3 Companies in 1; The power of a pandemic driven business strategy

This summer, I am an Education Policy Research intern at Learners Edge.  As a remote intern, the first couple of weeks were training and learning based. Learners Edge is an education company that looks to help educators in a multitude of ways. Learners Edge has a course catalog for current teachers to advance their knowledge in a subject area, or for a new license requirement. iteach is the service provided in partnership with Learners Edge to certify new teachers. It is an online program; however, it is only legally offered in some states. Teaching Channel is the professional development service offered to districts and other organizations like the Department of Defense Education Activity.

Starting mid-week allowed for me to learn the ins and outs of the current state of education policy. As a research intern, much of my time is spent reading and combing through information. The company set me up with an email on the Microsoft Outlook program. This was fairly new to me, but the combination of calendar and email makes organizing simple.

Learners Edge is based out of Minnesota however, the Chief Executive Officer as well as the Chief Academic Officer live in Charlottesville, Virginia. When the pandemic struck, Learners Edge sold most of their office space. This has allowed for great flexibility in an education climate that is ever changing across the country. For example, the President of iteach and Learners Edge lives in Tennessee where she is creating new education legislation.

Learners Edge, iteach, and Teaching Channel are three separate companies that work together to ensure the hiring, professional development, and course work of new teachers are top notch. While they are currently separate with different owners, they are all working towards the same goal of certifying and advancing great teachers across the United States. Shortly, they are becoming one entity!

The ways in which my research can help Learners Edge is through teacher shortages. Each year, a given district will have openings they are unable to fill. The reason this can happen is due to the varying laws around teaching that differ from state to state. Iteach can only certify teachers in about ten states currently. They are looking to expand country wide!