Knewton and Sesame Workshop to Offer Personalized Education Materials for Young Learners

NEW YORK, July 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Knewton, the leading adaptive learning company, has entered into an agreement with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization, to personalize educational content from The Electric Company. Knewton will continuously identify what concepts each student needs to work on and why, in order to offer more personalized materials that better meet each student's unique needs. The collaboration will deliver engaging lessons that continuously adjust to the individual needs of young learners of all backgrounds to build skills critical to early development.

Starting in 2015, Sesame Workshop's The Electric Company content will be available via an adaptive learning curriculum, creating a dynamic experience that is specifically tailored to each student's personal goals and current level of understanding. Knewton's adaptive learning infrastructure empowers each student with a personal learning experience. Knewton makes recommendations for what to study and provides insight into what a student needs to work on and why, both inside and outside of class.

"Encouraging young children to develop a love of learning and learn more effectively are core to our vision," said Jose Ferreira, Knewton founder and CEO. "Sesame Workshop's content is awesome stuff — we all remember how much we loved it when we were kids ourselves and the organization has continued to create high quality content over the years. Helping parents and teachers tailor The Electric Company content for each student is an important milestone in Knewton's commitment to making education accessible, impactful, and engaging for people of all ages around the world."

The Electric Company content will leverage Knewton's learning analytics to provide actionable suggestions for teachers and parents to help every child learn better. Knewton's content metrics will also be used to uncover the most effective pedagogical methods and refine and improve digital lessons over time.

"Our highly-researched and educationally-proven Electric Company content combined with the powerful Knewton adaptive learning technology will equip young learners with critical skills in math and reading," said H. Melvin Ming, CEO of Sesame Workshop. "Learning experiences that build upon what children already know, identify what they're ready for next, and are grounded in data, are both more effective and highly engaging for children."

Sesame Workshop joins a growing list of top global learning companies, publishers, universities, and schools partnering with Knewton to personalize digital courses.

About Knewton

Knewton's goal is to personalize lessons for students around the world. Education companies use Knewton technology to power course materials that dynamically adapt to each student's unique needs. By analyzing data to figure out what a student knows, Knewton recommends what to study next, helping more students master material and get ahead. Knewton-powered analytics identify knowledge gaps and predict performance to help educators, parents, and administrators better support every student.

Knewton was founded in 2008 and has offices in New York City and London.

About Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street which reaches 156 million children across more than 150 countries. The Workshop's mission is to use the educational power of media to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. Delivered through a variety of platforms, including television programs, digital experiences, books and community engagement, its research-based programs are tailored to the needs of the communities and countries they serve. For more information, visit us at www.sesameworkshop.org.

SOURCE Knewton