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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December Feature: M&A ACTIVITY FROM CHERRY TREE

Pearson Sells Wall Street English Business
Hero K12 Acquires SchoolMint
Leeds Equity Partners Invests in Fusion Education Group
Curriculum Associates Acquires Motion Math
ExploreLearning Acquires IS3D
Ambow BSC Acquires Bay State College
Springer Nature Acquires iversity
Bristow Group Sells Bristow Academy
Wonder Workshop Raises $41 Million
Panorama Raises $16 Million
BetterLesson Raises $10 Million
Lessonly Raises $8 Million
HopSkipDrive Raises $7.4 Million
SAM Labs Raises $6.75 Million
Kenzie Academy Raises $1.6 Million
PandaTree Raises $1.5 Million
Upswing Raises $1.5 Million
Blue Canoe Learning Raises $1.4 Million
Galileo Global Education Midco Acquires European University Cyprus Ltd and Laureate Italy S.r.l. for €230 Million
IK Investment Partners Agrees to Acquire Studienkreis GmbH
Kano Raises $28 Million
The Digital Marketing Institute Receives €26 Million Investment from Spectrum Equity
Strayer Education to Merge with Capella Education


Recent BSG Search Activity:

Sotheby's Institute of Art, Global Director of Admissions and Recruitment
Herzing University, Chief Marketing Officer
Revolution Foods, VP Sales
One CEO and one VP Sales search currently underway under non-disclosure agreements.

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




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
  • 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
Forbes: What Education Technology Companies Need To Know About Schools
As an innovation team focused on improving the world through education, my colleagues and I are often the first port of call for ed tech startups hoping to go to market or to scale their products globally...more>>
Education Week: What 150 Years of Education Statistics Say About Schools Today
Long before there was an independent federal education department-before many states had school systems, in fact-there was a federal education statistics agency...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: 40 Most Popular Ed-Tech Tools in K-12 Identified in New Analysis
A new study by an ed-tech management company identifies the 40 most popular digital learning tools, accessed via Google's Chrome browser, that are used in K-12 schools...more>>
Education Week: Senate OKs Tax Bill Changing Teacher Deduction, Expanding School Choice
The U.S. Senate has passed its version of a tax overhaul package that contains potential changes for how teachers do their taxes and for state and local education funding, as well as a provision aimed at boosting school choice...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Without Net Neutrality, How Would Internet Companies Treat K-12 Districts?
One of the main fears that school officials have about curtailing "net neutrality" is that internet service companies will have new powers to throttle or block the flow of online content that serves as academic lifeblood for many districts...more>>
edscoop: FCC's plan to dismantle net neutrality rules raises serious concerns for educators
Edtech supporters say the proposal would hinder learning and undermine the openness of educational resources...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: FCC Chair Seeks to Overturn 'Net Neutrality' Rules, With Implications for K-12
The Federal Communications Commission is moving ahead with long-anticipated plans to dismantle "net neutrality" protections, a decision that has potentially big implications for the work of schools and ed-tech providers...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: A "Punishing Decade" for K-12 Education Funding in the States
Despite recent signs of gradually increasing spending on schools, many states today are devoting significantly less money to K-12 education that they were nearly a decade ago...more>>
EdDive: Study: State ed funding still lagging below pre-recession levels
Based on 2015 Census data, 29 states are providing less per-pupil funding than before the recession, and in 19 states, local funding has also dropped over that same time period, according to a report released today by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)...more>>
MDR: Further Reform for the FCC's Lifeline Program and Other Education News
Read on for updates on what's happening with Title IV-A grant money, the FCC's efforts to - one more time - make the Lifeline program more efficient, a stroll down memory lane with the CoSN/EdScoop EdTech Time Capsule, and more education industry updates...more>>
Politico: Alexander looms large over K-12 education
Sen. Lamar Alexander made a phone call this summer that quickly changed how Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was enforcing the law governing how public schools are held accountable for educating kids...more>>
Education Week: DeVos' Top K-12 Deputy Tells Chiefs to Innovate, But Comply With ESSA
Jason Botel, the U.S. department's acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, told a room full of state schools chiefs Wednesday that he wants states to be innovative in working to close the nation's yawning achievement gap, but also wants them to make sure they comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act in doing so...more>>
Hechinger: States will soon be free to transform standardized testing, but most won't
Even states that only grudgingly rely on multiple-choice tests may sit out an "innovative assessment" pilot...more>>
iNACOL: Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning
This issue brief discusses opportunities for states under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to redesign systems of assessments to support student-centered learning...more>>
