SALT LAKE CITY, July 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WGU Labs, an affiliate of Western Governors University (WGU), today announced an investment in Outline It to help support the company's mission to close the equity gap in education through the power of writing. Outline It is an interactive writing platform that helps students gain strong foundational writing skills while helping teachers reduce grading time and teach interactively.
The engagement between WGU Labs and Outline It will include the design and execution of research evaluating the company’s features and their impact on student engagement, the student experience, and the educator experience. The collaboration will also include market development activities designed to support the company’s expansion in the K12 marketplace.
Sydney Montgomery, CEO and founder of Outline It, grew up in a lower income, immigrant, and military family. Before developing the supplemental tool, Montgomery observed low writing proficiency among Black and brown students while working for nearly a decade with teenage writers.
“Students of color, especially students of color who are neurodiverse and sit at the intersection of racial marginalization and learning differences, are often left behind when it comes to literacy and written communication,” said Montgomery. “Only 11% of Black 8th and 12th grade students are passing national proficiency standards in writing. Through Outline It, we hope to help students, especially those often overlooked, develop the critical writing skills they need to attain upward mobility.”
As part of the research efforts, Labs will also explore how using Outline It’s software affects the performance of students, particularly students with learning differences.
“Outline It has tremendous potential to address a perennial challenge in writing: providing timely and actionable feedback to students,” commented Brad Bernatek, managing director of the Accelerator at WGU Labs. “We are particularly excited about the platform's support for the prewriting process, where students often struggle with the blank page challenge.”
It represents the 24th partnership for the Accelerator at WGU Labs since its inception in 2019. To learn more about the Accelerator and its partners, visit https://wgulabs.org/accelerator/.
About WGU Labs
WGU Labs is the nonprofit EdTech consulting, incubation, research, and design arm of Western Governors University, where our mission is to identify and support scalable solutions that address the biggest challenges in education today.
The Accelerator at WGU Labs provides research, market development and product enhancement services to early-stage education businesses. Through these services, as well as financial investments, the Accelerator advances the scale and impact of education companies that share its mission to increase student access, lower student costs and improve student outcomes. Learn more at wgulabs.org or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Outline It
Outline It is an edtech software company that unlocks opportunities and overcomes challenges with the power of writing. Their interactive writing platform is designed to help students create strong foundational skills in writing and better organize their thoughts into a cohesive essay, while helping teachers reduce grading time and teach interactively. Learn more at myoutline.com, or follow them on Twitter and Linkedin.
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