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ChalkTalk - Hero Video

About the time I started at ChalkTalk, the U.S. K-12 market had begun to sour on personalized learning systems. A number of different stories came out showcasing high-profile PR disasters at schools where students were subjected hours of screen time each day. There was a pushback against so called “robot teachers” and we needed a way to separate ChalkTalk from the controversy. This was where we began.

ChalkTalk - How It Works

While ChalkTalk had a good UX, it was also multifaceted and came with a degree of complexity that could confuse customers if not properly explained. With a widely distributed and growing sales team, we needed a way to standardize the messaging they would deliver when introducing ChalkTalk to new customers. This video proved to be very helpful in laying the groundwork before a product demonstration.

LearnSprout - Student Privacy

In 2015, the issue of student data privacy was hot. The previous year, InBloom shuttered operations because of the issue, and companies were scrambling to respond to a sudden and extreme amount of pressure from parents and educators. Seeing this coming, I pushed the company to become one of the first signatories of the Student Privacy Pledge and we worked with some of the biggest critics of EdTech as it relates to student data and privacy. Would-be antagonists became partners, and they helped us rewrite our ToS and Privacy Policy.

Brand Refresh

When I joined ChalkTalk, the brand was in need of a complete overhaul. What was “Chalk Talk Solutions” became ChalkTalk. At my direction, the company acquired the chalktalk.com domain and created a new color palette, design, and messaging—bringing everything into alignment with a new slogan and revamped mission statement.

Then:

Now:

Media Coverage

Edsurge Article Image ChalkTalk
EdSurge •

ChalkTalk Reemerges to Find Scale in Schools—and More Funders

A couple of years ago, Mohannad Arbaji had a problem, one he could only solve by going back to school. Not enough students were completing lessons on his digital platform ChalkTalk, aimed at helping students grades 9-12 understand English and math concepts and improve their scores on tests like the ACT and SAT.

So the CEO of the Boston-based company sat in on classrooms in over 12 schools. Arbaji realized that the original design of ChalkTalk needed an overhaul. Students weren’t completing less
Apple Acquires Learnsprout image on TechCrunch
TechCrunch •

Apple Acquires Education Startup LearnSprout

Apple has acquired education-technology startup LearnSprout, Bloomberg reported a bit ago and we have just confirmed. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LearnSprout is a three-year-old, San Francisco-based software startup whose online data insights help K-12 educators track students’ performances. The company had raised $4.7 million from investors across two rounds, including Andreessen Horowitz, Formation 8, and Samsung Ventures. CrunchBase has the full investor list here.

According to th
LearnSprout College Readiness TechCrunch
TechCrunch •

Edtech Startup LearnSprout Takes In $4.2M To Unlock More Insights From Schools’ Data

U.S. edtech startup LearnSprout has taken in more funding — announcing today a $4.2 million round which it actually closed last August. Investors in the new round are prior investor Formation 8, Samsung Ventures and former Blackboard president, Justin Tan (who also sits on its advisory board).

We last covered LearnSprout in July 2012 when they were in the process of closing their seed round, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Formation 8, Benjamin Ling, Philip Fung, Luke Shepard and others. Its tot
LearnSprout College Ready Paul Smith
9to5Mac •

Apple acquires education technology startup LearnSprout

Apple has acquired education technology startup LearnSprout for an undisclosed sum, via Bloomberg. LearnSprout’s software lets teachers track student progress and test scores, organize class achievement targets and more school-oriented features. The acquisition follows Apple’s announcement of iOS 9.3, which includes several major new features for iPads in education, including multi-user account switching.

LearnSprout’s features were mainly marketed at PC and Mac users. With an Apple acquisition
LearnSprout Early Warning System EdSurge Paul Smith
EdSurge •

LearnSprout Launches Early Warning System for At-Risk Students

High school dropout rates in the US may have reached a historic low of 7 percent in 2013. But that still leaves over 2 million students who go astray every year.

