Charlotte, NC. (Wednesday, December 18, 2024) — Discovery Education has been selected to receive two prestigious Industry Impact Awards. Presented by The American Consortium for Equity in Education, the Industry Impact Awards honor the PreK-20 companies, organizations, leaders, and products whose proven results have advanced educational equity and access for learners.  

The two Discovery Education solutions receiving Industry Impact Awards are: 

In the Career Readiness and Success Solution Category: Career Connect  
The 2024 Education Insights Report shows that while 88% of district leaders, teachers, parents, and students rate life skills as very important, only 57% of students believe their schools adequately teach the life skills needed for future success. Career Connect from Discovery Education is the one-stop-spot to facilitate, plan, and organize interactions between professionals and students. With Career Connect, teachers can request virtual classroom visits from industry professionals based on job types, industries, language preferences, and location.  

In the National or International Impact Category: The STEM Careers Coalition  
The STEM Careers Coalition is an alliance of industries and non-profit organizations collaborating to create equitable access to free STEM content and career connections. Since 2019, the STEM Careers Coalition has reached over 10.7 million students, including 2.97 million in the 2023-2024 school year alone, 65% of which are from Title I schools.    

“Congratulations to all the deserving winners of the Industry Impact Awards, and a heartfelt thank you for the work you do to support educators and students,” said Maia Appleby, Communications and Editorial Director for the American Consortium for Equity in Education. “It’s a joy to announce these winners, highlight their meaningful contributions to education, and it will be just as exciting to see what they do next.” 

Every nominee, finalist, and winner of the Excellence in Equity Awards has made invaluable contributions to improving opportunities and outcomes for students. Learn more about the winners at https://www.ace-ed.org/awards.  

“Career exposure and preparation is a focus for many schools and districts across the United States, which is why Discovery Education has created essential solutions to ensure all students have the opportunity to explore the connection between what they are learning today and a possible career tomorrow. This recognition is powerful validation and inspiration for our team to continue to create solutions that prepare students for success beyond graduation,” said Amy Nakamoto, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Alliances at Discovery Education. 

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning solutions, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.     

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About the Excellence in Equity Awards 
The annual Excellence in Equity Awards program recognizes the companies, nonprofits, leaders, and educators whose work contributes to the critical goal of ensuring access and equity for every learner. Learn more at www.ace-ed.org/awards. 

About Discovery Education 
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, innovative classroom tools, and corporate partnerships, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com. 

Contacts 
Grace Maliska 
Discovery Education 
Email: gmaliska@discoveryed.com 

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The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) recently named Just Right Reader’s decodable books for grades K-2 as approved instructional materials for both English and Spanish phonics. After undergoing the SBOE-governed Instructional Materials Review and Approval (IMRA) process, these literacy resources were found to meet 100 percent of the applicable Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) state standards and 100 percent Phonics Rule Compliance (Chapter 74). Just Right Reader is now eligible for state funding. 

“As one of only two companies to be approved by the SBOE for both English and Spanish phonics, educators throughout the state can now use Just Right Reader’s literacy resources to support all of their young learners in their reading journey,” said Sara Rich, founder and CEO of Just Right Reader. “Our Science of Reading decodable books provide engaging and relatable content that students can read over and over again as they practice their phonics to become proficient and joyful readers.”

According to the SBOE website, all instructional materials submitted to the IMRA process are reviewed for TEKS and English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) alignment, factual errors, suitability, quality, physical/electronic specifications, and parent portal compliance. Instructional materials are also open to public review and feedback.

Following the review of instructional materials, the SBOE votes to determine which materials to add to its list of approved instructional materials. All instructional materials added to that list, which now includes Just Right Reader’s literacy resources, are considered high-quality instructional materials (HQIM). 

Just Right Reader’s Science of Reading decodable phonics books come in multiple levels to meet students’ current reading experience. They provide structured phonics practice through engaging, relatable texts that students can enjoy anytime, anywhere. Additionally, families can access a variety of at-home support resources and practice materials online by scanning QR codes included in the decodable books.

