Speak Agent Named a Winner in the NewSchools Ignite ELL Challenge

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Nov. 16, 2016 - PRLog -- Speak Agent Named a Winner in the NewSchools Ignite ELL Challenge

Funding and technical support will fuel ideas for new ELL tools

(Rockville, MD, 11/16/16) – Speak Agent (http://www.speakagent.com/) is proud to announce it is a winner of the NewSchools Ignite (http://www.newschools.org/ignite/ell-challenge/) English Language Learning (ELL) Challenge, a funding competition created by NewSchools Venture Fund (http://www.newschools.org).  Speak Agent is one of 13 organizations awarded the grant and will join the other winners as part of an accelerator cohort with the goal of developing better tools for ELL students.  ELL students are one of the fastest growing student groups in American schools, currently representing 10 percent of all students.

Vijay Lakshman, co-founder and COO said, "We are honored to be recognized by NewSchools Venture Fund in the highly competitive Ignite Challenge. Speak Agent uses a combination of effective pedagogy merged with gaming to bridge the achievement gap of non-native English speakers, and the fabulous people at the NewSchools Ignite Challenge offers us a framework of recognized industry professionals to validate and support our efforts. It is the forum with enough gravitas to propel our product to the next level."

"I am excited to work with all the companies in the new ELL Challenge cohort," said Tonika Cheek Clayton.  "The need is tremendous.  Educators have told us there is a real scarcity of ELL products, and that's why we decided to do this challenge.  They are looking for sophisticated tools that meet the needs of ELL students across multiple grade levels and subject areas."

About Speak Agent

Speak Agent, Inc. is an education company dedicated to closing the academic achievement gap for English Language Learners (ELLs) in grades K-5 & beyond. Based in Rockville, MD, the company has received funding from the US Dept. of Education, DARPA, NSF, TEDCO and NewSchools Venture Funds. Its flagship product is Speak Agent, an online learning platform for ELLs. The company was born out of the CEO's frustration as a former teacher with the lack of tools available to help ELLs achieve academic success. Existing solutions fail to address the unique instruction and assessment needs of customers. Early customers include Johns Hopkins University, Montgomery County Maryland, and the Global Language Project. Learn more at www.speakagent.com

About NewSchools Ignite

NewSchools Ignite is a competitive opportunity for funding and support for early-stage products and teams that have shown potential for developing learning tools that enhance student learning.  NewSchools Ignite grant challenges to date have focused on science learning products, math learning products and this most recent one, which is for English language learning products. Learn more at www.newschools.org/ignite.