EdDive: In making changes, many states leave key Common Core components intact
A new report from the nonprofit Achieve, titled "Strong Standards: A Review of Changes to State Standards Since the Common Core," details revisions to state educational standards following revisions to the Common Core State Standards, finding that the changes kept in place many of those standards' key components, Education Week reports...more>>
AP: US charter schools put growing numbers in racial isolation
Charter schools are among the nation's most segregated, an Associated Press analysis finds - an outcome at odds, critics say, with their goal of offering a better alternative to failing traditional public schools...The problem: Those levels of segregation correspond with low achievement levels at schools of all kinds...more>>
Huff Post: Network For Public Education Study Exposes Charter School Scams
The just-released Network for Public Education (NPE) report, "Charters and Consequences," documents charter school scams supported by wealthy "philanthropists," powerful political interests and an assortment of entrepreneurs looking to make money off of education...more>>
Education week: 'Precious Little Evidence' That Vouchers Improve Achievement, Recent Research Finds
There's been surging national interest in private-school-voucher programs with the Trump administration's embrace of the idea...more>>
Education Week: Schools Struggle to Keep Pace With Hackings, Other Cyber Threats
A wide range of cybersecurity threats are sweeping through the education sector, sowing discord and costing public schools significant time, money, and trust...more>>
EdDive: Cybersecurity still a top concern for districts considering cloud
Cloud tools are helping schools and districts increase efficiency and free faculty and staff for more important concerns, but with 46% of IT leaders naming security concerns as a barrier and 28% naming student data privacy specifically, keeping everything safe and secure remains a top priority, EdTech: Focus on K-12 reports...more>>
NBC News: Criminals make student data public in escalating demands for ransom
In a world where everything is hackable and nothing off limits, cyber criminals are now targeting schools, stealing student data and holding it for ransom...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Growth in U.S. K-12 Computing Market Cools, But Global Demand Stays Hot
Sales of mobile personal computers in the U.S. schools grew by just 3.5 percent over the past year, as the overall penetration of devices into districts is approaching a point of "maturity," a new analysis finds...more>>
EdDive Awards: Most Disruptive Idea: District Cooperatives/Collaboratives
As the old saying goes, there's strength in numbers. While the wording they use may vary, whether it be "cooperative" or "collaborative," school districts have found this to be especially true in recent years, joining forces to leverage their collective resources and buying power amid ongoing budget austerity nationwide...more>>
EdTech: Students Want Laptops, Flexible Digital Tools in the Classroom
Students crave tools that allow them to work anywhere, anytime, according to McGraw-Hill Education's 2017 Digital Study Trends Survey...more>>
Mother Jones: Inside Silicon Valley's Big-Money Push to Remake American Education
Personalized learning is the latest trend to catch the eye of tech moguls-and Betsy DeVos. But does it work?...more>>
Silicon Republic: What's driving STEM education? Emerging trends on the road ahead
Where is STEM education heading in 2018? Andrew B Raupp looks back on 2017 to predict what lies ahead for STEM...more>>
Getting Smart: Ask About AI: The Future of Learning and Work
Code that learns may prove to be the most important invention in human history. But in 2016, there was almost no discussion of the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) in K-12 education-either the immense implications for the employment landscape or the exciting potential to improve learning...more>>
eSchool News: 4 exciting trends that will define the 2018 education industry
Let's examine four key trends that are expected to shape the education industry this coming year...more>>
Education Week: Data: U.S. School Buildings: Age, Condition, and Spending
How well are America's public school buildings and other facilities holding up? How much is the nation spending to build and maintain them? Is it enough? And just who's bearing the costs?...more>>
EdTech: IoT Powers Up the Connected K-12 Schools of the Future
Picture the schools of the future. If you thought of internet-connected devices everywhere, controlling and monitoring everything from temperature to student engagement, you aren't that far off from the schools of today...more>>
DCINNO: The D.C. EdTech Nonprofit Growing at The Same Rate as Facebook
This time last year, Michelle Brown was just moving out of 1776 and into her new Eastern Market office space. The former teacher had landed a $3.9 million grant the month before from the U.S. Department of Education for her then two-year-old nonprofit startup, CommonLit...more>>
Hechinger: Open Educational Resources haven't upended the way that K-12 schools get course materials - yet
That could change as whole-course curricula become freely accessible online...more>>
NYT: Disrupting the World of Private School With Tech and Guinea Pigs
Long dominated by a small group of elite institutions, New York City's private schools have limited seats, annual tuition approaching $50,000, and an admissions process that can drive even the most levelheaded parents to teeth-grinding anxiety...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: Data Snapshot: Who Are the Nation's Homeschoolers?
