Chicago Growth Partners Invests in Teaching Strategies Via Recap

Chicago Growth Partners said Tuesday that it has recapped Teaching Strategies. Financial terms were not announced. Bethesda, Md.-based Teaching Strategies provides early childhood educational resources, including curriculum and web-based assessment products.

PRESS RELEASE

Chicago Growth Partners is excited to announce its fourth education platform investment in four years – the recapitalization of Teaching Strategies, Inc. Teaching Strategies is the leading provider of early childhood educational resources, including curriculum and web-based assessment products. The Company offers the industry’s widest selection of research-based, developmentally appropriate instruction and assessment products to the growing early childhood market. Teaching Strategies serves over 20,000 early childhood educators globally.

“Chicago Growth Partners is thrilled to continue our commitment to education through a partnership with the Teaching Strategies management team. Our investment will support the continued growth of this market leading, mission driven company,” said Ron Davies, Partner of CGP.

Founded over 24 year ago, Teaching Strategies’ curriculum, assessment, professional development, and family connection resources are used widely in Head Start, U.S. Military, child care, and state Pre-K classrooms throughout the world. “We are pleased to partner with Chicago Growth Partners as we continue to expand the support we provide to early childhood professionals and families who open doors for children and their success in life,” said Teaching Strategies Founder and President Diane Trister Dodge. “CGP’s team brings an in-depth, action-oriented approach to the education field, rooted in experience owning a number of education businesses such as eInstruction, Excelligence, School Messenger and Specialized Education Services.”

Rob Healy, Managing Partner of CGP commented, “Teaching Strategies’ business model has all the elements of CGP’s past successful education investments – multiple growth channels, strong customer retention, recurring revenue and a proven impact on student outcomes.”

Teaching Strategies’ mission is clear: to provide the most effective early education resources. “We are deeply committed to ensuring that all children, especially those at risk of school failure, are prepared to succeed in school and in life,” said Dodge. “Along with our educator partners, we strive to teach young children to be creative, confident thinkers. Blending best practices with the investigative process, our approach gives children a strong foundation in social-emotional development, language and literacy skills, and mathematical and scientific thinking.”

Teaching Strategies’ preschool curriculum, The Creative Curriculum® System for Preschool, provides the knowledge base and daily practice resources to create an environment where children come to see themselves as capable learners – as individuals who are developing the skills and understandings that will enable them to make sense of the world and to succeed in it.

Teaching Strategies has become a leader in early childhood assessment through Teaching Strategies GOLD®, an observation-based, valid and reliable subscription-based assessment system that allows teachers to determine what each child knows and can do and to use this information to inform instruction. The system, offered online and in print, is grounded in 38 research-based objectives for development and learning that are predictors of school success and aligned with the Common Core State Standards, state early learning standards, and the Head Start Child Development & Early Learning Framework.

The CGP deal team included Rob Healy, Ron Davies, Jeff Farrero and Heather O’Shea.

About Chicago Growth Partners

For over 25 years and across more than 100 growth companies, the principals of Chicago Growth Partners have partnered with quality management teams to help facilitate their growth objectives. CGP executes its growth-focused investment strategy across four industries: Education, Tech-Enabled Services, Healthcare and Industrial Growth, where our expertise in information technology, marketing, and finance can often be helpful to our management teams. CGP currently manages $1.2 billion of committed capital and has offices in Chicago and La Jolla. For more information on Chicago Growth Partners, please visit www.cgp.com.