Renaissance, a global leader in pre-K–12 educational technology, recently announced the acquisition of Early Learning Labs which offers progress monitoring, assessments, and reporting tools to track early literacy, early numeracy, early social-emotional learning, and more through its myIGDIs platform. Early Learning Labs was founded by senior advisor Scott McConnell, PhD, who is also a professor of educational psychology and one of the founding directors of IGDILab in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Minnesota.
Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) assessments are the product of more than twenty years of federally funded research at the University of Minnesota, a nationwide leader in early childhood research. Empirical evaluations have shown IGDIs to be valid, reliable predictors of language, early literacy, and school readiness for later academic success.
Today myIGDIs are among the most-used assessments for three- and four-year-olds, trusted by more than 12,500 schools across the country to monitor and support the growth of over 300,000 students.
“This is a very positive development for our efforts to disseminate IGDIs,” McConnell said. “Renaissance is recognized for its work in K-12 assessment and intervention, has customers across the country and the world, and has a deep and rich team of experts to integrate, and work with us to continue building out, PreK assessment resources. We are excited by the opportunities this acquisition represents right away, and about the opportunities it continues to provide for development and dissemination in the future.”
Early Learning Labs is the fifth University of Minnesota startup to be acquired or go public in the past two years, an indication that the ideas and technologies of University of Minnesota faculty are increasingly valued in the marketplace.
