IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME! Illuminate Education just pulled off a Megazord move after its private equity owner, Insight Venture Partners, combined it with four other education data companies: IO Education, SchoolCity, Alpine Achievement and Key Data Systems. The new entity will retain the name Illuminate Education. Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
Here’s what the different pieces bring to the table:
- Illuminate Education’s core offerings help educators capture and visualize a wide array of data on attendance, academics, behavior, demographics and special needs;
- IO Education offers data integration, analytical tools, assessment services;
- SchoolCity specializes in creating assessment tools for K-12 students;
- Alpine Achievement offers tools that integrate and visualize student data;
- Key Data Systems helps schools and districts capture and take action on student achievement data.
Notice a common thread? All of these pieces are focused on data—and that’s exactly how Adam Berger, managing director of Insight Venture Partners and chairman of the new Illuminate Education, described his vision in the press release: “This combination eliminates many barriers that were holding back the solution that educators tell us they want — ‘all the data’ on a ‘single pane of glass’ — providing a holistic view of the child that efficiently and effectively informs instruction.”
Combined, the tools reach nearly 15 million students and include close to 300,000 formative assessment items, he added.
As the merger unfolds, existing customers of the five companies “should expect minimal disruption,” the announcement noted.
