Cognia and EL Education merger creates a coherent ecosystem for school improvement
ALPHARETTA, Ga., May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For decades, schools and districts nationwide have been forced to assemble their own improvement ecosystems — piecing together disparate curricula, assessments, professional development, and continuous improvement support from different providers with no common thread. The result has been a fractured landscape in which even the best individual tools fail to deliver the equitable, lasting outcomes students deserve.
Today, Cognia®, a global nonprofit improvement organization that helps improve student outcomes through accreditation and certification, student assessment, professional learning, and school improvement services, announced a new merger with EL Education that intends to change all that.
EL Education is a leading New York-based national K-12 nonprofit with a 30-year track record of raising student achievement through its acclaimed Science of Reading-based English Language Arts curriculum, coaching and school support, and an evidence-based Full School Model. The merger is expected to take place by September 1, pending regulatory approval.
The combined organization will retain the Cognia name and help school districts nationwide leverage the critical attributes of improvement, spanning curriculum, instruction, coaching, assessment, and school-wide transformation, in one organization.
"This is a major step in Cognia's ongoing evolution toward providing a single, comprehensive, and coherent improvement system for schools," says Cognia president and CEO Dr. Mark A. Elgart.
Now, the combined organization will offer assessment and professional learning aligned with what will be a complete ecosystem—first in literacy and English Language Arts, and then in mathematics and science in the coming years.
EL Education's literacy curriculum and Full School Model will continue to carry the EL Education brand under the combined organization. Cognia will make EL Education's curriculum, resources, and improvement services available to its global school improvement network of 40,000 schools serving 17 million students in over 100 countries.
"The focus on expanding curriculum offerings aligned with our assessments is crucial to strengthening and targeting areas where schools want and need assistance," Elgart says. "Our vision is to strengthen how learners engage and teachers instruct using the best learning tools and assessments."
About EL Education
EL Education is a national nonprofit that partners with educators to transform K-12 schools and districts into hubs of equitable opportunity. Guided by a multi-dimensional vision of student achievement, we support all students in cultivating their unique genius and contributing to a better world. EL Education offers research-proven resources and practices, including the acclaimed EL Education K-8 Language Arts curriculum or practices, and aligned professional learning. EL Education was founded in 1991 and currently reaches 1.3 million students in diverse communities across the country in 48 states and the District of Columbia.
About Cognia
Cognia® is a forward-thinking nonprofit improvement organization that offers accreditation and certification, assessment, improvement services, and professional learning within an evaluation and continuous improvement framework. Serving over 40,000 public and private institutions from early learning through high school in more than 100 countries and territories, Cognia brings a universally recognized perspective to advancing teaching and learning.
SOURCE Cognia
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