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To support map segmentation and analysis, TLA coded entities using a number of different tags and categories. These codes were intended to help us make sense of the data, clustering similar organizations and initiatives. While every effort was made to apply consistency and rigor, these codes are by their nature subjective. Given this, we wanted to provide their structure and definitions transparently.
Click on a link to hop to the coding dimension, or simply scroll down.
Market Segments and Organization Types
Market Segments and Organization Types
TLA sought to categorize entities by the role they play in the ecosystem supporting learning environments and experiences. Generally speaking, we believe there are four major segment, which are illustrated below. We further broke these four segments into more specific roles and subtypes (listed below). Each entity could be coded up to two segments and/or roles and subtypes.
Learning Supports:
Assessment Tool
Communications and Parent Engagement Tools
Core Materials, Curriculum, Courses
Learning Platform/LMS
Additional Student Supports and Wraparound Programming
Supplemental Materials, Units, and Experiences
Informers:
Advocacy
Media and Storytelling
Network Builder and Convener
Parent and/or Learner Wayfinding
Quality Assessment and Control
ThinkTank and Research
Condition Creators:
Demand Builders and Organizers
Funding Community
Local Funder
National Funder
Regional Funder
Policy Maker
Federal Policymaker
Local Policymaker
State Policymaker
Capacity Builders:
Learner-Centered (LC) System Redesign Technical Assistance
Consultant
Redesign Network
Process Technical Assistance
Change Management
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Process Management and Systems Improvement
Professional Learning and Development
Adult Learning Platforms and Tools
Adult Training Providers and Learning Networks
School/Learning Model Technical Assistance
Model Creators (Focused on Sharing)
Model and Experience Designers
Model and Experience Providers (Propagation of Existing)
Model and Experience Redesign Network
Systems Technical Assistance
Finance and Resource Allocation
Physical Environment
Credit Policies and Approaches (e.g. CBE/Grading)
Measurement and Evaluation
Talent Systems and Pathways
Technology and Data Infrastructure
Time and Scheduling
Community and Culture Technical Assistance
Community Engagement
Family Engagement Strategy and Tools
School Climate and Culture
Adult Wellbeing and Culture
Focal Points for Innovation and Change
Focal Points for Innovation and Change
Regardless of sector role, different entities focus on different levers to drive change. For example, some organizations are providing direct wraparound support to learning environments by providing college-student tutors; other organizations are working to increase tutoring in the classroom by redefining talent structures. In both cases, the lever they are focused on is the redefinition of adult roles to support learning. To explore these thematic focal points across different segments, we categorized entities into buckets based on the type of change and innovation they were driving:
Adult Roles and Development: Entities working to increase the "people power" available for learning, either through new staffing structures, pathways, and talent policies or through capacity building and skills development
Better Tools and Resources: Entities working to improve the instructional materials that support learning and decisions about learning, whether by improving those tools directly or increasing their interoperability and functionality
Mindsets and Vision Change: Entities working to change beliefs about the "how," "why," and "what," of learning, as well as the importance and relevance of learner-centered innovation
New Learning Models and Experiences: Entities working in partnership with educators and learners to create new ways to organize and operate learning environments, or increase access to experiences typically not available to learners
Research and Understanding: Entities building and communicating knowledge about learner-centered innovation and models
Systems Transformation: Entities redefining and improving the systemic conditions (structures, processes, supports) around new learning environments and experiences
Policy: Entities working to change the rules and statutes in which learner-centered innovations operate (e.g. laws, funding, governance, requirements, accountability)
Access Point for Learners
Access Point for Learners
We considered where and how learners might access the benefit of a specific entity. Based on mission and clientele/adopters, we used three categories:
Public: Benefit experienced primarily through public K-12 education environments, such as through a school or classroom or partnering organization offering services through a district
Private: Benefit experienced in environments outside of public K-12, such as at-home tutoring, private schools, microschools, pods, and/or non-affiliated extracurriculars
Public and Private: Accessed and or experienced through public and private channels and environments
Entity Type
Entity Type
Not all entities identified were standalone organizations. Other entities were tools owned by a larger organization. Given this, we coded three entity types:
Organization: Stable entity providing support and services in response to others in the sector, often through a portfolio of activities and functions (e.g. school redesign partner, advocacy organization)
Initiative: Multi-organization project or a purposeful subset of an organization's activities with a defined market presence (e.g. cross-organizational research project, network)
Tool: Specific technology or instructional material leveraged by learners, educators, or institutions for a defined purpose (e.g. learning management system, assessment tool)
Service Geography
Service Geography
Entities were classified by their geographical reach of services and programs. These categories included:
Local: Serving a bounded local market, such as a specific city or state
Regional: Working across a specific or multiple specific geographic markets (e.g. New England, or several distinct cities in multiple states)
National: Working across/in a large number states, without apparent mission or adoption restrictions
Global: Working across multiple countries
Stage
Stage
We attempted to classify entities based on their growth stage, maturity, or relative longevity in the market. We did so by looking at attributes such as founding date, recency of expansion, or funding stage (e.g. investment series, IPO, etc.)
Early/Startup: Applied to organizations founded in the last two to three years
Growth/Establishment: Organizations founded over four years ago with recent growth of team and/or new initiatives
Mature/Expansion: Established organizations that are large in size and/or exhibit significant ongoing and stable funding and programs (e.g. may be a small consulting organization with a long track record and stable team size, or a later stage technology company)
Estimated Organizational Size
Estimated Organizational Size
Organizations were put into different size categories based on the full-time employees listed on their websites. Where those data were not available or evident, the team turned to LinkedIn or Crunchbase. Teams were categorized by the following FTE ranges:
<10 FTE
10-20 FTE
20-50 FTE
50-100 FTE
100-500 FTE
500+ FTE
Mission and Operating Horizons
Mission and Operating Horizons
For the purposes of this analysis, we assume every entity on the map holds a vision for learning that centers students. However, we know that different organizations are operating with different theories of action and change towards those aims.
To help us explore this, each entity was assigned a mission and operating "horizon" (see Provocation #3 in the Pre-Reading Materials), as an entity's larger mission focus might be different from the horizon in which they actual deploy activities and services.
We coded the horizons as follows:
Current: Work that offers improvement or efficiency to optimize experiences within traditional operating and organizing structures
Innovation: Work offering new models, tools, and approaches that offer a modernized or redesigned learning experience within the current organizing frames, though orienting towards enabling future-oriented models
Future: Work requiring or enabling a shift to a new, dramatically different operating paradigm, often through offering a "pocket of the future in the present." This work is focused on wholesale sector transformation and disruption and cannot scale without significant sector change
.
Please note: These terms are used without judgment. Organizations improving learner experiences in the present are just as critical as those pushing towards a future horizon. (TLA characterizes itself as an "Innovation" horizon player.) Further, in considering the assets of the sector at large, there is considerable learning, technical expertise, and value worth conserving in current and innovation horizons.
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