An education assessment company founded by Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College has been purchased by a major producer of digital video-based learning products. Discovery Education, of Silver Spring, Md., announced the purchase of Nashville-based ThinkLink Learning on April 3.
“One of the things that characterizes Peabody is our commitment to moving the results of theoretical research into the field where it can be applied to benefit real learners,” said Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development. “ThinkLink has offered an excellent model for doing this.”
ThinkLink’s primary product is the Predictive Assessment Series, which predicts student performance on high-stakes tests administered by states. By monitoring and predicting proficiency, mastery and adequate yearly performance on the tests administered by their state, teachers can better target their classroom efforts. The results of the high-stakes tests are important to meeting mandates for improvement under the No Child Left Behind Act.
ThinkLink also distributes The Jasper Series, an interactive video program on CD-ROM that focuses on identifying and solving mathematics problems. The program was developed at Peabody over the course of 20 years and is aimed at students in fifth grade and above.
Former Vanderbilt Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt is ThinkLink’s chairman. As Chancellor from 1982-2000, Wyatt took a special interest in ways the university could help improve learning in K-12 schools. Jacqueline B. Shrago, ThinkLink chief executive officer, is a former Vanderbilt employee, and several of the company’s officers are Vanderbilt alumni. The university established ThinkThink as a private company in 2000.
Current Peabody faculty involved with ThinkLink on a collaborative basis include Dean Benbow and Stephen Elliott, Dunn Family Professor of Educational and Psychological Assessment. Benbow said she anticipates future collaborations with Discovery Education.
In announcing the acquisition, Discovery Education Executive Vice President Ron Reed said, “We’ve aligned ourselves with an assessment provider that shares our vision for developing products and services that help teachers provide students what they need to succeed.”
Discovery Education’s digital video service, unitedstreaming, is currently licensed to more than 70,000 schools across the United States.
Media contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu