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ATT Selects Up and Coming Ed Tech Organizations for Aspire Accelerator Program

AT&T has selected the participants for its second annual Aspire Accelerator class, which provides funding, training and mentorship for organizations that develop technology designed to foster student success, strengthen schools and communities, or prepare learners for employment.

The program is open to nonprofit and for-profit organizations of any size or age, as long as they are "working on a product or service that uses technology to support students' educational and/or career success" and have "a minimum viable product and some proof of product-market fit," according to information on AT&T's site. Organizations selected for the program receive an investment of $100,000, plus $25,000 to cover program expenses, personalized mentorship and access to experts in education and technology from AT&T and other organizations.

Organizations selected to participate in the 2016 Aspire Accelerator class include:

  • Bitsbox in Boulder, CO, which offers a monthly subscription service to computer programming projects that teach elementary school children how to code apps;
  • Cogent Education in Athens, GA, which has developed interactive case study software designed to help students learn difficult biological science concepts using an inquiry-based problem solving approach;
  • CommonLit in Washington, DC, which offers a free digital platform with a collection of fiction and nonfiction for classrooms, along with lesson plans and student progress tracking;
  • Couragion in Boulder, CO, which offers an iPad app designed to expose students to STEM careers using videos, games and self-reflection quizzes;
  • TalkingPoints in San Francisco, CA, which has developed a multilingual texting platform to connect teachers, families and students through mobile technology; and
  • The Graide Network in Chicago, IL, which is an online platform connecting teachers with on-demand teaching assistants to grade and provide thorough feedback on student work.

Organizations that participated in last year's inaugural Aspire Accelerator include eduCanon (now PlayPosit), GradGuru, LearnTrials, MindBlown Labs and Quill.

Further information about the AT&T Aspire Accelerator program can be found on AT&T's site.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

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