NoRedInk, whose highly engaging digital writing curriculum is used in over 60% of US school districts, has raised a $50 million Series B round, led by Susquehanna Growth Equity and with participation from True Ventures.
Schools are increasingly turning to digital tools to help them address their biggest challenges, and nowhere is the need for support more glaring than in students’ writing. According to the US Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, about 75% of students in 8th and 12th grade are below “proficient” in writing, and writing has been the lowest-performing section on both the ACT and SAT since the section was introduced in 2006.
Having graded over 15,000 papers, Jeff Scheur, NoRedInk’s founder and CEO, created the site while teaching high school English in Chicago. The program’s adaptive curriculum personalizes writing exercises to each student’s interests, guides them through the writing process with instructional support, and boosts their skills through targeted practice. To date, students have completed over 10 billion writing exercises on NoRedInk’s platform.
“School districts are abandoning the big publishers in droves and flocking to digital tools that have proven they can actually help kids learn,” said Josh Elser, Managing Director at Susquehanna Growth Equity. “NoRedInk has earned tremendous loyalty from K-12 schools and districts nationwide and teachers adore the product because it helps them teach more effectively.”
NoRedInk already has a presence in 88% of the top 1,000 school districts. Students delight in seeing their favorite books, movies, musicians, athletes, and personal heroes in exercises, and the company’s technology focuses on getting students writing more frequently and building their confidence as they improve their skills.
“We love how NoRedInk’s curriculum scaffolds the writing process for students across our district,” said Dr. Anita de la Isla, Director of Language and Literacy at Coppell Independent School District in Texas. “If kids get stuck while working on an essay, the program gives them immediate lessons and examples to help them work through it. We’ve also seen that when curriculum focuses learners on what they know and are passionate about, students’ engagement increases and their writing improves.”
NoRedInk has a free, limited version for teachers to try, and thousands of schools request upgrades to the paid version every month. The complete adaptive writing curriculum offers schools standards-aligned support across a wide array of genres, breaking down over 1,000 grammar and writing skills with unlimited practice, immediate feedback, guided revision tools, and customizable assessments. The paid version also integrates with popular learning management systems and allows administrators to track progress at the school and district level.
“Most school districts really want to prioritize writing instruction, and they need assistance putting that into practice,” said Scheur. “Teaching this generation of students to develop and express their ideas gives them a voice, and it allows our society to communicate much more effectively.”
The company chose Susquehanna as a partner because of its philosophy of patient capital and its excellent track record supporting founder-led businesses. NoRedInk is already profitable and will use the additional funding to improve its product and bring it to more schools.
Source: Businesswire
