{"id":652485,"date":"2013-04-15T15:03:21","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T19:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pehub.com\/?p=196438"},"modified":"2013-04-15T15:03:21","modified_gmt":"2013-04-15T19:03:21","slug":"learnzillion-raises-7m-from-dcm-oreilly-newschools-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/652485","title":{"rendered":"LearnZillion Raises $7M From DCM, O\u2019Reilly, NewSchools, Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

LearnZillion<\/strong> said it raised $7 million of Series A funding in a deal led by DCM<\/strong> and joined by O\u2019Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund<\/strong>, and D.C. Community Ventures<\/strong>. The new round brings total funding to date to $9.4 million. The company raised a $2.4 million seed round.<\/p>\n

PRESS RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

LearnZillion Secures $7 Million in Series A Funding Led by DCM<\/p>\n

Digital curriculum and professional development platform enables K-12 educators to align with Common Core State Standards<\/p>\n

Washington D.C., April 15, 2013 \u2013 LearnZillion, the first digital curriculum and professional development platform that provides teachers with the tools they need to implement the Common Core State Standards, today announced it has raised $7 million in Series A funding. This brings total funding raised to date to $9.4 million, which includes a $2.4 million seed round. The Series A was led by DCM, with O\u2019Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund, and D.C. Community Ventures also participating in the equity round. LearnZillion will use the funding to hire key talent to fuel technology development, scale more quickly, and enrich its platform to reach more educators.<\/p>\n

LearnZillion is creating a national community of teachers dedicated to high quality instruction of the Common Core State Standards. The company\u2019s web-based platform offers a digital curriculum and professional development platform for teachers, schools and districts implementing the Common Core State Standards. Developed by and for teachers, LearnZillion offers Common Core lessons, assessments, and activities created by top teachers from around the country.\u00a0 The platform helps teachers understand the new standards, plan effective lessons, and assign content directly to students. The company currently has over 120,000 registered teachers, reaching approximately 1.4 million students, and is adding about 5,000 new teachers every week.<\/p>\n

The Common Core State Standards define what students in grades K-12 need to know in language arts and mathematics, to be prepared for post-secondary education and the workforce. Adopted at the individual state level, the initiative will lead to new standardized tests that will measure and compare educational performance nationwide. To date, 46 states have announced their plans to adopt the initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Common Core is the biggest shift in education in decades,\u201d said Eric Westendorf, CEO of LearnZillion. \u201cIt creates a major pain point for teachers, school administrators, parents and even students. Teachers need new materials and professional development to get up-to-speed. We\u2019re creating a national community of teachers that are embracing the challenge head on. Our platform provides a digital curriculum that\u2019s been created \u2018By Teachers, For Teachers\u2019 and is built directly from the Common Core State Standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

To develop high quality Common Core-aligned curriculum, the company chooses top teachers from around the country through a rigorous submission and selection process \u2013 this year\u2019s team is comprised of 200 teachers from 41 states. LearnZillion\u2019s \u201cDream Team\u201d of teachers works together over the summer to develop highly effective lessons and resources for the LearnZillion platform and provides educators with practical tools for teaching a Common Core-aligned curriculum. Teachers and parents access lessons and resources on LearnZillion for free. Schools and districts can subscribe to enterprise-level features such as access to premium professional development content, personalized teaching insights, and data analytics.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike most education technology platforms, where a handful of individuals create niche content and curriculums, LearnZillion offers Common Core-aligned lessons developed by leveraging the experience and skillset of its Dream Team. This produces professional development content that is truly accessible, flexible, and effective,\u201d said Pete Moran, general partner at DCM. \u201cLearnZillion\u2019s management team has that rare combination of time spent in the classroom and expertise in technology to create unique solutions that have huge upside in both an educational and business context. The LearnZillion platform has the potential to become the go-to resource for teachers nationwide on core instructional content, as well help elevate student outcomes in the U.S. in a highly effective way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLearnZillion might be more impactful and cost-effective than doubling the number of instructional coaches we have,\u201d said Jason Kamras, chief of human capital for Washington D.C. Public Schools, in a recent interview about D.C. public school initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearnZillion\u2019s unique approach is definitely a game changer for teachers, parents and students,\u201d said Maura Marino from NewSchools Venture Fund.<\/p>\n

The company hosts TeachFest, a three-day event that brings together teachers from LearnZillion\u2019s nationwide Dream Team to develop lessons and resources. Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, TeachFest will take place on May 2-5, 2013 in San Francisco, California.<\/p>\n

About LearnZillion
\nLearnZillion helps teachers and parents meet the needs of every student.\u00a0 It is the only online professional development platform that builds teachers\u2019 content knowledge of the Common Core State Standards. Built by and for teachers, LearnZillion offers a practical solution to teachers, schools and districts\u00a0implementing the new Common Core State Standards\u2014a digital curriculum with lessons developed by top teachers from across the country. Teachers and parents access lessons and resources for free. Schools and districts pay to get premium content and advanced features.
\nBased in Washington D.C., LearnZillion was founded in 2011 by Eric Westendorf, most recently a principal and the Chief Academic Officer of E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington DC., and Alix Guerrier, also a former classroom teacher. For more information, visit http:\/\/learnzillion.com\/.<\/p>\n

About DCM
\nDCM is an early stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo with more than $2 billion under management.\u00a0 DCM has investments in more than 200 technology companies across the United States and Asia and provides hands-on operational guidance and a global network of business and financial resources.\u00a0 DCM has backed industry-leading companies such as 51job, About.com, Clearwire, eDreams, Foundry Networks, Kabu.com, Sling Media, SMIC, and VanceInfo as well as upcoming startups such as 58.com, Bill.com, Bridgelux, Kakao, Happy Elements, and Trion Worlds.\u00a0 Recent successes (IPOs and M&As) include China-based Renren, BitAuto, Dangdang, Luxin and Vipshop; Japan-based Pokelabo (GREE) and StarFlyer and U.S.-based Fortinet, PGP (Symantec) and SandForce (LSI.) For more information, visit http:\/\/www.dcm.com\/.<\/p>\n

The post LearnZillion Raises $7M From DCM, O’Reilly, NewSchools, Others<\/a> appeared first on peHUB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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LearnZillion said it raised $7 million of Series A funding in a deal led by DCM and joined by O\u2019Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund, and D.C. Community Ventures. The new round brings total funding to date to $9.4 million. The company raised a $2.4 million seed round. PRESS RELEASE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7545,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-652485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7545"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}