A recently released batch of federal data offers a portrait of the nation's homeschool population, including the backgrounds of students and their families' reasons for choosing that option...more>>
EdTech: Tech, Digital Citizenship Support Social and Emotional Learning for K-12 Students
Certain education technologies can facilitate lessons on empathy and compassion...more>>
EdSurge: Brainwave Headsets Are Making Their Way Into Classrooms-For Meditation and Disciplines
At first glance, the brochure for the Muse headset might look more like a religious leaflet than a technology instruction guide. There's an image of sunlight shining through trees and a message that reads, "Welcome to the Muse Community."...more>>
EdTech: Brain Science and Evidence-Based Research Help Schools Choose Tech with the Best ROI
School districts with tight budgets can determine the efficacy of tech by using research-based strategies...more>>
Venture Beat: How Google and Amazon are hooking kids from an early age
Google announced a notable update to YouTube Kids this week, one that gives parents a range of tools to tailor the app for their kids...more>>
Education Week: The Case(s) Against Personalized Learning
Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are backing it with hundreds of millions of dollars. States from Florida to Vermont have adopted supportive laws and policies. And school districts across the country are embracing this emerging education trend...more>>
EdSurge Research: Up Close and Personal: Chronicling Learning Practices Across the Nation
This research enables insights into how schools and districts across the country think about personalized learning, from visualizing change to opening pathways to student success...more>>
Ed Week: States Take Steps to Fuel Personalized Learning
How do state lawmakers encourage the use of such an ill-defined, yet potentially transformational concept as personalized learning?...more>>
The 74: How an Online Personalized Preschool Experiment Could Change the Way Rural America Does Early Education
Garfield County, Utah, is about 5,200 square miles, and has just about as many people...more>>
EdDive: Tech and early childhood: Speakers say digital tools should be 'interactive with interaction'
Session highlights Fred Rogers' influence on use of media with the youngest students...more>>
EdDive: Research analysis shows long-term benefits of center-based pre-K programs
Early-childhood education teachers and leaders gathered in Atlanta for the National Association for the Education of Young Children conference received some welcome news Thursday when researchers from five universities released research confirming the benefits of high-quality, classroom-based preschool programs...more>>
EdDive: More families choosing online preschool to prepare children for kindergarten
If online school is acceptable for K-12 students, why not take advantage of virtual classrooms for younger children? That's what some parents are doing in hopes of equipping their preschoolers with academic skills while avoiding the high costs of private preschool, according to a PBS News Hour report...more>>
Education Week: U.S. Graduation Rate Hits New All-Time High, With Gains in All Student Groups
The national high school graduation rate has risen to a new all-time high: 84 percent, the fifth straight year of increases, according to data published by the federal government today...more>>
Education Week: Global Reading Scores Are Rising, But Not for U.S. Students
The good news from the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study is that basic literacy is at an all-time high worldwide and a majority of countries have seen rising reading achievement in the last decade...more>>
U.S. News: How U.S. Kids Might Have Performed Better in Math
Behavioral economists wondered if U.S. students are simply lazy when they're taking the PISA exam...more>>
eSchool News: Superintendents grapple with finding stellar teachers
Concerns around finding highly-qualified teachers and principals plague today's district superintendents, according to a new Gallup poll. Two-thirds of district superintendents in a new survey said the quantity of new teacher candidates is decreasing, and 43 percent said new principal candidates are decreasing...more>>

Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed: House Republican Opposes Grad Student Tax
Representative Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, on Thursday circulated a letter to House colleagues urging GOP leaders to exclude from final tax reform legislation a provision that would tax graduate students' tuition benefits...more>>
Atlantic: A History of the Conservative War on Universities
The GOP tax bill is the latest example of an anti-intellectualism that's been brewing for decades...more>>
Chronicle: Higher-Ed Lobbyists Are Told to Make Peace With Republicans
The opening speech at the annual Higher Education Government Relations Conference is often a feel-good event that reiterates the value and importance of public colleges...more>>
Washington Post: Elitists, crybabies and junky degrees
A Trump supporter explains rising conservative anger at American universities...more>>
Washington Post: Tax bill reflects rift between many Republicans and higher education
Ending a tax deduction for interest paid on student loans. Raising taxes for more than 100,000 graduate students who receive tuition waivers. Imposing a levy on endowments at certain private colleges and universities...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Moody's Downgrades Higher Education's Outlook
Citing uncertainty over federal policies as a contributing factor, Moody's on Tuesday downgraded its financial outlook for higher education to negative from stable...more>>
MarketWatch: Republican proposal could create bigger role for private industry in higher education
While you were paying attention to the tax bill, Republicans proposed overhauling the student loan program...more>>
Chronicle: What You Need to Know About the GOP Bill to Bring Sweeping Changes to Higher Ed
The legislation, to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, would repeal the gainful-employment regulation, codify Title IX guidance, simplify the Fafsa, and eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program...more>>
