Amplify (company)

Amplify
Private
Industry Education
Predecessor Wireless Generation
Founded New York (2000 (2000))
Headquarters

55 Washington Street Suite 900

Brooklyn, NY 11201-1071
Key people
Products Amplify Tablet, digital curriculum, assessments, consultations
Website amplify.com

Amplify is a digital education company launched in July 2012. A subsidiary of News Corp until October 2015, Amplify was built on the foundation of Wireless Generation, the educational company News Corp bought in 2010. Amplify products and services provide assessment and analytics for data-driven instruction and next-generation digital curriculum based on the Common Core State Standards.[1]

News Corp sold Amplify Access in 2015 for an undisclosed sum to a group of private investors after slow growth in the digital curriculum sector. Larry Berger, co-founder of Wireless Generation, is now the chief executive of the new company.[2][3]

Company overview

Amplify was formed after the purchase of Wireless Generation, which was founded in 2000 by Larry Berger and Greg Gunn. The company sold its products and services to districts and states that used government funding for early reading and other programs. It also developed and maintained the New York City online warehouse of student data ARIS, and wrote the algorithm for the School of One, the New York City Department of Education's math help system. Larry Berger served as the CEO of Wireless Generation until the sale of the company in 2010. At the time of the sale, the users of Wireless Generation software included three million students and 200,000 educators.[4]

In November 2010 a 90% stake in Wireless Generation was purchased by News Corp for $360 million. News Corp changed the name of its subsidiary in 2012 to Amplify.[5] Following the acquisition, News Corp invested about half a billion dollars into the company in order to expand its offerings to devices and digital curriculum, designed to replace hardcopy textbooks, and to decrease the price-point gap between traditional textbooks and tablet-based education.[6]

Joel Klein, former chancellor for the New York City Department of Education and an executive vice-president with News Corp served as Amplify's CEO until 2015, and remains as a strategic adviser.<ref name"alpert">Lukas I. Alpert and George Stahl, "News Corp Sells Its Amplify Education Businesses," The Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2015.</ref> During his time as CEO, Klein stated that the goal of Amplify is to encourage the integration of computer technology into the common educational environment, rather than a separate learning environment such as a laboratory.[7]

Assessment

Amplify provides assessment tools for K-12 schools. Tools are available for Math and ELA, Pre-K to 12th Grade. Amplify also provides secure data hosting, reporting and management for educational institutions.[8] Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium signed a contract with Amplify to create a digital library of formative assessment professional learning tools designed for Common Core State Standards teachers. Amplify also signed a contract with Smarter Balanced before its purchase by News Corp to develop reporting tools for teacher assessment.[9] The library provides online access to teachers for formative test items, and assessment tools.[10] Amplify's software uses data analysis to plan teaching tactics and track educational results.[11] This has included the provision of data coaches to teachers in Delaware.[12]

Curriculum

Amplify provides digital curriculum for ELA, math, and science. These curricula are based upon the Common Core State Standards. The Amplify ELA curriculum also includes educational games that can be played by students in and outside of class time,[6][8] and a library of 300 pre-loaded books.[13][14]

Tablet

Main article: Amplify Tablet

In March 2013, Amplify released the Amplify Tablet, a customized Asus Android tablet with a suite of subscription-based software, offering education-oriented features and apps designed for K-12 learning environments.[15][16][17] In March 2014, the company released a new version of the Amplify Tablet designed by Intel.[18] In 2015, Amplify announced it would cease marketing the tablet to new customers but would continue to service its existing customers.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Dawson, Christopher. (2012-07-23) News Corp unveils Amplify: New partnership with AT&T for digital ed. ZDNet. Retrieved on 2013-07-19.
  2. ↑ "News Corp sells digital education brand Amplify". Reuters. 6 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 Sean Cavanagh, "News Corp. Announces Plans to Wind Down Amplifyís Tablet Business," "MarketBrief", August 13, 2015.
  4. ↑ Anna Phillips (November 22, 2010). "Murdoch buys education tech company Wireless Generation". Chalk Beat. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  5. ↑ "News Corp brands education business Amplify". AP Online. July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Travis Andrews (August 29, 2013). "Inside News Corp's $540 Million Bet on American Classrooms". Mashable. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Joel Klein interview". Wall Street Journal. January 18, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  8. 1 2 Amy Chozick (May 6, 2013). "News Corp. Has a Tablet for Schools". New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  9. ↑ Sean Cavanagh (March 14, 2013). "Amplify Insight Wins Contract from Common-Core Testing Consortium". Education Week. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  10. ↑ Dian Schaffhauser. "Amplify Insight Creating Digital Library of Assessment Tools for Smarter Balanced". The Journal. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  11. ↑ Calvin Reid (December 5, 2012). "News Corp.'s Joel Klein Outlines Plans for Amplify Education Unit". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  12. ↑ Michele McNeil (May 25, 2011). "Delaware Pushes to Meet Race to Top Promises". Education Week.
  13. ↑ Jordan Shapiro (March 3, 2014). "Amplify's Middle School Content Makes Learning Look Beautiful". Forbes. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  14. ↑ M. Nadeem (September 19, 2013). "Students Offer Tech Support for Amplify Tablet Program". Education News. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  15. ↑ "News Corp. Has a Tablet for Schools". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "No Child Left Untableted". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "News Corp.'s Amplify Unveils Education Tablet". PC Magazine. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  18. ↑ Carol Rotella (September 12, 2013). "No Child Left Untableted". New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2014.

External links

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