TenMarks Education, the education technology company acquired by Amazon last year, is expanding beyond its flagship TenMarks Math interactive math application for students — announcing a new program designed to help teachers prepare for lessons and teach math under new educational standards.
“The focus in the past has always been solely on the student, helping a teacher make sure that every student in the classroom gets what they’re teaching,” said Rohit Agarwal, CEO of TenMarks Education, in an interview with GeekWire. “Now we’re adding an offering for the teacher to use, so they can prepare for the instruction in the classroom beforehand.”
TenMarks Math Teach, to be released on Nov. 20, will offer a projection mode to be used by teachers during lessons, in addition to tools for preparing in advance. It focuses on grades 2 to 6, with a free version available to teachers for 12 core math standards. Districts will be able to upgrade to a premium subscription, with a much larger amount of content, for a yearly rate of $399 per teacher.
With many of the new standards, teachers are not sure how the standards are written, what they mean, and how to teach them correctly, Agarwal said. The lessons for teachers take advantage of TenMarks’ insights into the areas where students are likely to have the most trouble, based on the data gleaned from the existing TenMarks Math application for students.
TenMarks competes against a variety of free and paid educational tools for students and teachers. The company was acquired by Amazon last year for an undisclosed sum. It’s operating as a wholly owned subsidiary, based in Burlingame, Calif.
Agarwal said the acquisition has boosted TenMarks’ growth with additional resources and the benefit of the well-known Amazon brand.
“Amazon takes a very long-term view of any market or any effort, and with TenMarks, especially with K-12 education, we have the luxury now of taking a very, very long-term view of how we solve problems for customers,” he said.
TenMarks Math and TenMarks Math Teach work across different browsers and devices, and Agarwal said there was no pressure from Amazon to release the new product exclusively for Kindle devices. TenMarks declined to disclose its specific customer or employee count, but says tens of thousands of schools are using its existing math application for students.
