Pearson Acquires Connections Education
15 September 2011 - 3:43PM
Business Wire
Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, is announcing
today the acquisition of Connections Education from an investor
group led by Apollo Management, L.P.
Through its Connections Academy business, the company operates
online or ‘virtual’ public schools in 21 states in the US—serving
more than 40,000 students in the current school year. These virtual
charter schools are accredited and funded by the relevant state and
are free to parents and students who choose a virtual school in
place of a traditional public institution or other schooling
options.
Virtual schools serve a diverse population of students including
those who may be gifted, struggling, pursuing careers in sports or
the arts, in need of scheduling flexibility, or who have chosen
home schooling. It is a large and rapidly-growing segment in US
K-12 education: in 2010, 48 states and Washington, D.C. had virtual
school programs and 27 states allowed virtual charter schools.
Approximately 200,000 students attended full-time online courses
and an estimated 1.5 million students took one or more courses
online. (Source: Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, 2010,
Evergreen Education Group).
Connections Education has produced revenue growth of more than
30% in each of the past three years. The transaction is subject to
a Hart-Scott-Rodino review.
Since its founding in 2001, Connections Academy has built a
complete virtual school system to support personalized learning for
each student. This includes high-quality teachers, training for
learning coaches (who are often parents), digital and print
curriculum materials (already often from Pearson), provision of
computers, assessment and reporting tools, social events and
learning technologies. Connections Academy has developed
proprietary technologies including education management system
Connexus which provides on-demand access to schedules, lessons,
gradebooks, resources and teachers; teaching tool LiveLesson which
allows teachers to lead real-time interactive and adaptive classes
over the internet; and a wide range of multimedia curriculum tools
and games.
Connections Academy Schools perform favorably compared with
other full-time online programs and have consistently received high
performance ratings, particularly in states focused on measuring
growth in student learning. Parents of students enrolled in
Connections Academy schools give consistently high satisfaction
ratings: in the 2010-11 school year, more than 92% of parents gave
their Connections Academy school a grade of ‘A’ or ‘B’.
Connections Education has recently launched a new division,
Connections Learning, which makes its courses and technologies
available to educational institutions and other organizations in
the US and globally. It supports the development of blended
learning environments which combine classroom and online
instruction and will further broaden Pearson’s range of school
services across curriculum materials, assessment and learning
technologies. Connections Learning also operates the National
Connections Academy private online school that serves students
throughout the US and internationally.
For Pearson, the acquisition provides a leading position in the
fast-growing virtual school segment and the opportunity to apply
Connections Education’s skills and technologies in new segments and
geographic markets. It extends Pearson’s investment in education
services and technologies that have both a direct connection with
the learner and a strong record of enhancing student
achievement.
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson’s chief executive, said: “For a
decade or more, we’ve invested in education technologies that have
the potential to make learning more effective for each child.
Connections Education does that. Virtual schooling is an attractive
choice for a growing group of American parents and in the next
decade it will take off in other countries. Beyond that,
Connections Education has developed a broad array of highly
effective learning tools that we intend to make available to all
kinds of schools and all kinds of students.”
Based in Baltimore, Maryland, Connections Education is headed by
co-founder Barbara Dreyer. She will stay on as CEO of Connections
Education and as a senior executive at Pearson.
Dreyer said, “Joining forces with Pearson gives Connections
Education the opportunity to share our proven virtual education
solutions with a much wider global audience, and collaborate with
the developers at Pearson in creating an even more robust set of
online and blended offerings for students of all ages. We look
forward to growing this business and making high-quality digital
learning available to anyone, anywhere.”
Will Ethridge, CEO of Pearson North America, said, “We see
Connections Education as highly complementary to our own business,
and it provides an opportunity for developing new models of
instruction and increasing the effectiveness of Pearson’s global
educational programs. Our joint goal is to ensure that every
student is college and career-ready when they graduate.”
About Pearson
Pearson is the world’s leading learning company. Its major
businesses are: Pearson, the global leader in education, providing
print and digital learning materials and services used by millions
of students of all ages every year; The Financial Times Group,
which has an international network of business and financial
newspapers and online services that are read by millions of
business executives and investors every day; and Penguin Group,
which is one of the pre-eminent names in consumer publishing, with
an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers, and
classic titles. Through its books, newspapers and online products
and services, Pearson helps people of all ages to live and learn.
See www.pearson.com.
About Connections Education
Connections Education is an accredited provider of high-quality,
highly accountable virtual education for students in grades K-12,
and online learning solutions to educational institutions globally.
Through tuition-free public schools, full-time and part-time
private school programs, and turnkey online courses for bricks and
mortar schools, Connections Academy delivers superior, personalized
education for students, accessible anywhere. The combination of
certified teachers, a proven curriculum, technology tools, and
community experiences creates a supportive and successful online
learning opportunity for families and children who want an
individualized approach to education. See
www.connectionseducation.com
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