PowerSchool Acquires Haiku Learning to Create Industry’s First Unified Classroom Experience for K-12 Teachers, Students, and Parents

USA - English

• USA - English

Folsom, California (PRWEB) June 06, 2016 -- PowerSchool, the #1 provider of K-12 education technology solutions, today announced it has acquired Haiku Learning, leading provider of an innovative cloud-based learning management and classroom collaboration solution designed to meet the needs of K-12 educators. With this acquisition, PowerSchool has invested over $100 million within the past six months to implement the K-12 education industry’s first unified classroom platform.

The addition of a learning management system to PowerSchool’s suite of solutions—student information system, special education, assessment, and analytics—brings the industry’s first solution that provides all of the information and tools teachers and students need to manage instruction and collaboration in one unified platform. This improves learning effectiveness and eliminates time wasted and risk to district compliance caused by using multiple systems.

“Schools and districts are using disparate, disconnected systems and portals to manage instruction, assignments, assessments, grades, compliance, and collaboration. A recent survey taken by K-12 teachers shows that nearly 97% agreed that having all of their classroom applications – such as grading, attendance, learning management, and assessment data – unified in one place would save them time and allow them to spend more time teaching students,” said PowerSchool CEO, Hardeep Gulati. "We have created a differentiated K-12 unified classroom platform providing an easy-to-use, engaging, and comprehensive solution for all teaching and personalized learning needs inside and outside of the classroom."

With the acquisition of Haiku Learning, PowerSchool adds more than 3 million users across six continents while continuing to support learning and outcomes for more than 20 million students—or more than one-third of the total students—in the U.S. and Canada.

“PowerSchool’s acquisition of Haiku Learning really changes the game in education and will help make our teachers more effective in the classroom,” said Jay McPhail, Assistant Superintendent of Innovation and Instructional Support, Fullerton School District, California. “Adding an innovative learning management system to uniquely form a unified solution of education technology products into a single platform proves PowerSchool’s dedication to powering school operations, empowering teachers, and driving student growth. We are proud to partner with an innovative organization focused on improving instruction and learning in the classroom.”

The PowerSchool unified classroom platform, inclusive of the learning management system, provides educators with a wide range of capabilities.

• Comprehensive best-in-class single platform for all teaching and learning activities – a full-featured platform that meets the need for administrators to power school operations and for teachers to provide blended collaborated learning and manage compliance for district, state and federal requirements.
• Unified engaging experience for teachers and students – one unified system and user experience of record and engagement where all student, school and instructional information is managed and accessed from one portal on any device.
• Designed specifically for K-12 – provides unique K-12-specific visual, interactive, engaging, personalized and collaborative capabilities to manage lesson plans, curriculum, interactive web pages, discussions, and more in a few simple clicks.
• Enables blended and digital personalized learning - intuitive delivery of digital instruction and learning embedded content from personal teaching artifacts, district resources and curriculum, standards, 3rd party content providers, and open education resources, such as YouTube, Google Docs, Skype, and dozens of other services.
• Enables collaboration and communication across teachers, students, and parents – streamlined communication with internal messaging system completely secure and spam-free; all collaboration required, such as reminders, announcements, assignments, grades and progress are shared via portal, text, or email to students and parents. Also allows for social collaborative learning with tools like WikiProjects.
• Insights to drive student growth and improve learning outcomes - provides all stakeholders, educators, students, and families with a holistic view of a student’s academic performance and all school-related information in one portal.
• Quick rollout and lower total cost of ownership – Districts and schools save significantly on the technology budget by leveraging a unified platform, eliminating the need to maintain, integrate, and report across multiple systems. Solution rollout and training for teachers and administrators is faster with wider adoption and impact.

The adoption rate of Haiku Learning is greater than 70 percent, compared to 36 percent of K-12 teachers who use other learning management systems in the market. Haiku Learning’s user-friendly interface successfully facilitates instructional processes, enabling teachers to digitally deliver rich content with embedded lessons and interact in real-time with students in the classroom.

“Haiku Learning was founded with a vision of harmony, simplicity and community to make teaching and learning as easy as possible,” said Bryan Falcon, Founder and CEO of Haiku Learning. “PowerSchool shares the same vision and equally believes in working closely with educators to create an environment that enhances the classroom and teaching-learning experience.”

About PowerSchool Group LLC
PowerSchool is the #1 leading education technology platform for K-12, serving more than 57 million users, 20 million students, 36 million parents, and 70 countries around the world. We provide best-in-class, secure, and compliant online solutions, including student information systems, registration and school choice, assessment and analytics, and special education management. We empower teachers and drive student growth through innovative digital classroom capabilities, and we engage families through real-time communications across any device. Visit http://www.powerschool.com to learn more.

About Haiku Learning
Founded in 2006, Haiku Learning is a learning platform developed exclusively for K-12. Powering learning for nearly 3 million users across the globe, Haiku Learning’s platform is known for its simple interface, flexible tools, and powerful integration with other leading cloud services, such as Google Apps for Education. In 2015, Haiku Learning was honored as one of Indiana’s Companies to Watch Spotlight Award Winner.

Danielle Tyler, PowerSchool Group, LLC, http://www.powerschool.com, +1 (512) 375-4583, [email protected]