Social & Emotional Learning

PowerSchool to Acquire SEL Provider Kickboard

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/12/21

Education technology company PowerSchool has announced it will acquire Kickboard, which produces K-12 education behavior management software, to help educators manage social emotional learning (SEL) and multi-tiered systems of support. PowerSchool offers a number of products, including a K-12 student information system, a learning management system and enterprise resource planning. However, this specific purchase fills a gap since the company lacks dedicated software in the SEL realm.

"This announcement represents PowerSchool's continued commitment to helping ensure students can get the support they need for future success as lifelong learners," wrote PowerSchool CEO Hardeep Gulati in a message to customers. "I couldn't be more excited about bringing Kickboard into the PowerSchool family. Addressing students' social emotional well-being and mental health is critical, not just for schools and districts, but for our families and communities. By adding Kickboard's solutions, we're taking an important step to providing real, comprehensive insights that give educators a complete view of the whole student."

Eventually, PowerSchool officials noted, integration of the two companies' technology will enable schools to:

• Centralize behavior management and reporting, including SEL, positive behavior intervention and support (PBIS), MTSS, overall student performance and professional development programs; and

• Gain visibility to the "whole child," combining SEL well-being and mental health data with student performance, academic outcomes, demographic data and attendance.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two companies said they expected the acquisition "to close soon."