HBR: A Tax Plan that Hurts Education Will Hurt U.S. Competitiveness
Tucked inside the Senate and House versions of the bill are provisions that would make it substantially harder for low- or middle-class American students to receive post-secondary education...more>>
Boston Globe: Elite colleges with fat endowments are on the defensive as the GOP drags them into a D.C. tax fight
America's elite private colleges would rather talk about anything other than their own vast wealth, but Republicans have put the institutions they have long criticized as liberal bastions on the defensive by dragging them into Washington's messy tax fight...more>>
NYT: Endowments Boom as Colleges Bury Earnings Overseas
American universities are using offshore strategies to swell their coffers, skirt taxes and obscure investments that could spark campus protests...more>>
WSJ: Higher Education Gears Up to Fight GOP Bill's Tax on Endowments
Proposals would tax endowments, demand schools pay back some student loans and provide greater transparency about how much graduates earn...more>>
WSJ: Five Things on the House's Higher Education Bill
What's in and what's out of the legislation on school finances, oversight and student aid...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Net Neutrality Rollback Concerns Colleges
The creation of internet fast lanes could come at a high cost to higher education, experts on technology and learning warn...more>>
EdSurge: Academic Leaders Make Case for Net Neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission is reconsidering how it regulates the flow of information online, and academic groups are making their case to protect so-called "net neutrality" rules...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: Is DeVos Devaluing Degrees?
Education secretary calls for more emphasis on work-force training. Many experts -- including those focused on careers -- say general education matters more than she suggests...more>>
The 74: Make College Free? Not So Fast. New Study Shows That Students Are Helped by Making College Better, Not Cheaper
he movement to make college free may continue to grow, but a recent study by economists at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, has found that students benefit far more when schools spend to improve their academics rather than lower their prices...more>>
U.S. News: DeVos Calls for 'Major Shift' In Higher Education
The education secretary argued for a renewed focus on apprenticeship programs...more>>
Politico: What to expect as new higher ed rulemaking begins
The Trump administration this morning is kicking off the long, painstaking process of coming up with new rules governing federal loan forgiveness for defrauded students, mandatory arbitration agreements, and the financial standards colleges must meet to receive federal student aid...more>>
Civis Analytics: Most Americans Support Post-Secondary Education
In August and September of 2017, Civis asked 5,647 Americans and 675 K-12 teachers whether they think post-secondary education is valuable and whether students should pursue it, as well as whether they are satisfied with two- and four-year degree programs...more>>
NYT: Fewer Foreign Students Are Coming to U.S., Survey Shows
The first new college class since the election of Donald J. Trump has arrived on campus, and new numbers confirm what the higher education industry had feared: Fewer foreign students are coming to the United States...more>>
Baltimore Sun: Laureate Education eyes growth in emerging markets
Not quite a year into its second stint as a publicly traded company, Laureate Education is preparing to install its second-ever CEO, who will have the challenge of lifting the company out of debt while pursuing aggressive growth...more>>
New York Law Journal: Students Defrauded by For-Profit College Sue US Education Department
Two women who claim they were defrauded by a for-profit college have sued the Education Department and a private loan servicer in a case their attorneys say could provide a new legal remedy for tens of thousands of students frustrated with the department's inaction on claims seeking loan forgiveness...more>>
SF Gate: Study: Most student loan fraud claims involve for-profits
Students who attended for-profit colleges filed more than 98 percent of the requests for student loan forgiveness alleging fraud by their schools, according to an analysis of Education Department data published Thursday...more>>
Inside Higher Ed: A Lack of Tuition Strategy
States lack coordination and clarity, according to survey finding more than two-thirds of respondents reported no unified approach to address affordability...more>>
Bloomberg: Wall Street Is Fighting a CFPB Deal Over Billions in Defaulted Student Loans
Faulty practices by debt collectors spur calls for a massive audit. But America's securitization industry warns there may be consequences for future borrowers...more>>
Hechinger: Federal data shows 3.9 million students dropped out of college with debt in 2015 and 2016
For-profit sector produced a disproportionate share of indebted dropouts...more>>
WSJ: College-Savings Imbalance: Parents Put Aside More for Sons Than Daughters
Two studies find a gender divide. Is it bias? Or do parents have more confidence in their daughters' abilities?...more>>
TechCrunch: Education technology meets its limits
...The lesson Udacity, Coursera and others are learning is that developing skills-based online courses and credentials is the easy part. The hard part is getting employers to pay attention....more>>
EdSurge: With $14M Fundraise, Noodle Wants Colleges to 'Pick and Choose' How They Build Online Programs
As more nonprofit colleges and universities bet their futures on online offerings, many are turning to for-profit companies to help create and advertise their new digital degree programs...more>>
EdSurge: How Online Can Save Small, Private Colleges from Going Under
In the wake of a recent series of small-college closings, the takeaway for small private colleges is that their days may be numbered...more>>
EdSurge: How Much Hollywood Glitz Should Colleges Use in Their Online Courses?
