Education Industry News

Published September 1, 2001

Advantage Schools Taken Over

On July 3, Mosaica Education, Inc., a charter school management firm, announced it acquired Advantage Schools, a manager of education institutions. The combined company will have operations in nine states and the District of Columbia. During the last school year the two companies operated 25 charter schools that served 14,000 students.

AOL Users to Get Online Library

On July 19, Questia Media, an online library, announced an agreement with America Online, under which Questia will offer online library resources to AOL members and Netscape users. Questia also will sponsor portions of AOL’s Research & Learn Channel, which offers students and lifelong learners a one-stop shop for conducting research and learning more about specialized topics.

Apple Rules

According to figures from Quality Education Data, a provider of K-12 and higher-education market research, Apple systems are twice as prevalent as other hardware in U.S. public schools. QED found that 2.7 to 3.2 million schools maintain Apple systems. Dell has 1.24 to 1.57 million systems in schools, and Compaq Computer Corp. has between 738,680 and 997,485.

College-Level Content for Online High Schoolers

On June 25, OpenMind Publishing Group, a collaborative publishing service, and Advanced Academics, Inc., an online course and instructional services provider for the high school market, announced a partnership whereby school districts offering Advanced Academics, Inc.’s online courses will now have access to OpenMind’s dynamic college-level content.
www.ompg.com / www.advancedacademics.com

For-Profit Higher Ed Shows Strong Growth

A recent study from the Education Commission of the States, “Meeting Needs and Making Profits: The Rise of For-Profit Degree-Granting Institutions,” reported that for-profit degree-granting colleges grew at a significantly faster rate than their not-for-profit counterparts over the last 10 years, increasing their share of the two-year market from 19 to 28 percent and increasing their share of the four-year market from 3 to 8 percent.

Gale Group Acquires Blackbirch Press

Gale Group, a division of Thomson Corporation’s Thomson Learning division, announced on June 9 that it acquired Blackbirch Press, a Connecticut-based publisher of books for children in grades K-6. Gale plans to integrate Blackbirch into its Greenhaven editorial operations.

Hammett Will Supply Chancellor Schools

Chancellor Academies, Inc., an operator of charter and private schools, plans to enroll 5,000 new students at schools in Florida, Arizona, and Washington, DC. Under the terms of a partnership agreement announced on July 27, J.L. Hammett Co., a provider of school supplies for the K-12 industry, will provide coordination of the purchase and installation of furniture and equipment at each Chancellor school site.

McGraw-Hill Launches K-12 Digital Learning

On July 3, McGraw-Hill Education, a K-12 educational publisher, announced the launch of McGraw-Hill Digital Learning, a new division devoted solely to digital learning programs for the K-12 market. The new division will develop learning programs aimed at improving teaching and learning, focusing on remedial and gifted students who have unique learning styles and are often under-served.

VIP Tone Adds Assessment Product

VIP Tone, Inc., a provider of applications and infrastructure for the K-12 market, announced on June 16 that it acquired Quiz Studio, a Web-based provider of questionnaire solutions for education and marketing. With the acquisition, VIP Tone seeks to address the accountability challenges of K-12 school districts by assimilating Quiz Studio’s assessment product with its K-12 offering.

Virtual Schools Expand Course Offerings

On June 25, Apex Learning Inc., a builder and operator of virtual schools, and Power-Glide International, Inc., a developer of foreign language courses, announced a partnership whereby Power-Glide will provide foreign language and distance-learning instructors to teach Apex’s six new French, German, and Spanish courses for grades 9-12. Apex also announced it will offer its online AP classes to students in seven new states: Connecticut, Indiana, North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, and the District of Columbia. With the new contracts, Apex Learning now reaches 22 states.
www.apexlearning.com / www.power-glide.com

World’s Largest E-education System

Tengtu International Corporation, a developer of educational software, and China’s Ministry of Education announced a partnership on June 27. Under the terms of the agreement, Tengtu and the Ministry will co-operate and co-develop China’s Broadband Education Resources Centre, a national database networking system of teaching and learning resources to support Web-based and distance learning for K-12 schools. Tengtu will share its profits 70/30 percent with the Ministry of Education.
www.tengtu.com


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