Pearl, Transforming Tutoring, Announces Financing Surpassing $4M
The investment will support the tutor management and reporting platform to launch, scale and provide efficacy for partners including enterprise tutoring companies, districts and states
RICHMOND, Va., July 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The leading research backed, all-in-one tutor management platform, Pearl, today announces its tranche seed fundraise surpassing $4M led by Blu Venture Investors with participation from Fidi Ventures, among others. The company partners with enterprise tutoring providers, districts and state agencies to launch, scale, and run hybrid tutoring programs, while also assuring quality of impact. The recent injection of capital will be used for talent development and expansion, new data and reporting engines and to improve the engagement experience for educators and their partners.
"Stressed and cracked by the pandemic, our education systems and services need help and very few things can fill the gaps and provide support to teachers, students and parents better or more quickly than quality tutoring," said John Failla, Founder and CEO of Pearl. "This latest investment is a recognition of the power of tutoring as well as a show of great confidence that Pearl's unique tutor management and reporting tools are both timely and critical to meet our growing education needs."
Approved in 2021, the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (APR ESSER) Fund provides substantial resources for many tutoring-related initiatives aimed at helping school districts partner with tutors who can help mitigate the learning losses from the pandemic and a growing national teacher shortage.
Pearl's robust and partner-first features for districts, states and enterprise tutoring solution providers include individual profiles for administrators, tutors, students, parents, and teachers. Additional features include scheduling, document sharing, an integrated 1:1 and small group virtual classrooms, and a post-session reporting. Importantly, Pearl also provides participants and users with evidence and data so interventions can improve tutoring quality and sustainability. Finally, Pearl can provide all required reporting on usage and efficacy, freeing teachers and districts to teach instead of report.
"Pearl is the right service in the right place at the right time, helping schools and districts to use their new resources to move from wanting to provide tutoring to actually doing it in a professional and accountable way that meets all government requirements," said Eric Adler, Partner of Blu Venture Investors. "It's a strong solution to a real problem and we're glad to be Pearl's partner in this timely expansion."
In addition to offering tutor management services, Pearl's partners can also opt into analysis and reporting to inform student learning outcomes. For example, as part of the company's research and efficacy focus, Pearl has developed data-related product features in collaboration with the Annenberg Institute at Brown University and the National Student Support Accelerator (NSSA) to safely access and share data. These evidence-based tutoring practices guide major research into future learning models, showing not just how tutoring works but also when it works, for whom, and under what conditions.
"Our partnership with Pearl is and will be important in building best practices and best tools to maximize the educational outcomes of high dosage and 1:1 and small group instruction, especially for under-resourced or otherwise disadvantaged learners and providers," said Susanna Loeb, Director of the Annenberg Institute. "That would not be possible without the valuable information we are able to get from Pearl."
One virtual tutoring provider partnering with Pearl, OnYourMark, has seen its reach and effectiveness grow, not only internally but in delivering and measuring the impact of its services. With Pearl as their virtual tutoring platform, OnYourMark knew and was able to report that the average reading scores of its students increased from the 21st to the 47th percentile within just 18 weeks and that the number of its students reading at or above grade level tripled across the year.
"Pearl just makes us better at tutoring, at delivering the important reading skills and social emotional learning students really need right now," said Mindy Sjoblom, CEO of OnYourMark. "The Pearl team has been so collaborative, supportive, and open to understanding and acting on what types of data our growing organization needs to optimize results for the students we have the privilege of working with in schools across the country."
"Collecting empirical data about program effectiveness sits at the core of everything we do," said Failla. "With this new funding and key research partnerships, we are excited to do it even better and for more partners, ultimately delivering an improved tutoring experience and better learning outcomes for all students to thrive."
Richmond based, Pearl develops software for tutoring at scale. Our fully integrated classroom and administrative tools allow enterprise tutoring companies, academic organizations, districts and states to launch and scale hybrid tutoring programs with ease. Whether instruction occurs online or in person, Pearl's all-in-one tutor management system provides education decision makers with the tools needed to improve student learning outcomes. Additionally, in collaboration with the Annenberg Institute at Brown University and its National Student Support Accelerator, Pearl safely collects and protects the necessary data to prove efficacy to ensure all students thrive. To learn more about Pearl, start a free trial, or book a demo, visit: TutorwithPearl.com.
Media Contact:
Alyssa Miller
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973-615-1292
SOURCE Pearl
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