The CEO of Strayer Education, Karl McDonnell, admits that some of Strayer University's online courses were boring and monotonous-essentially narration over slides bearing clip-art...more>>
EdSurge: Hitting Reset, Knewton Tries New Strategy: Competing With Textbook Publishers
Knewton drew heaps of hype and investment by promising to provide artificial-intelligence technology to major textbook companies to make their content more adaptive. Now the company has pivoted...more>>
EdSurge: Old Ways Meet New Tech (and New Students) at Meeting of Library and Academic Leaders
On a panel called "At the Leading Edge: Transformation and Innovation," a trio of higher-ed leaders shared stories of how their institutions changed, not always by choice...more>>
EdTech: Data, AI and Collaboration Top Higher Ed Tech Trends
Microsoft's vice president for worldwide education, Anthony Salcito, highlights the future of higher education technology...more>>
Campus Technology: Study Uncovers How Ed Tech Decision-Making Works
Higher education people most often turn to each other when they're trying to make decisions about education technology. And it's not uncommon for them to start with a particular technology and then find a problem to solve...more>>
EdDive: Educause 2017: Our recap of higher ed IT's premier gathering
We've rounded up all of our coverage from the organization's annual conference in one place for your convenience...more>>
Observatory: Mobile apps fight first-year college student discouragement and increase retention
Most of the time students face an intimidating first-year experience in college. Some take months to keep up with the school's pace, and others can't cope with it and drop out. The use of mobile apps at the beginning of college seems to ease that nuisance...more>>
Ed Tech: AI Boosts Personalized Learning in Higher Education
Artificial intelligence can aid educators in providing support to individual students in large classes...more>>
Observatory: Almost all college students say technology helps their learning
The new Digital Study Trends Survey by McGraw-Hill Education shows that an overwhelming majority of college students think digital learning technology (DLT) benefits their schoolwork and helps them retain concepts...more>>
Chronicle: Why Faculty Members Still Aren't Sure What to Make of Education Technology
Ask faculty members what they think of technology in teaching, and you'll get a lot of seemingly contradictory opinions...more>>
ACE: The Post-traditional Learners Manifesto Revisited
Aligning Postsecondary Education with Real Life for Adult Student Success...more>>
EdDive Awards: Obsession of the year: Focus on adult learners
The profile of the college campuses has changed dramatically over the last decade with an influx of students from more diverse socioeconomic, gender and ethnic backgrounds - so much so that the industry term "nontraditional" is now really just the new traditional...more>>
EdSurge: Modeled on Zillow, Edmit Wants to Help Families Make Financially Savvier College Decisions
Edmit wants to do for college-shopping what Zillow is for homes and what Truecar is for automobiles...more>>
Observatory: The World's Most Employable Graduates: Global University Employability Ranking 2017
A new global employability ranking, designed by HR consultancy Emerging and published by Times Higher Education, reveals which universities the recruiters at top international companies think are the best at preparing students for the workplace...more>>
EdSurge: Libraries Look to Big Data to Measure Their Worth-And Better Help Students
Libraries have long counted up the books on their shelves to show their value...more>>
University Business: Stackable, flexible and connected options for college students
There are efforts underway to position colleges and universities to recognize "prior learning" in ways that go beyond today's standard approaches...more>>
UK National Audit office: The higher education market
Only 32% of higher education students consider their course offers value for money, and competition between providers to drive improvements on price and quality has yet to prove effective, according to today's report from the National Audit Office...more>>
Times Higher Ed: US universities' business models 'unsustainable', planners warn
Staff say long budgeting cycles limit their ability to make informed decisions or react to changing circumstances...more>>
Politico: Have land-grant universities lost their way?
