Live from Summit 2013: Closing Plenary
These announcements brought a great close to a busy day filled with numerous engaging speakers and presenters. Thank you for following our live blogging from Summit 2013!
Elevating the Educator Voice: Reflections on SXSWedu 2013
Now that I have recovered from the flurry of activity that took place at this year’s SXSWedu conference, I have started to reflect on what I hope to see at next year’s conference as well as what I personally would have done differently. I enjoyed hearing the latest on personalization, data analytics, game-based learning, and the Maker movement and was impressed with the passionate entrepreneurs who went through great lengths to pitch to me. However, I left the conference wishing I had built more connections with educators and school leaders.
Welcoming Ellevation to the NewSchools Portfolio
NewSchools Venture Fund is pleased to welcome Ellevation Education to our portfolio!
Ellevation provides a set of tools for teachers and administrators who work with English language learners (ELLs). It saves time and simplifies compliance requirements, so that educators can focus on their most important task—helping ELL students to succeed.
A closer look at K12 edtech venture funding part II
Learners from ages zero to eighteen have a lot to be excited about. In the last 365 days, 74 companies focused on the K12 demographic (both in and out of school) have been funded by venture backers for a total of $427 million[1]. At the Seed Fund, we participated in 13 of these and got […]
‘Tis the season
“If we want America to lead in the 21st century, nothing is more important than giving everyone the best education possible — from the day they start preschool to the day they start their career.” —President Barack Obama We all know that our school system needs help. That our kids are not prepared well in […]
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 […]
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 […]