San Francisco Chronicle/Melia Russell: AltSchool’s out: Zuckerberg-backed startup that tried to rethink education calls it quits

San Francisco Chronicle


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AltSchool’s out: Zuckerberg-backed startup that tried to rethink education calls it quits
Photo of Melia Russell
Melia Russell June 28, 2019 Updated: June 28, 2019 3:20 p.m.
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Max Ventilla, a former Google product lead who founded AltSchool in 2013, is stepping down from the educational startup. He will remain on
Photo: Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle 2013

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Kai King, middle school math teacher, Patrice Greenglass, ELA teacher and Tommy Hoang, middle school math teacher, discuss classroom Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 2016

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AltSchool Yerba Buena opened in 2016. Higher Ground Education is taking over AltSchool’s lab schools.Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 2016

Taxis. Hotels. Restaurant takeout.

There are few industries Silicon Valley doesn’t think it can improve on. So when tech billionaires got tired of normal schools, they plowed $174 million into a San Francisco startup that wanted to reinvent education.

At AltSchool, attendance got a makeover, with even kindergartners signing in on an iPad. Kids got a “playlist” of activities that used a mix of apps. Cameras on the walls recorded lessons so teachers could review them later.

Now, the 21st century schoolhouse, created by a former Google executive and backed by titans of tech like Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, is essentially shutting down. AltSchool is being retooled as Altitude Learning, a startup that will sell software and professional development services nationwide.

Founder Max Ventilla, who worked at Google prior to starting the company in 2013, is stepping down as chief executive and will serve as Altitude’s chairman.
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“AltSchool is unique in that we were able to devote a considerable amount of resources to (educational)-tech research and development, never forgetting that ‘ed’ should always drive ‘tech,’ not the other way around,” Ventilla said in a blog post. He described the change as a “new chapter” for the startup that was last valued at $440 million, according to data from PitchBook.

Its most recent funding was in May 2017, when AltSchool raised $40 million. Online course-maker EverFi raised $190 million. That year, investors plunged $1.2 billion into educational startups.

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Last year, tech investors put $1.45 billion into such startups, according to industry site EdSurge. But AltSchool did not raise fresh financing.

AltSchool wooed parents and tech investors with a vision of bringing the classroom into the digital age. Engineers and designers on staff developed software for assisting teachers, and put it to work at a group of small schools in the Bay Area and New York run by the startup. At those outposts, kids weren’t just students; they served as software testers, helping AltSchool refine its technology for sale to other schools. About 40 schools across the country signed up.

Starting in 2017, AltSchool closed five of its nine “lab schools” to focus on licensing its technology. It got pushback from parents, who argued that their children had been guinea pigs for testing new modes of teaching, with the schools closing when they were no longer needed.

The four remaining schools will stay open after AltSchool’s rebranding, the company said. It’s handing off operations to Higher Ground Education, which develops tools and programs for Montessori institutions. AltSchool said a committee of about 100 parents and faculty reached the decision together. Staff will continue using its software under the new owners.

“Every district and school is unique, and faces a complex array of challenges,” said Devin Vodicka, chief impact officer of AltSchool, who will take over from Ventilla as chief executive. “Being able to apply the learnings of the last six years to everything from change management support to thoughtful integration of technology has the potential to be a game changer.”

Melia Russell is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: melia.russell@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meliarobin
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