That's what West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee argues. Land-grant universities, created by Congress in the 1800s, were meant to be "the people's universities," Gee told Morning Education, "not necessarily to do basic research or discover the cure for cancer, but to make sure the people in their state and region were served very well and had access to American opportunity...more>>
Forbes: The Turning Point For Higher Education
For at least a decade, I have written on many occasions that higher education was cruising for a bruising. Tuition fees were rising sharply, presidential salaries were soaring, college athletics were becoming mired in scandal, college administrators were placating rather than punishing students who protested ever more outrageously, more graduates were getting crummy jobs, and so forth....more>>
Inside Higher Ed: To Merge or Not
Amid declining budgets and enrollments, Connecticut is the latest state to attempt a merger involving two-year colleges, with a proposal to consolidate its 12 community colleges...more>>
Observatory: Most HigherEd CIOS think the digital transformation will change the sector's business model
According to Gartner's report 2018 CIO Agenda: Higher Education Industry Insights, 59% higher education CIOs think there will be a significant business model change due to the digital transformation process...more>>
AEI Report: Rethinking the Mission: Community Colleges and Workforce Education
Among the education providers in a position to help close the middle-skills gap-unmet demand for workers with more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree-community colleges may be the only institution with the reach and scale to make the difference that's needed...more>>

Et Alia
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>>
Time: What Makes a Genius? The World's Greatest Minds Have One Thing in Common
Being a genius is different than merely being supersmart. Smart people are a dime a dozen, and many of them don't amount to much. What matters is creativity, the ability to apply imagination to almost any situation...more>>
Fast Company: How I Built A More Emotionally Intelligent Work Culture Than Me
Realizing he isn't the most emotionally intelligent person, this CEO created a workplace that wouldn't reflect his more antisocial tendencies...more>>
HBS: Want to Be Happier? Spend Some Money on Avoiding Household Chores
If you're stressed out because it feels like there are never enough hours in the day, here's a solution: hire a housecleaner, order takeout, and pay the kid next door to mow the lawn. In other words, buy yourself more free time...more>>
HBR: How to Ask Your Boss for Time to Learn New Things
In researching my book, Pause, and learning from my own experience of figuring out how to take time off for my own growth, I've come up with a six-step plan for how to negotiate for personal development...more>>
HRDive: Preparing for the brain drain: How to capture your boomers' knowledge before they retire
Baby boomers have come of age and are leaving the workforce in droves. The first wave of the generation hit age 65 in 2011; by 2029, all boomers will be retirement age...more>>
EdSource: Young and homeless in America
More than 4 percent of adolescents and 10 percent of young adults nationwide were living on the street, in cars or shelters, or couch-surfing at some point in the last year, according to a sweeping study by the University of Chicago released Wednesday...more>>
TechCrunch: There's an implosion of early-stage VC funding, and no one's talking about it
Amid record amounts of capital raised by VCs worldwide, and a sharp rise in the number of private "unicorns" valued at $1 billion-plus, there has been a quiet, barely noticed implosion in early-stage VC activity worldwide...more>>
HBR: Startups That Seek to "Disrupt" Get More Funding Than Those That Seek to "Build"
...Although our data set revealed that builder-led startups were nearly ten times more common than disrupter-led ones, "disrupter" startups received 1.7 times more funding, on average, than "builder" startups...more>>
Atlantic: Do Employers Overestimate the Value of a College Degree?
Worker-training programs could bring companies good workers at low costs...more>>
The Week: American employers' mindless obsession with college degrees
When we talk about what education level jobs require, we rely on what education levels employers demand in their job postings. Often, people assume employers decide this in a cold, economically rational fashion...more>>
Lumina: Powerful, new technology isn't just displacing workers. It's uncovering learning pathways to employment in new fields.