“The confidence levels have increased when it comes to approaching books, working through the text, and even jumping in and trying to decode words,” said Cori Gandara, literacy specialist at Sinton Independent School District in Sinton, Texas. “Students are really excited to dig in and read together.”

To learn more about Just Right Reader, visit www.justrightreader.com. To learn more about the IMRA process, visit https://sboe.texas.gov/state-board-of-education/imra. 

About Just Right Reader

At Just Right Reader, we do whatever it takes to accelerate student achievement and create joyful reading experiences through high-quality Science of Reading research-based resources, an extensive family engagement platform, and a commitment to personalized learning. Our library of more than 850 English and Spanish literacy resources, aligned with all core phonics programs used in schools, offers structured and engaging phonics practice, while the Science of Reading Take-Everywhere Literacy Packs™ deliver personalized, data-driven practice that extends beyond the classroom for literacy success.

Visit www.justrightreader.com for more information.

WASHINGTON, DC — December 17, 2024 — The American Consortium for Equity in Education today announced the winners of the 2024 Excellence in Equity – Industry Impact Awards, designed to recognize the PreK-20 companies, organizations, leaders, and products whose proven results have advanced educational equity and access for learners. Overall, there were 44 winners named in 29 unique categories.

“Congratulations to all the deserving winners of the Industry Impact Awards, and a heartfelt thank you for the work you do to support educators and students,” said Maia Appleby, communications and editorial director for the American Consortium for Equity in Education. “It’s a joy to announce these winners, highlight their meaningful contributions to education, and it will be just as exciting to see what they do next.”

This was the third year of the Excellence in Equity Awards and the first year of the dedicated Industry Impact Awards program. Upcoming awards will include the Excellence in Equity Awards for Educators and Industry Innovation Awards, both in the winter and spring of 2025. 

The Industry Impact winners are:

Company of the Year – PreK-12

• TeachTown

Company of the Year – Higher Education

• Kaplan

Nonprofit Organization or Community Partner of the Year

• Open Up Resources

Product of the Year – PreK-12

• Benchmark Advance and Benchmark Adelante

Product of the Year – Higher Education

• Canvas
• History of Disabilities: Disabilities in Society, Seventeenth to Twentieth Century from Gale

Author, Speaker, or Consultant of the Year

• Dr. Jack Naglieri, Dr. Dina Brulles, and Dr. Kimberly Lansdowne

Leader of the Year

• Dr. Sonya Murray, founder of Equity Matters

Book of the Year

• Climbing the Ladder of Reading & Writing: Meeting the Needs of ALL Students, edited by Nancy Young Ed.D and Jan Hasbrouck Ph.D
• Partnering with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families in Special Education by Kristin Vogel-Campbell, Ed.D
• #TeachersServeToo by Evan Erdberg

Accessibility Solution

• Presence

Career Readiness and Success Solution – PreK-12

• Career Connect by Discovery Education

Career Readiness and Success Solution – Higher Education

• All Access License by Kaplan

College Readiness and Success Solution

• Lexia PowerUp Literacy
• Study.com College Saver

Differentiation and Personalized Learning Solution

• Branching Minds

Diversity and Inclusion Solution – PreK-12

• Naglieri General Ability Tests
• Reycraft Books

Diversity and Inclusion Solution – Higher Education

• Vector Solutions Diversity & Inclusion Courses

Early Childhood Solution

• TeachTown Launch for PreK

Extracurricular Solution

• Cascade Enrichment

Family Engagement Solution

• Footsteps2Brilliance
• ParentSquare
• SchoolStatus

Literacy Solution

• 95 Percent Group
• OnYourMark Education
• WordFlight

Local Impact – PreK-12

• Alief ISD/Jefferson Early Learning Center

Local Impact – Higher Education

• VitalSource

Multilingual Learners Solution

• Benchmark Hello!
• CogAT by Riverside Insights
• Lexia English

National or International Impact

• STEM Careers Coalition

Science, Math, or STEM Solution

• CoderZ
• On-Demand and High-Dosage Tutoring from Tutor.com and The Princeton Review

