More on digedu...

Guest post by Donald Davidson, a Chicago school parent.

Digedu is in at least six CPS public schools already (Lane Tech AC, LaSalle II, Hayt, Senn, Lincoln Park HS, Goethe) and also being used at Noble St charters. They provide not only their software, but also lease the hardware (tablets) and provide a fast, dedicated broadband connection that is only available to the classrooms using their software/hardware.

It looks like a common set up in that they pay a teacher to write a curriculum for them as part of a "fellowship" and then in exchange provide the teacher with software/tablets/broadband for their classroom. (e.g. http://mountainloopexpress.com/granite-falls-school-district-news/)  Internet access is so poor in much of CPS, and technology budgets have been so slashed that this is something that teachers are understandably willing to take advantage of.

It is unclear whether teachers retain any IP for lessons that they write themselves as they use digedu's software (whether for the fellowship or afterwards). In addition, digedu is collecting and saving all the data that students create as they use the software; it seems like they are using it for further commercial development purposes. It is questionable whether parents are being notified of this even though COPPA requires it.

Digedu's Manager of Policy and External Relations was working in the Mayor's Office of Public Engagement until this past September: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/seth-berliner/9/89a/94

Howard Tullman was just named the head of 1871, the tech incubator, a month and a half ago: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-11-24/business/ct-biz-1124-confidential-tullman-20131124_1_howard-tullman-chicago-ideas-week-boot-camp

Here's a little pro-disruption, anti-human-teacher's screed he penned during the strike last year: http://www.inc.com/howard-tullman/chicago-teachers-and-entrepreneurs.html

The Tullmans should be pretty set no matter who wins the governorship. Howard threw a fundraiser for Pat Quinn in October: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131010/BLOGS03/131019986/quinn-draws-techy-crowd-at-schmoozy-fundraiser

I'm pretty sure the "personalized" learning that Matthew Tullman got at his prep school in Colorado meant a low student-teacher ratio, not a low student-tablet ratio. (The current student-teacher ratio there is 7:1. http://www.kentdenver.org/Snapshot2013)

digedu rides the Common Core Express with Tullman's connections

Glenn Tullman and Rahm

When it comes to cashing in, there's nothing common about the Common Core.

digedu is a three-year-old company that's trying to ride the Common Core wave. The company uses tablets to "help schools customize courses" to students who often are at different academic levels. digedu is now used by 5,000 students in more than 40 schools in 12 states. About half the users are in Chicago, where the largest customer is Lane Tech Academic Center, a middle school on the North Side. Among digedu's biggest customers are charter schools like the misnamed Cesar Chavez Charter in D.C.

The company is run by Matthew Tullman, the 25-year-old nephew of  former Allscripts Inc. exec Glen Tullman who now runs tech venture fund 7wire and who in turn, has put more than $2.5 million into digedu. The company has 17 employees, a number Mr. Tullman plans to nearly double this year. He expects customers will grow slightly faster, fueled by the push toward “Common Core” education standards that he says will entice educators to consider new curriculum tools, such as digedu which claims to share more than 3,000 Common Core-aligned lessons

But how did this upstart company manage to pull down those Chicago contracts?

Well for one thing, rich Uncle Glenn is connected. He's a big-time contributor to the Democratic Party machine. As things go these days, that also makes him a patron of Republican candidate for governor, Bruce Rauner.

According to the Sun-Times:

Millionaire businessman Bruce Rauner, whose self-funding has meant his competitors are free to tap into unlimited money, was himself the beneficiary of a $250,000 contribution. It came from Glen Tullman, the former CEO of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, according to a newly filed campaign report.

But wait, it gets better:

 Tullman’s donation, however, flags a different potential Republican primary issue for Rauner, who already has been criticized for being too chummy with Democrats. Records show Tullman has contributed to Democrats — including Gov. Pat Quinn. Tullman is the brother of major Democratic donor and Democratic National Committee Trustee Howard Tullman, who has donated to former President Bill Clinton and who is friends with — and was briefly the landlord of — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Wow! These Tullman's get around, don't they? You bet, it's good for business.