Pearl, a Richmond company behind an all-in-one tutor management platform, said Wednesday it is launching a new product that includes specialized resources from top universities and educational organizations.
The Pearl Tutoring Ecosystem, as the new product is called, combines the company’s operational and data platform for tutoring with resources from the likes of the Center for Research and Reform at Johns Hopkins University and the Stanford Graduate School of Education, as well as Austin, Texas-based teacher preparation nonprofit Deans for Impact. A total of 10 organizations have struck “strategic partnerships” with Pearl for its new ecosystem, the company said.
“Our tutoring partners trust us to help them design an all-encompassing evidence-based program and now they will have access to an ecosystem featuring many of the nation’s leading education organizations,” John Failla, Pearl’s founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Pearl says its new tutoring ecosystem includes assessment, curriculum, funding support, program design, third-party research and evaluation, as well as tutor management and training.
Formerly known as Trilogy Mentors, the 7-year-old company offers a proprietary software-as-a-service platform for educators to launch and scale branded, relationship-based online learning programs. The company has grown as the Covid-19 pandemic has rattled the education field, with many school districts bringing on tutors with the aim of mitigating learning loss and the impacts of the ongoing national teacher shortage. Earlier this year, it launched a Virginia high school tutoring program that utilizes tutors from four historically Black colleges and universities in the state.
Last year, Pearl closed a seed round of more than $4 million with new investments from Blu Venture Investors, Fidi Ventures and others. The company said it would use the new money for talent development, expansion and the creation of new data and reporting engines.
The complete list of ecosystem partners includes: Toronto’s JUMP Math; K12 Connect at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan; Princeton, New Jersey’s Mindprint Learning; Stanford, California’s National Student Support Accelerator; Pittsburgh’s PLUS - Personalized Learning Squared; Austin-based Proximity Learning; Madison, Mississippi-based RFP/Grant Support Specialist Ashley Parker Sheils; as well as the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, Proven Tutoring at CRRE Johns Hopkins University and Deans for Impact.