Social-Emotional Learning Solution

• MySELF and Mi BASE by Benchmark Education

Special Education Solution

• Language Builder: Academic Readiness Intervention System (ARIS) from Stages Learning
• Presence
• TouchMath

Student Engagement Solution

• Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Student Health and Wellness Solution

• Cradles to Crayons

Special Contribution to Equity

• Cascade Enrichment
• Lightspeed Digital Equity

The following 15 nominees received honorable mention in the Impact Awards:

• Benchmark Phonics
• BookNook Reading
• Cascade Reading
• Cignition
• enCORE by TeachTown
• Future Lab
• Gale In Context: For Educators
• Gale Literature Resource Center
• Participate Learning
• Proximity Learning
• RoboX by Intelitek
• Stride, Inc. 
• The Ortiz Picture Vocabulary Acquisition Test
• UWorld College Readiness Suite
• Working in Harmony from The Country Music Association and Discovery Education

Each of these winners will receive a variety of benefits, including a badge to display on official materials, permanent recognition on the Consortium’s website, and opportunities to be featured on podcasts and in articles. 

Every nominee, finalist, and winner of the Excellence in Equity Awards has made invaluable contributions to improving opportunity and outcomes for students. Learn more about the winners at https://www.ace-ed.org/awards. 

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About the Excellence in Equity Awards

The annual Excellence in Equity Awards program recognizes the companies, nonprofits, leaders, and educators whose work contributes to the critical goal of ensuring access and equity for every learner. Learn more at www.ace-ed.org/awards.

SchoolStatus, a leader in K-12 student attendance, communications, and data analytics, today announced they have been included in the 2025 GSV 150, a prestigious list recognizing the world’s most transformational private companies in digital learning and workforce skills.

SchoolStatus was chosen from over 2,500 venture capital and private equity-backed companies evaluated by GSV using their proprietary assessment methodology. The 2025 GSV 150 represents a dynamic group of companies collectively generating over $25 billion in annual revenue and reaching more than 3 billion learners globally. 

“Being named to the GSV 150 validates our mission to transform education through meaningful family engagement and actionable data,” said Russ Davis, CEO of SchoolStatus. “As we continue to innovate and expand our platform, this recognition reinforces the impact we’re making in helping educators tackle chronic absenteeism, build stronger relationships with families, and improve student outcomes.”

The selection process analyzed key factors including revenue scale, revenue growth, user reach, geographic diversification, and margin profile. This year’s cohort notably features generative AI integration across many offerings, alongside a significant shift toward profitability.

Key highlights of the 2025 GSV 150 include:

• Strong representation from the K-12 sector (48% of companies)
• Significant presence in workforce learning (46% of companies)
• Broad geographic diversity with companies from North America, India, Europe, and China
• Companies spanning multiple “PreK to Gray” education sectors

SchoolStatus continues to expand its comprehensive family engagement platform that combines attendance management, parent communications, student data analytics, and educator growth to help educators drive student success through enhanced family engagement.

About GSV
Founded in 2011, GSV is a global platform that drives education and workforce skills innovation. Our mission is that ALL people have equal access to the future, and we believe that scaled innovations in “PreK to Gray” learning and skills are crucial to achieving this goal. The GSV platform includes the ASU+GSV Summit, hosted annually in San Diego with 7,000+ attendees; the India-based ASU+GSV & Emeritus Summit, now entering its third year; and The AI Show @ ASU+GSV, an immersive exploration of the AI Revolution in education, which welcomed 10,000+ attendees this year. GSV Ventures, GSV’s investment arm founded in 2015, is a multi-stage venture fund investing in the most transformational companies across the global “PreK to Gray” landscape.

About SchoolStatus
SchoolStatus is a unified K-12 platform that leverages family engagement to drive greater impact for students through school communication, attendance, and educator growth solutions. Serving over 22 million students across all 50 states, SchoolStatus provides data-backed insights that break down barriers and build relationships between school and home. For more information, visit schoolstatus.com.