Attendance patterns can raise warning flags; after all, it’s not surprising that ditching class can be a precursor to dropping out completely. But even something as straightforward as pulling and organizing attendance record can be a “laborious” process, says Alex Insaurralde, Chief Academic Officer at Mare Island Technology (MIT) Acad
LearnSprout Edsurge Article Series A funding Paul Smith
EdSurge •

LearnSprout Pivots, Raises $4.2 Million

LearnSprout knows a thing or two about pivots. When the startup first joined the Imagine K12 accelerator in 2012, the team briefly entertained the idea of building a new student information system (SIS).

That plan was quickly scrapped. “There were already too many SIS’s, and we didn’t want to build another one,” says co-founder Franklyn Chien. Instead the team developed an API to help developers communicate with existing SIS’s and make it easy for school admins to create student accounts for on
Hack Education Article About LearnSprout - Fireworks
Hack Education •

Top 10 Ed-Tech Startups of 2012

It probably goes without saying, but I’ll type it out anyway: 2012 was an incredible year for education technology startups. Launches. Updates. Funding. Acquisitions. Adoption. Headlines. Disruptions. Drama. Politics. Buzz. Hype. Revolutions. And stuff.

With all that’s happened this year, making a list of the “top” new education technology startups was more challenging than ever before – least of which because there were a lot more companies to choose from. Making it tougher still: I’ve met a l

Press Releases

ChalkTalk Logo - Teach Amazing
PRWeb •

ChalkTalk Launches AI-Powered Content Delivery Platform For Education

ChalkTalk announced today the public launch of its new blended learning platform with the mission of helping every teacher ‘teach amazing.’ ChalkTalk is a content delivery platform that uses AI to generate instructional materials for high school English Language Arts and Math classes. The underlying technology aligns publisher content to state standards, maps the content to each school’s curriculum and schedule, then adapts content to the needs of each individual student.

Results from pilot sch
LearnSprout and Aeries SIS Logos
PRWeb •

Aeries and LearnSprout Announce Partnership To Promote K-12 Data Insights

Eagle Software, the leading provider of Student Information Systems for California K-12 schools, today announced a new partnership with LearnSprout, a fast-growing predictive analytics company for K-12 schools and districts. The partnership will provide California schools using Aeries.net with early warning software that will identify at-risk students, track chronic absenteeism and identify historical trends in student data. The integration will also allow for the use of the new LearnSprout Dash
PRWeb •

Pearson and LearnSprout Collaborate to Deliver New Insights Into Student Engagement and Performance to School Leaders

For K-12 school and district administrators who use the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), a new collaboration with one of the most promising EdTech startups of 2014, LearnSprout, will deliver new insights into student engagement and performance.

Pearson’s PowerSchool, the most widely used web-based SIS, supports more than 13 million students globally. PowerSchool enables today’s educators to make timely decisions that impact student performance, while creating a collaborative enviro
Learnsprout Data Dashboard
PRWeb •

LearnSprout Hits Stride - Registers 3,300 Schools in Three Months

LearnSprout, the first universal application programming interface (API) for K-12 education announced last week that it had registered more than 3,300 schools for its new Dashboard product. The company had been selected to participate in the LAUNCHedu competition at SXSWedu and advanced to the semifinal round where it made the announcement in front of a live audience and a panel of judges.

LearnSprout first announced Dashboard in November during the SIIA Innovation Incubator contest in New York

Tech Stack

Tech Stack - A collection of logos from apps used by Paul Smith

Photo of Paul Smith with Kids from the top of the lookout tower at the top of the Sierra Buttes in Tahoe National Forest. Upper and Lower Sardine Lake in the background far below.
Looking down from the lookout tower at the top of the Sierra Buttes in Tahoe National Forest. Upper and Lower Sardine Lake in the distance.

About Me

I'm a father of two super-cool teenagers and a pair of unruly felines, all of whom would tell you that I can be a little "extra" when it's time to play. Things we love include water polo, Euro-style board games, day-hiking, birds, drum and bugle corps, road trips, and meeting new friends. Home is in Roseville, California but my heart is on the road. 

As a native son to Silicon Valley and a 20-year vet of edtech, I could give a TEDx talk on the foibles of "disruptive innovation" and how tech can often do more harm than good in the classroom. Today, I'm less interested in unicorns and more focused on joining a team that is committed to their mission and working with a set of shared values. If this sounds like you, send me an email or connect with me using any of my social links below. I can't wait to meet you!