A lot has been written about the impact of technology and whether robots and artificial intelligence will supplant humans. Far less has been said about the opportunities that advances in technology will create for building new credentialing systems that can capture and validate all forms of learning...more>>
HRDive: Digital credentials allow employees to showcase their skills
Credly, a digital credential program, has released a guide on how educators and employers can work together to create "workforce-relevant" credentials. The report is based on the Colorado Community College System's experience using Credly...more>>
The evoLLLution: Apprenticeship Programming Could Reduce the Skills Gap, But Employer Investment Is Needed
Apprenticeship programming can make huge strides to closing the skills gap while also creating shared benefits for employers, workers and the state, and colleges can play a role in bringing more of these programs stateside...more>>
Community College Daily: Major companies ready to expand apprenticeships
Four major U.S. companies - IBM, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Lincoln Electric - are ready to expand their apprenticeship programs and poised to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the U.S. Labor Department (DOL)...more>>
ABC News: Tech firms scrounging for skilled workers training their own
IBM, Amazon and Microsoft all now have apprenticeship programs that pay workers while they train for jobs demanding hard-to-find IT skills...more>>
EdSurge: An Assembly Line of Coding Students? Tough Questions for the Computer Science Movement
What does it really mean to prepare students for a future in coding careers? Clive Thompson, a freelance writer for Wired and The New York Times magazine, thinks the reality is not as rosy as many people think...more>>
Bloomberg: New York Creates Guidelines to Help Coding Schools Go Legit
New York City is trying to bring some legitimacy to coding schools after the industry was shaken by several unexpected closures and students were left jobless and in debt...more>>
The Next Silicon Valley: Digitalization is disrupting the American workforce, but in vastly uneven ways
Analysis by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program of more than 500 occupations reveals the rapid pace of their 'digitalization' since 2001, suggesting the acquisition of digital skills is now a prerequisite for economic success for American workers, industries, and metropolitan areas...more>>
The evoLLLution: Bringing Soft Skills to the Forefront: How Higher Ed (and Continuing Ed) Must Adapt
Soft Skills for Business Success reports that two-thirds of jobs will be "soft skills intensive" by 2030, compared to half of all jobs in 2000.[1] The report also asserts that number of jobs in soft skill-intensive occupations is expected to grow at 2.5 times the rate of jobs in other occupations...more>>
TechRepublic: Only 35% of full-time workers feel impacted by tech skills gap, report says
While acknowledgment of the skills shortage was widespread, only one-third of US respondents thought it would directly affect them. Here's how the impact breaks down...more>>
The Atlantic: Why the U.S. Fails at Worker Training
Automation and globalization are making some workers' skills obsolete. Why can't the federal government figure out how to successfully prepare Americans for the future?...more>>
Forbes: Forrester Predicts That AI-enabled Automation Will Eliminate 9% of US Jobs In 2018
A new Forrester Research report, Predictions 2018: Automation Alters The Global Workforce, outlines 10 predictions about the impact of AI and automation on jobs, work processes and tasks, business success and failure, and software development, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance...more>>
EdSurge: How Apple, Salesforce and Other "Platform" Companies Can Help Close the Skills Gap
The rise of the knowledge economy is driving a tectonic shift in the nature of work-and in the education ecosystem that prepares learners for their careers...more>>
MIT Tech Review: Making Job-Training Software People Actually Want to Use
Salesforce will start selling its online learning platform, which has helped its own employees change roles and get promotions...more>>
EdDive: How to train the deskless employee
When you think about e-learning, an employee at a desk staring at a computer screen comes to mind. But for many positions, a desk and dedicated computer aren't in the job description - and the marketplace is only just beginning to address these challenges...more>>
HBR: Corporate Learning Programs Need to Consider Context, Not Just Skills
Spending on corporate learning, particularly leadership development, continues to increase at a staggering pace. According to one piece of research, spending on frontline leadership development alone increased by over 310% in a three-year period...more>>
EdSurge: As Corporate World Moves Toward Curated 'Microlearning,' Higher Ed Must Adapt
Just outside the walls of the ivory tower, a transformation is underway in the world of corporate learning, and those of us at colleges and universities should pay attention...more>>
Quartz: Learning to code will eventually be as useful as learning Ancient Greek
...Though it's certainly far better to know a computer language than not, remaining relevant will be a moving target as computer languages and programming environments arise, evolve, and in some cases die. A singular focus on "learning to code" can impede attention to the much more important skill of understanding how technology works, and the opportunities and risks within systems and society...more>>
Getting Smart: 12 New Rules: Accelerated Learning for an Exponential World
Our study of artificial intelligence and the new automation economy yielded eight postulates...more>>
EdSurge: Spotting the 2017 Trends That Fuel Edtech Innovation and Investments
We're pleased to share this year's Edtech Outlook, a data-rich dive into the state of education technology with case studies into emerging-frontier innovations...more>>
Reuters: Chinese investors swoop on foreign education assets to meet soaring demand at home
Chinese investors are stepping up their hunt for education assets overseas as more Chinese students seek access to Western educational resources at home or abroad. Private equity firm Citic Capital has submitted a bid for Study Group, according to two sources...more>>
Psychology Today: Education's Future: What Will Replace K-12 and College?
