The Learning Accelerator Awards $500,000 Grant to EducationSuperHighway

Cupertino, CA – February 15, 2013 – The Learning Accelerator (TLA), a nonprofit organization supporting the implementation of high-quality blended learning in school districts, today announced a grant of $500,000 to EducationSuperHighway (ESH). ESH is a nonprofit whose mission is to upgrade America’s K-12 internet infrastructure and provide every school in the country access to the broadband performance necessary to enable digital learning in the classroom and meet other vital educational goals.

“Sufficient internet access is a critical element for schools that want to implement blended learning so students can learn at their own pace and with personalized content. 80% of schools across the country don’t have enough,” said Scott Ellis, CEO of The Learning Accelerator. “EducationSuperHighway has the approach, skills, and leadership to direct this transformative effort across the U.S. that is essential for blended learning. We want to help make this happen as quickly as possible.”

EducationSuperHighway is catalyzing existing resources to upgrade America’s K-12 internet infrastructure by delivering critical information, technical expertise, procurement strategies, and policy reform. “This funding from The Learning Accelerator will enable us to ramp up our efforts quickly,” said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway. “This is a critical moment for American education, and The Learning Accelerator has been a great partner for us in defining our objectives, networking with key stakeholders across the country, and putting in place the resources to implement our program at scale.”

Today’s award is the first in a series of coordinated investments by The Learning Accelerator to identify and overcome the barriers to blended learning in American schools. The outcome of TLA’s efforts will be several proof points to clearly demonstrate how districts can successfully adopt blended learning and a series of scalable solutions that can be replicated across the country.