TenMarks Education Inc. was founded in 2009 to provide personalized online math programs for Algebra and Geometry taught by experienced professors and technical advisors. Formed by Andrew Joseph and Rohit Agarwal, the service used a structured, web-based approach which encompassed practice, hints, and video lessons for third grade to tenth-grade students.
TenMarks promised real-time results for students struggling with mathematics. The company’s approach was based on three main principles which included personalized learning, on-demand assistance, and the belief that practice makes perfect. Apart from their structured programs that covered one year of content, TenMarks also launched a program to help grade-3 high school teachers assign students practice tasks in school or at home.
In 2013 Amazon acquired TenMarks education.
After the acquisition of TenMarks in 2013, the edtech community was hopeful about Amazon’s foray into the educational industry. At the time, TenMarks had boasted a student user base of 7000 US school districts. The founder and co-founder of TenMarks joined Amazon Education and continued to release new products for edtech including an instructional writing tool for students.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Amazon to scale back on its educational efforts. In 2019, the TenMarks website displayed a message that informed users of its imminent shutdown. Teachers and students were informed that TenMarks would not be available after the 2018-2019 school year. This seemed like a major setback for the educational efforts of the e-commerce giant, which had been slowly making its way into the K-12 market.
Many teachers were surprised to see Amazon pivoting on their deal as the adoption of new software is no easy feat in the educational sector. Teachers were disappointed by the sudden decision and lack of reasoning provided by the company. An Amazon spokesperson only offered a vague statement claiming that after reviewing TenMarks, Amazon made the decision to close it and that all staff members would be relocated to positions within Amazon.
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