Teach Starter
 | |
| Company type | Private Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Education |
| Founded | 12 August 2012 |
| Founders | Jill Snape and Scott Tonges |
| Headquarters | Brisbane , Australia |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Elizabeth McMillan (CEO) |
| Products | Teaching resources, classroom solutions, and educator apps |
| Website | www |
Teach Starter is an online educational resources company that offers a subscription service to access teaching materials for educators. The company was founded by Jill Snape and Scott Tonges in 2012[1] and has since expanded to provide unit and lesson plans, activities, games and curriculum aligned worksheets for kindergarten to Year 6.[2][3] It is currently headquartered in Brisbane, Australia,[4] with an office in Austin, Texas,[5] and operates internationally with a presence in the Australian, UK and US education markets.[6][3]
History[edit]
Teach Starter began with a poster Scott Tonges created for his wife, classroom teacher Jill Snape.[2] After receiving positive feedback from other teachers they launched an email newsletter,[7] and began creating additional resources, eventually launching a website with over 200 resources in January 2013.[8] In 2020, Teach Starter briefly offered its resources for free as part of a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, later citing the move of classrooms online as creating a growth spurt for the business.[5] In 2020, former Dictionary.com CEO Elizabeth McMillan[9] was appointed as the Teach Starter CEO.[10][6] As of 2022 the company had approximately 60 employees worldwide.[11]
On 23rd February 2023, Tes Global (publishers of the TES magazine), announced they had acquired Teach Starter to compliment their teaching resources platform.[12]
Products[edit]
Teach Starter offers a free and paid subscription plan that allows access to a range of downloadable teaching resources, lesson plans, games and other online resources. The website’s content is arranged using multiple categories such as grade level, subject or resource type.[13] It provides resources that are aligned to curriculums including the Australian National Curriculum, Common Core State Standards in America, TEKS in Texas, and the National Curriculum for England. [14] Specific curriculums for example the English Science Curriculum areas KS1, KS2 Lower and KS2 can be found via a curriculum search page.[15]
In 2020 Teach Starter was reported to have over 780,000 accounts worldwide, 140,000 pages of teaching resources, and 35,000 podcast subscribers.[5] It was also reported in the same year that 70 per cent of Australian Primary Schools and approximately 58 per cent of Australian primary school teachers used the platform.[6]
Awards and recognition[edit]
In 2020, Teach Starter founders Jill Snape and Scott Tonges were named in the Queensland Business Monthly Top 20 Under 40 list.[6]
Teach Starter was a finalist in the 2022 Women in Digital Awards in the category of Employer of the Year.[16]
Holon IQ has listed Teach Starter on its annual list of 50 most promising EdTech startups in Australia and New Zealand each year from 2020 to 2022.[17]
References[edit]
- ^ Australian Trade and Investment Commission (2019). Australian EdTech Mission to the US and ASU + GSV Summit.
- ^ a b Elliot, Ellen-Maree (May 11, 2020). "The Brisbane couple teaching students worldwide". Quest Newspapers. Retrieved December 9, 2020.(subscription required)
- ^ a b "About Teach Starter". Teach Starter. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
- ^ "Teach Starter | Australian EdTech Directory". Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ a b c McCarthy, John (2020-04-22). "Fast learners: Queensland technology company wins big from virus shutdown". InQueensland. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ a b c d Stigwood, Emmaline; Brannelly, Louise; Norris, Glen; Johnson, Hayden; Herde, Chris (2020-11-26). "Queensland Business Monthly's Top 20 under 40". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 2022-12-12.(subscription required)
- ^ "Embedding Purpose & B Corp - Teach Starter Case". Hatched. 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ Tonges, Scott (2017-08-07). "Teach Starter's Journey to Becoming a Purpose Driven Business". Creating Teach Starter. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ "Women in Business Q&A: Elizabeth McMillan, CEO, Dictionary.com". HuffPost. 2017-10-01. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ Co, Hunt & (2022-05-25). "Success Story: How Teach Starter's newly appointed Head of Product is helping to create more 'aha' moments in the classroom". Hunt & Co. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ "Teach Starter - E-learning - Overview, Competitors, and Employees". Apollo.io. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ "Tes acquires international primary teaching resource company | Tes". www.tes.com. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ^ Cherner, Todd (2017-09-12). "Teach Starter: Working to Make Every Classroom Buzz!". App Ed Review. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ "Are your resources aligned to the curriculum?". support.teachstarter.com. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ "Teach Starter: A Platform for Lesson Planning & Teachers". Zenva Schools. 2022-07-21. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ "2022 Women in Digital Awards Finalists". Women In Digital. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
- ^ "2021 Australia and New Zealand EdTech 50". www.holoniq.com. Retrieved 2022-12-09.