CHALLENGE ACCEPTED: NewSchools Venture Fund began its search in February for math tools that emphasized conceptual understanding with the NewSchools Ignite Challenge. It’s found them; the fund has announced its first cohort of 15 winners: they range from early stage startups to established companies developing new tools for new students. Each company will receive a grant of between $50,000 and $150,000 to further develop and scale its tools.
The cohort is:
- Carnegie Learning
- CueThink
- eSpark
- Learn Fresh
- LearnZillion
- Make Music Count
- Mathalicious
- Motion Math
- The Learning Sciences Group
- ThinkCERCA
- Tuva Labs
- Woot Math
- YouCubed
- Zeal
- Zearn
The challenge's purpose is to highlight tools that move beyond rote exercises.
“Math is the last place I thought we would focus on because there are so many tools out there, but it turns out the majority of them are digital flashcards, worksheets and memory games,” Tonika Cheek Clayton, Managing Partner of NewSchools Ignite’s Tools and Services Team said in an interview with EdSurge earlier this year. “We kept hearing from superintendents and teachers that there aren’t tools that teach kids how to learn math the right way.”
