Introducing Jason Singer, our new entrepreneur-in-residence
Almost a year ago nearly to the day, at an edtech holiday party, I met Jason Singer, who shared his idea for an interactive e-reader with me. I was hoping he would act on his idea but as principal of KIPP King Collegiate High School and with a young family at home, I knew he […]
A closer look at edtech funding for K-12 startups
Last night at a packed Silicon Valley meetup, I joined Alan Louie of ImagineK12 and Nari Ansari of Technology Crossover Ventures for a panel discussion of edtech investing. It was inspiring to see so many education entrepreneurs eager to network and learn more about funding opportunities. In this spirit we’d love to share with you […]
rational [edtech] exuberance
I’ve been enjoying the thoughtful pieces on the increased excitement about education technology from Frank Catalano in GeekWire, Betsy Corcoran in All Things D and Audrey Watters in Hack Education. From our vantage point at NewSchools, the excitement is palpable. Our education technology pipeline has increased 5x from last year and at least 10x […]
Pathbrite and readImagine: the cool ideas that didn’t get on the TODAY Show
Even if you didn’t see the TODAY show last Wednesday, you’ve probably heard a good bit about the winners of the Innovation Challenge, the contest NewSchools ran last week in partnership with Citi and NBC News as part of the three-day Education Nation programming. You may have heard less about the two runners-up, and that’s […]
NoRedInk Wins Citi Innovation Challenge
A hearty congratulations and a warm welcome to NoRedInk this morning, winners of the 2012 Citi Innovation Challenge! Led by entrepreneurs Jeff Scheur and Leo Shmuylovich, NoRedInk creates content and tutorials from students’ favorite celebrities, friends, and personal interests to help them practice grammar and writing skills. The team will receive a $75,000 prize […]
The Innovation Challenge
Today marks the start of the Citi Innovation Challenge, which will culminate in a live pitch session at NBC News’ “Education Nation” Summit on Tuesday, September 25th. For a second year, NewSchools is partnering with NBC and Citi to design and carry out the Innovation Challenge. This year’s Challenge will feature three startups: ReadImagine, Pathbrite and […]
Goalbook: Setting the Bar
I often find myself deeply humbled by the entrepreneurs I have the great fortune to engage with day to day here at NewSchools, all of whom are tackling important and difficult challenges within our education system. Nationwide, innovative entrepreneurs are addressing many facets of the K-12 system but there is one subgroup of education that […]
Education Entrepreneurs: Joel Rose & Chris Rush
Joel Rose and Chris Rush launched the first School of One program in New York City in 2009 at a time when few had heard about the promise of blended learning. Combining teacher-led instruction, technology-enabled individual tutoring, small group learning stations, and a unique scheduling algorithm that helped create a personalized learning program each day […]
Who said it? Teachers Union Leader or Ed Tech Entrepreneur?
Even a handful of years ago, the scene would have been improbable: the leaders of the two major teachers unions sitting down to a serious conversation with education technology entrepreneurs about innovation and reform in the shadow of the Democratic National Convention. Yet that was what happened yesterday, at an event in Charlotte, NC organized […]
Education Entrepreneurs: Eric Westendorf and Alix Guerrier
Having played sports for most of my life I’d consider myself a master of the “high-fives” – there wasn’t one I hadn’t tried. That is, until I met LearnZillion co-founders Eric Westendorf and Alix Guerrier who introduced me to their aptly named “aggressive high-five.” My first encounter with the aggressive high-five came this past June […]