Education City

Not to be confused with the very real Education City being created in Qatar, Education City is a Web site operated by EdMentum with more than 2,000 activities and interactive lessons aimed at grades preK through 6.

Designed as supplemental curriculum, the site can be used with whole class (on an interactive white board) or individually, including printable worksheets for practice or site access from home included with certain licenses. Teachers (or parents) can search for resources or activities by state or Common Core standard in language arts, math, science or English language learning. For enrichment, students can also use the PlayLive option to compete with similar students across the country on solving math problems (and can’t communicate with those students surreptitiously, so it’s a safe option for online gaming).

Like any site worth its salt, Education City also allows teachers to see student and class progress (through its Success Tracker). While the animation isn’t exactly Pixar-quality, it seems to appeal to the younger children it targets – and reviews by homeschoolers and teachers online say Education City “seems to have found the right balance between entertainment and learning experience” – which is what matters in the end.

Originally created in 1999 in the United Kingdom, Education City launched in 2002 with 100 activities; by 2010, when the company was acquired by competitor Archipelago Learning, Education City had expanded to a global team of 100 people with 13,000 school customers. Today, EdMentum says the site is in use in more than 15,000 schools, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. The product is targeted at schools or other learning organizations (such as virtual schools or after-school programs) rather than at individual teachers or parents, with prices ranging from $150 for 6th grade subjects to $469 for earlier grades.