "But that's so easy. It's too easy."...more>>
Hechinger: Map to the Middle Class
The story of the future of work in America is one of deepening economic polarization. Good jobs are disappearing for people with only a high-school diploma, while wage and employment gains increasingly accrue to people with higher education...more>>
MarketWatch: Education alone may not be the great equalizer
The American dream is on the decline. the gap between the rich and the poor has been widening in the United States for years, studies show - and education alone may not be the great equalizer, a new report distributed this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research found...more>>
Market Watch: For the first time, young Americans have less optimism than those aged 55 and older
Consumer sentiment may have reached the highest level since 2004, but millennials are now less optimistic than baby boomers. That's the first time Americans younger than 35 say they actually have less consumer confidence than those aged 55 and over, according to data from the University of Michigan, Haver Analytics and Deutsche Bank Global Research...more>>
HRDive: Acute skills shortage could impede US business growth by 2030
The skills shortage could create conditions that, if not addressed, could severely impede growth of the U.S. market by 2030, a new Korn Ferry study says...more>>
HR Dive: Even the federal government is feeling the skills gap squeeze
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has announced guidance aimed at helping agencies identify their cybersecurity skills gaps...more>>
EdSurge: Google and Udacity Offering 5,000 Scholarships for Nanodegree Programs
Google and Udacity are partnering to offer 5,000 scholarships for Udacity's Nanodegrees in Android or mobile web development, according to Peter Lubbers, a senior program manager and the head of Google Developer Training...more>>
EdSurge: General Assembly to Be Acquired By Swiss HR Firm for $412.5 Million
General Assembly, the New York-based provider of coding bootcamps and short-term career-focused educational programs, has reached an agreement to be acquired by the Adecco Group for $412.5 million in cash...more>>
Hechinger: Are apprenticeships the new on-ramp to good jobs?
The earn-and-learn model could spread, but the Trump administration has done too little to facilitate its growth...more>>
AEI: What Works: Building Skills Across America
There is intense focus on the importance of earning a college degree to become workforce ready. Yet many students - young and old - are dubious that America's one-size-fits-all education system can adequately prepare them for an ever more shifting and sophisticated world of work...more>>