Rosetta Stone Acquires Lexia Learning for $22.5 Million

Rosetta Stone, the creator of the language learning system of the same name, has acquired educational technology company Lexia Learning Systems for $22.5 million in cash in an effort to move deeper into ed tech and expand its cloud offerings.

According to Rosetta Stone, the company plans to use Lexia's expertise in children's reading to "deepen its engagement with schools and take its digital literacy solutions to young learners in the consumer market, both in the United States and internationally."

Lexia Learning Systems publishes personalized learning systems to help students read, including the Web-based Lexia Reading, which provides reading activities, based on individual state standards and Common Core State Standards, customized for at-risk students in grades 4--12. Lexia Reading Core5 develops personal learning paths for preK--5 students. It is aligned with Common Core standards and adjusts activities based on skill levels. In addition, Lexia Learning Systems is the developer of Lexia Strategies for Older Students, which was designed for remedial students in grades 6 and up.

"Reading represents a natural adjacency to language learning, and Lexia enables us to expand into this important market with leading-edge products celebrated for their effectiveness by educators and parents. We see exciting synergies between the two companies globally. With Lexia now part of Rosetta Stone, we can address the market for learning English with a dynamic suite of solutions to help children learn," said Rosetta Stone president and CEO Steve Sward.

According to Rosetta Stone, Lexia's tools are used in more than 14,000 schools and by more than 1 million students online.

Rosetta Stone also purchased Livemocha, an online language-learning community, in April for $8.5 million.

For more information about Rosetta Stone, visit rosettastone.com. For additional information about Lexia Learning Systems, go to lexialearning.com.

About the Author

Tim Sohn is a 10-year veteran of the news business, having served in capacities from reporter to editor-in-chief of a variety of publications including Web sites, daily and weekly newspapers, consumer and trade magazines, and wire services. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @editortim.

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