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Institute of Education Sciences

550 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC, 20024, United States

Overview

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. We are independent and non-partisan. Our mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public. IES conducts six broad types of work that addresses school readiness and education from infancy through adulthood and includes special populations such as English Learners and students with disabilities.

Total investments
1
Lead investments
1
Investments · 12mo
0
Active investors
0

Sector focus

  • Education
  • Government
  • Non Profit
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Investment portfolio

  • Sokikom

    Led · Grant · Feb 2013

    Sokikom builds game-based math exercises and lessons for K–6 classrooms and homes, delivered online. The company is developing an online core math curriculum aligned to the Common Core State Standards using recent grant funding. It has been used by over one million students and teachers and claims users in more than 15,000 schools; paying school customers are reportedly renewing at 100%. Sokikom launched in 2008 and shifted from a freemium, direct-to-consumer model to selling directly to schools in order to generate sustainable revenue. The company has won multiple awards and uses efficacy research from past SBIR grants to support school contracts. Part of the current grant funding will also support teacher training and classroom integration to improve fidelity of use. Sokikom builds an adaptive, game‑based learning platform that teaches K‑12 math through a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game world divided into domains by math topic. The platform uses diagnostic assessments that adapt question difficulty and route students to targeted practice, with visual manipulatives, hints, and short animated instructional videos. Classes can play in real time on opposing teams, encouraging peer help and social motivation; teachers receive real‑time mastery reports on performance, time on task, and areas of struggle. Sokikom also offers a classroom management tool that awards “class cash” for positive behavior, which students can spend on virtual rewards and avatar customization in the game world. The product was tested in classrooms for about a year during beta and is now publicly launched. The team includes former math teachers and tutors and views math as the first subject with potential to expand into other areas such as computer science. Financially, the company announced a $2M seed package comprising both grant and angel funding.

Team

No current team members are available.