The cat is slowly scratching its way out of the bag. Ever more people are becoming aware of the colossal waste of money, tragic waste of young people's time, and cruel imposition of stress and anxiety produced by our coercive educational system...more>>
EdWeek Market Brief: New Venture Capital Firm Bullish on Future of Europe's Ed-Tech Market
Brighteye Ventures invests in school, college, and adult-focused companies, most of them early-stage. Spiro and Wirz say they expect the bulk of their investments-about 80 percent of them-to focus on Europe and Israel, while about 20 percent will go to companies in the United States...more>>
Washington Post: Inside Betsy DeVos's efforts to shrink the Education Department
The seventh floor of the Education Department's headquarters near the Mall used to bustle. Now, nearly a dozen offices sit empty and quiet...more>>
HBR: A Survey of How 1,000 CEOs Spend Their Day Reveals What Makes Leaders Successful
In new research, we use survey data from over 1,000 CEOs across six countries and the financial performance of their companies to explore these questions. And our evidence suggests that hands-on managerial CEOs are, on average, less effective than leaders who stay more high-level...more>>
Observatory: Gartner reveals the top tech trends for business in 2018
The advisory firm Gartner has released a report on the technology trends that will reshape business in 2018. Among them are artificial intelligence, immersive experiences, and event thinking...more>>
EdTech: EDUCAUSE 2017: Michio Kaku Ponders the Future of Connectivity
Futurist predicts that constant connection will fundamentally change the role of educators...more>>
CBC News: 'We're designing minds': Industry insider reveals secrets of addictive app trade
The average Canadian teenager is on track to spend nearly a decade of their life staring at a smartphone, and that's no accident, according to an industry insider who shared some time-sucking secrets of the app design trade...more>>
The Guardian: 'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia
Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks alarmed by a race for human attention...more>>
The Atlantic: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they're on the brink of a mental-health crisis...more>>
Independent: Young people cut down smartphone use, saying they waste too much time on them
For the first time, young people have started using their smartphones less than they were before. New research from Kantar TNS has recorded a small decline in smartphone use amongst 16-24-year-olds...more>>
MIT Technology Review: Big Data Poses Special Risks for Children, Says UNICEF
Children are poorly represented in the debate about data collection, say UNICEF researchers. And that needs to change...more>>
McKinsey: The digital effect
What does the digitization of industries mean for future revenue and profit growth? The findings are bad news for average companies...more>>
America Succeeds: Age of Agility
In this report, America Succeeds tells stories and presents data about the seismic shift underway in the education-to-employment pipeline...more>>
Hechinger: Without changes in education, the future of work will leave more people behind
New Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows big employment gains in health care, social aid...more>>
Stanford Business: Four Ways Work Will Change in the Future
In the future, a traditional college degree will remain useful to build fundamental skills, but after graduation, workers will be expected to continue their education throughout their careers...more>>
Washington Post: Apprenticeships, long common in blue-collar industries, are coming to white-collar office work
Andrew Skelnik grew up in what he calls a "strong blue-collar background" in Chicago. His father was an electrician, his uncle was a carpenter and his first job out of high school was in the mailroom of a printing plant, where he worked his way up to become a pressman...more>>
EdSurge: Filling the Other Skills Gap
...But there is another employment gap that is arguably far more pressing that receives much less attention from professional investors and budding entrepreneurs. This is the gap that exists among the 103 million Americans who do not have a college degree, but are in no less need of a bridge between their formal education and employment...more>>
IoT Agenda: The high-tech skills gap and education
On Sept. 26, Software.org: the BSA Foundation released a new report titled "The Economic Impact of Software." The study details the rapid growth of the software industry in the United States and its resulting impact across the economy - both at national and state levels...more>>
TechCrunch: Google commits $1 billion in grants to train U.S. workers for high-tech jobs
The nature of work is changing on a global level at a rapid pace. Sure, it's not the first time work has been dramatically impacted by technology, but the growth of automation, robotics, AI and the like have the potential to displace jobs at an unprecedented rate...more>>
HR Dive: Randstad: One-third of U.S. workers did nothing to upskill in the past year
Employers and employees apparently have different ideas about upskilling, says Business Insider, citing a Randstad U.S. report. The quarterly Randstad Workmonitor survey found that although 80% of workers feel upskilling is their responsibility, neither they nor their employers are acting on upskilling opportunities...more>>