School Yourself

Founded on March 16, 2012, School Yourself set out to reshape online education by mirroring the dynamics of one-on-one tutoring. The company was established by a team with deep roots in academia and technology, including Zach Wissner-Gross, John Lee, Kenny Peng, and Vivek Venkatachalam. Wissner-Gross, the CEO, brought a passion for teaching from his time as a PhD student in Physics at Harvard, where he received accolades for his teaching excellence. Co-founder John Lee, who served as CTO, had a background in artificial intelligence and data mining from his time as a Senior Software Engineer at Google. The founding team collectively held numerous degrees from MIT and Harvard.

School Yourself developed an educational platform focused on interactive and personalized math lessons. The core of its product was a library of over 250 interactive lessons covering subjects from algebra to calculus. Unlike traditional online learning that often relies on passive video watching, the platform's lessons were designed to be hands-on, allowing students to learn by doing. An adaptive learning algorithm would analyze a student's performance to offer personalized assessments and recommend areas for review or advancement, aiming to create an experience similar to having a personal tutor. The company primarily targeted the K-12 education market, serving self-learners, homeschooled students, and those in flipped classroom environments. Its content was offered for free, with a business model seemingly geared towards partnerships and platform integration.

After its founding, the company gained recognition and secured several grants to fuel its growth. A significant milestone occurred in December 2015 when School Yourself was acquired by Amplify, a K-12 education company. Following the acquisition, the School Yourself team joined Amplify to continue developing learning solutions, and their adaptive authoring program was set to be integrated into Amplify's curriculum products. The original interactive math lessons remain freely accessible on schoolyourself.org and through the edX platform, continuing to serve students globally.

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