Riverside Insights Acquires Aperture Education

Riverside’s Achievement and Ability Assessments Combine with Aperture’s Rigorous SEL Tools to Provide Educators with a Holistic View of Students

ITASCA, Ill. – June  1, 2022 – Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, today announced its acquisition of Aperture Education, the leading provider of research-based social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments for K-12 schools. With more than 65 years of combined research and SEL experience, Aperture sets the standard for research-based SEL assessment solutions. The addition of Aperture’s SEL solutions to the Riverside portfolio of research-based ability and achievement assessments will help K-12 educators obtain the most valid, reliable, and comprehensive view of each learner. Through use of the highest quality and most rigorous tools, educators are empowered to better understand and support student growth. Riverside is a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Aperture team has developed the DESSA suite of assessments to meet the needs of students and educators. Based on the CASEL^TM framework, the DESSA assessment system provides an in-depth, comprehensive view of student social and emotional skills and is entirely strength-based.

“With our K-12 solutions for students and educators, Aperture and Riverside have a synergistic goal of enriching one billion lives globally by 2030,” said Rajib Roy, CEO of Riverside Insights. “With Riverside’s strong research tradition blended with Aperture’s SEL product expertise and vision, we are excited to continue our commitment to creating insights to understand the whole learner. Together, we believe that through our assessments, we can make a greater impact in the lives of students and educators.”

“Riverside and Aperture have very similar company cultures. We share an entrepreneurial energy and have fixed our eyes on future growth,” said Jessica Adamson, CEO at Aperture Education. “With our research-roots, we believe the right insights empower educators to better serve students, and together, we believe we can more effectively reach educators to scale our impact.”

About Aperture Education

Aperture Education has empowered over 6,500 schools and out-of-school time programs across North America to measure, strengthen, and support social and emotional competence in K-12 youth and educators. The Aperture System includes the DESSA suite of strength-based assessments, CASEL™-aligned intervention strategies, and robust reporting, all in one easy-to-use digital platform. This system enables education leaders to make strategic, data-based decisions about SEL within their organizations. Aperture has supported more than one million students in their social and emotional growth and continues to develop innovative solutions to bring the whole child into focus. To learn more, visit www.ApertureEd.com. 

About Riverside Insights

Riverside Insights, one of the nation’s leading and most long-standing developers of research-based assessments, is led by a powerful mission: to provide insights that help elevate potential and enrich the lives of students, clinical patients, employees, and organizations globally. For more information, visit www.RiversideInsights.com.

About Alpine Investors

Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm that is committed to building enduring companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine specializes in investments in companies in the software and services industries. Its PeopleFirst strategy includes a talent program that allows Alpine to bring leadership to situations where additional or new management is needed post-transaction. Alpine is currently investing out of its $2.25 billion eighth fund. For more information, please visit www.alpineinvestors.com