inBloom Inc., Launches to Enable Personalized Learning Through Easier Access to Information and Technology

ATLANTA, Feb. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC) announced the launch of inBloom Inc., a nonprofit provider of technology services aimed at connecting data, applications and people that work together to create better opportunities for students and educators.

Currently, school districts are racing to adapt materials and assessments for the Common Core State Standards, and publishers are working to keep up with new academic requirements. At the same time, educators are being inundated with an escalating amount of data and technology in multiple formats, creating a disjointed system that makes it extremely hard for teachers to tailor instruction, curriculum and learning approaches to meet the needs and aspirations of individual learners.

"Education technology and data need to work better together to fulfill their potential for students and teachers," said Iwan Streichenberger, CEO of inBloom Inc. "Until now, tackling this problem has often been too expensive for states and districts, but inBloom is easing that burden and ushering in a new era of personalized learning."

The inBloom™ data integration and content search services enrich learning applications by connecting them to systems and information that currently live in a variety of different places and formats while helping to reduce costs for states and districts. This comprehensive view into each student's history can help those involved in education — from teachers to administrators to parents — see students' progress, gain insights into how they might do better and act quickly to help each student succeed. It also helps educators locate standards-aligned instructional resources from multiple providers and match them with their students' needs.

"inBloom lets us compile and access assessment data from more than a dozen different systems," said Tom Stella, assistant superintendent of schools, Everett, Mass. "This information, paired with relevant content that maps to a student's individual needs, helps maximize a teacher's time and a student's learning potential by letting them focus on in-class teaching and learning."

In addition, the inBloom framework enables technology providers to develop and deploy products without having to build custom connections to each state and district data source. This means more developers will have the opportunity to create new and powerful applications to benefit students, with lower implementation costs and faster time-to-market.

Twenty-one education technology companies have already announced plans to develop applications that will work with inBloom through the service's open API. Many of these applications will be demonstrated at SXSWedu in Austin, Texas, March 4–7.

Nine states, representing more than 11 million students, are participating in the development and pilot testing of the inBloom technology services to ensure they meet the needs of states, districts, teachers and students. They include Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and North Carolina. Five states have already selected districts to be part of the pilot testing: Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado; McLean County Unit District No. 5 (Normal) and Bloomington Public Schools District 87 (Bloomington), Illinois; Everett Public Schools, Massachusetts; New York City Department of Education, New York; and Guilford County Schools, North Carolina.

Student data privacy is a top priority for inBloom, and protections for student privacy, including compliance with FERPA, have been addressed throughout the design and ongoing operations of the services. InBloom worked with its pilot states and districts and a panel of student privacy and security experts to create the policy that governs its handling of sensitive data.

About the Shared Learning Collaborative

The Shared Learning Collaborative is an alliance of states, districts, educators, foundations and content and tool providers passionate about using technology to improve education. The SLC developed all the inBloom software components and has worked with education technology companies and developers to encourage the development of inBloom-compatible applications.

About inBloom Inc.

inBloom Inc. is a nonprofit organization established to carry forward the mission of the Shared Learning Collaborative, which is to work to make personalized learning a reality for every U.S. student. inBloom provides technology services that allow states and public school districts to better integrate student data and learning applications to support sustainable, cost-effective personalized learning. inBloom is funded with initial philanthropic support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. For more information about inBloom, visit www.inBloom.org.

Partner Quotes

BloomBoard
"BloomBoard is incredibly excited to partner with inBloom. Standardizing the complex data sets coming from disparate information systems across the education world will help scale innovation in profound ways."
- Jason Lange, CEO and co-founder, BloomBoard Inc.

Clever
"Clever helps top education software integrate with school systems in under five minutes, and we're thrilled to bring that experience to schools adopting inBloom."
- Tyler Bosmeny, CEO, Clever

Compass Learning
"inBloom and its partners are transforming digital learning by helping educators find the right content for each student at the right time—this is the essence of personalized learning."
- Arthur VanderVeen, vice president of Business, Strategy and Development, Compass Learning

CPSI
"As the provider of the CPSI Early Warning System to identify early indicators for student failure, CPSI is proud to partner with inBloom in making the Early Warning System possible for K–12 teachers."
- Michelle Elia, president, CPSI Ltd.

Ellevation Education
"As a fast-growing provider of technology solutions to ELLs and the educators that serve them, Ellevation is excited to partner with inBloom, continue innovating, and serve more districts across the country."
- Jordan Meranus, Co-founder and CEO, Ellevation Education

GlobalScholar
"For personalized learning in K–12 education technology, GlobalScholar is proud to partner with inBloom with a Web-based instructional management system providing on-demand content individualized for students."
- Kevin Brueggeman, CEO, GlobalScholar

Goalbook
"At Goalbook, our mission is to empower schools to personalize learning more effectively. inBloom allows us to draw student data and recommend the most relevant goals, and to publish Common Core and UDL-aligned instructional content in one shared platform."
- Daniel Yoo, CEO, Goalbook

Learning.com
"Learning.com is proud to support Colorado and Jefferson County in their forward-thinking work with inBloom. Through our integration of the Colorado DREAM Project, we can help enable teachers to reach students at the point of need."
- Douglas Gastich, vice president of Business Development, Learning.com

LoudCloud
"We are proud to be the first LMS partner working with inBloom. We'll be working with Jefferson County, Colo., on a Learning Maps application; our partnership with inBloom bolsters our K–12 initiatives and technological leadership."
-Manoj Kutty, CEO LoudCloud Systems

PBS
"As America's largest classroom, PBS is proud to partner with inBloom to provide educators with innovative resources to meet the needs of today's 21st century learners."
– Rob Lippincott, Senior Vice President, PBS Education

Scholastic
"Scholastic Education, provider of the world's most thoroughly researched and documented technology programs, including READ 180, is proud to partner with inBloom to raise reading achievement for struggling readers."
- Margery Mayer, president, Scholastic Education

inBloom is a trademark of inBloom, Inc.

SOURCE Shared Learning Collaborative