AND THE AWARD GOES TO… On June 16, Teach for America announced the winners of its 2015 Social Innovation Awards, which provide up to $100,000 in seed funding. Unlike previous years, edtech companies made a big appearance: CommonLit, which provides texts to literacy teachers, and Kinvolved, a communication tool for students’ support networks, won in the Overall Track category, receiving $50,000 and $75,000 respectively. Rooted School, a network of charter schools in New Orleans, won in the Pre-Pilot track, taking home $25,000.
"Teach For America's alumni have been doing great work in education technology for several years, for example Jen Medbery at Kickboard, Dan Carroll at Clever, and Jess Gartner at Allovue," Carminia Muñoz, Director of Social Innovation at TFA, wrote to EdSurge. "We are excited to see what our budding entrepreneurs have in store for the future of edtech."