Folsom-based education technology company PowerSchool announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Schoology, a New York-based K-12 learning management platform, for an undisclosed amount.
PowerSchool has acquired eight companies since 2015, and Schoology would be its second purchase of a learning management system (LMS) after it acquired Haiku Learning in 2016. If approved, Schoology’s acquisition will make PowerSchool a dominant company among K-12 schools and districts, leaving behind competitors such as Google Classroom, Canvas, and Moodle.
Launched in 1997, PowerSchool provides innovative K-12 education technology solutions, enabling better school management, student growth, and family engagement. It aims to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their potential. From front office to classroom to home, PowerSchool helps schools and districts efficiently manage instruction, learning, grading, attendance, assessment, analytics, special education, student registration, finance, talent, and human resource. The company currently supports over 45 million learners in over 80 countries.
Schoology, founded in 2009 in New York City, on the other hand brings together the best K-12 learning management system with assessment management to improve student performance, foster collaboration, and personalize learning. The company claims to support more than 20 million students and 60,000 schools through its learning management and embedded formative assessment platform.
According to the press release provided by PowerSchool on its site, following the acquisition, Schoology customers and partners will benefit from additional investment in their learning management system, including continued open integrations with Google, Microsoft, third-party applications, and all SIS platforms as well as access to more robust benchmark and summative assessment (Performance Matters), special education, and gradebook tools. On the other hand, current PowerSchool customers will benefit from Schoology’s best-in-class learning management system as part of its Unified Classroom™ solution providing a unified experience with its SIS, assessment, special education, and professional development offerings.
Speaking on the company’s mission and the acquisition, Hardeep Gulati, CEO of PowerSchool, said,
“Our mission is to make sure every student has the best opportunities in life and that every teacher is empowered to help them do that. Teachers have shared that they need more time and tools to provide individual learning paths for every student, and according to recent reports, nearly 40 states have mentioned personalized learning as part of their “Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)” school improvement plans. Adding Schoology’s learning management system allows us to support all educators by providing unmatched personalized learning capabilities that connects all the information about the student, including learning, assessment, and special education needs into our Unified Classroom™ solution.”
Commenting on the acquisition, Schoology CEO and Co-Founder Jeremy Friedman said,
“We have worked with PowerSchool for many years, with many joint customers, and we could not have found a better home for our team and technology. With the scale and investment we will get being part of PowerSchool, we can further advance what is possible in education, and take Schoology to a whole new level.”
Meanwhile, PowerSchool has been bought and sold several times, since launched in 1997, starting with its acquisition by Apple Inc. in 2001. Most recently, the company was sold in 2016 by London-based educational publisher Pearson Plc. to Vista Equity Partners. PowerSchool was listed this year on Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing companies list.
