Learning.com celebrates 10 years as a trailblazer in online solutions that improve student learning

Learning.com continues to grow while developing innovative solutions that support teachers to meet students’ needs

Portland, Ore. – Nov. 10, 2009
Learning.com marks its 10th anniversary, celebrating its legacy in Web-delivered curriculum and assessment. Growing from a company of two employees with a single, Web-delivered product into a nationwide organization with multiple solutions serving more than two million students in 46 states, Learning.com provides teachers with tools to easily and effectively meet their students’ individual needs.

Learning.com began in 1999 when co-founders William J. Kelly and Barclay Burns, Ph.D., recognized that teachers needed an effective and seamless way to integrate technology into their instruction. Just as important, teachers needed support to help their students learn to use technology tools like spreadsheets and presentation software. Learning.com launched EasyTech, a K-8 technology literacy curriculum that remains its flagship product. EasyTech pioneered the technology literacy market, and was one of the first curriculum products delivered entirely online and sold as an annual subscription.

To expand its services, the Portland, Oregon-based company developed a program to provide data on how well students grasp these critical technology skills. Working with its school-district customers, Learning.com created two authentic assessments to provide that valid data: TechLiteracy Assessment in 2006, and 21st Century Skills Assessment in 2008.

Learning.com also leveraged its expertise with EasyTech to create additional supplemental curriculum solutions for elementary school students: Aha!Math in 2007 and Aha!Science in 2009. Calling on its understanding of how children learn with technology, Learning.com developed a powerful, award-winning interactive learning environment that enables districts to customize the delivery of curriculum, and students and teachers to collaborate in Web-based learning activities.

Learning.com continues to empower teachers with online tools to make creating digital learning experiences easier and tailored to the needs of their students. These include easy-to-use class management tools, and curriculum management tools that enable teachers to integrate teacher-created and third-party content into a customized curriculum.

“Our products embody the vision Learning.com has had since its inception: to help teachers use the Web to engage students and to deliver a more individualized learning experience,” says Kelly, CEO.

Milestones in its 10 years include:

• EasyTech’s adoption in 2003 by the state of Texas as its technology literacy curriculum. EasyTech is also adopted in Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and Mississippi.
• Numerous awards, including three Tech&Learning Awards of Excellence, three CODiE awards, and an American Education Publishers (AEP) award for best math curriculum
• Reaching the one million mark in the number of assessments administered.
• Growth from two employees to 65 and averaging 10 percent revenue growth in each of the last four years.

Learning.com also continues to play an increasingly large role at the state level, supporting districts and states to understand their students’ technology literacy proficiency with its assessments. Its assessments, for example, have been selected for statewide implementations or pilot projects in these states: Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, Kentucky, South Dakota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas.

From our customers:

“Learning.com has been great to work with in measuring the technology literacy of students in Maryland. Learning.com customized its support and training to meet the needs of the various school systems in Maryland. Its communication practices are excellent,” says Kalani Smith, Project Manager for Montgomery County Public Schools. “After implementing Technology Literacy Assessment during the 2008-2009 school year, systems in Maryland reported that the implementation was easy and wished other online vendors had products that ran as smoothly.”

“Our relationship with Learning.com is a good example of how public agencies and business can work closely together toward a common goal,” says Cathy Poplin, Deputy Associate Superintendent for Educational Technology, Arizona Department of Education. Arizona has used Learning.com’s TechLiteracy Assessment and now its 21st Century Skills Assessment as a state-wide assessment.

“Learning.com remains a very important tool for our students and staff,” says Barbara Burchard, educational technology specialist for Elmore County Public Schools, Wetumpka, Alabama. “EasyTech and TechLiteracy Assessment are relevant, up-to-date and easy-to-use resources that provide students with the latest technology instruction to prepare them for the 21st century.”

About Learning.com
Founded in 1999, Learning.com helps educators improve student performance in core curriculum and 21st century skills through Web-delivered curriculum and assessment, in use by more than two million students. Our unique integration of technology literacy with core curriculum instruction enables states, districts and schools to simultaneously improve student proficiency in technology skills and core disciplines. Using our Digital Learning Environment, teachers can easily customize curriculum, individualize instruction, and obtain professional development. Learning.com’s solutions include EasyTech, a proven, K-8 technology literacy curriculum that helps students develop and apply technology skills in math, science, language arts, and social studies; TechLiteracy Assessment, providing valid measurement and reports for critical technology skills for both elementary and middle schools; 21st Century Skills Assessment, providing valid data aligned to ISTE NETS 2007 standards; Aha!Science, an interactive supplemental science curriculum for grades 3-5; and Aha!Math, an interactive supplemental K-5 math curriculum. For more information, please visit www.learning.com or call 800-580-4640.