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Perth, AU – Qoria, a global technology company dedicated to keeping children safe and well in their digital lives and the parent company of Linewize, published a new report on how generative AI is reshaping schools’ operations globally. The report, titled, “Addressing the Risks of AI-Enabled CSAM and Explicit Content in Education,” includes data and input from 600 of Qoria’s school partners across the U.S., UK, Australia and New Zealand. Respondents spanned superintendents, principals, IT leaders and others from small private schools to large districts. A guide for school leaders, the report also outlines response strategies and holistic approaches to digital safety to help address CSAM concerns and foster an improved online environment for all.  

“The pace of technological change is rapid. Information on the educational potential of AI and risks such as academic dishonesty is widespread, but less is known about the impact of AI on student safety and wellbeing – especially regarding CSAM and predation,” said Yasmin London, global online safety advisor and brand director for Qoria. “As educators are faced with an ever-increasing workload, too many understandably feel overwhelmed by the need to stay one step ahead of AI trends. Our mission is to support schools globally and provide the resources they need to navigate this complex era successfully.”   

The proliferation of CSAM by adult perpetrators has increased significantly in recent times, with predators intentionally interacting with AI to personalize their approaches and manipulate young people. According to Qoria’s report, 91.4% of U.S. schools surveyed are concerned about the potential for online predators to utilize AI to groom students, yet 31.4% are not familiar with any of the tools these perpetrators are using to target children. 

At the same time, students’ exposure to explicit material has escalated. More children are possessing, requesting and sharing nude content online than ever before. According to Qoria’s findings, this behavior is occurring at a surprisingly young age, with 67.6% of U.S. respondents seeing it amongst students only 11-13 years old. Additionally, schools overwhelmingly reported that Snapchat is the most common platform of choice for young people when asking for or sharing nude content. 75.8% of U.S. respondents cited Snapchat as the top medium, followed by text messages at about 45%.  

On top of this, there is a growing trend of young people using AI to create and share manipulated explicit content including non-consensual explicit images of their peers and even school staff. However, Qoria’s data reveals a potential gap in detection in U.S. schools, which is understandable due to educators’ increasing workloads and responsibilities. When asked what the most significant challenges in addressing issues of AI, CSAM and explicit content are, about 79% cited ‘limited staff training, knowledge and time’ and about 73% cited ‘difficulty detecting and monitoring harmful behavior.’ This raises an important question: how much AI-driven exploitative behavior is going undetected?  

“While it’s certainly challenging, schools should not feel helpless when it comes to evolving technology like AI,” said Yasmin. “There is one critical focus area that will truly move the needle for schools – increasing digital visibility.”  

Schools can take small yet significant steps towards increasing digital visibility, including heightened parent engagement. According to Qoria’s report, 70.6% of U.S. respondents said there is a lack of awareness amongst parents when it comes to AI, CSAM and explicit content, but about 44% of schools are not proactively engaging with and educating parents on the issues, indicating room for improvement. 

Additionally, schools can review their current digital safety technology stack to ensure it’s still fit for purpose, address student concerns through inclusive frameworks, and be innovative and forward thinking when it comes to updating school policies. With the right support and guidance, schools can successfully harness the meaningful benefits of AI while mitigating concerns. 

The full report and additional data from Qoria can be found here. 

About Qoria 

Qoria is a global technology company dedicated to keeping children safe and well in their digital lives. It harnesses the power of connection to close the gaps students fall through and seamlessly support them on all sides – at school, at home and everywhere in between. Qoria unites all parties to advance child digital wellbeing to levels never before seen.  

About Linewize by Qoria  

Built by a global team of education experts and former school IT administrators, Linewize by Qoria offers a web content filter, a student wellbeing and culture platform, threat detection tool, classroom management solution, and a proprietary online community program that provides resources and expert information on safety and digital wellbeing for families. These solutions harmonize to form a cohesive strategy, enabling school districts to better address the challenges of today’s connected learning environments. To learn more, please visit www.linewize.com.  

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