Folsom-based PowerSchool buys Schoology, K-12 education software used by 60,000 schools
Folsom-based PowerSchool made a major addition on Monday with the acquisition of Schoology, a learning management system software used by millions of students across tens of thousands of K-12 schools nationwide.
Schoology’s learning management system (LMS) will be integrated into PowerSchool’s Unified Classroom product, which already includes “gradebook, assessment, teacher professional learning, and special programs tools,” PowerSchool said in a news release formally announcing the acquisition.
It’s a massive add for PowerSchool, which says it invests $90 million annually into “software research and development, product enhancements, and innovation,” according to the news release.
PowerSchool, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Folsom, was bought from Pearson by San Francisco-based Vista Equity Partners in July 2015 for $350 million. Pearson, a major textbook publisher, had purchased PowerSchool in 2006.
Then, in 2017, Vista Equity announced seven more acquisitions totaling $850 million for the purpose of expanding PowerSchool’s software suite.
Following that series of acquisitions, PowerSchool CEO Hardeep Gulati in 2017 told The Sacramento Bee that PowerSchool had reached 32 million students in the U.S., and “touched every other school and child in North America.” Prior to this acquisition, PowerSchool indicated on its website that its technology is used by 45 million students across more than 80 countries.
Schoology, based in New York City, has more than 20 million users across more than 60,000 U.S. schools, according to its website, and will “continue to function as a distinct product” but will fall under the umbrella of PowerSchool’s Unified Classroom management software, according to Monday’s announcement. The acquisition will allow for “simplified workflows” between Schoology and PowerSchool products.
The value of the Schoology acquisition was not disclosed. PowerSchool says the acquisition will boost Schoology’s development resources by 40 percent.
“At PowerSchool, we believe it is long overdue to empower teachers with a full suite of modern classroom software designed specifically to give them time back to spend with their students and the data they need to help each child learn at their own pace, in their own way,” Gulati said in a prepared statement.
Inc. Magazine, in an annual list of the 5,000 fastest-growing, privately held companies in the U.S., reported revenue of $361.1 million for PowerSchool in 2018, ranking it No. 1,412 on the list.
