Education Practice
Education is a global area of innovation and growth due to technology and the growth of the middle class in emerging markets, among other drivers. Expanding the access of high quality education related tools resonates strongly with our team, and led to the growth of the Education Practice as the single largest industry focus within the firm. Emerging Strategy works with For-Profit Education Companies, Non-Profit Organizations, and Education Institutions that deliver learning, products, technology, and services within the US and internationally to the K-12, Higher Education, and Workforce market segments. Our clients are senior executives who hold P&L responsibility, or provide strategy or research support to someone who does.
What Our Customers Say
“Look, I have no difficulty giving hard news to consulting firms. But you guys: the work you do, the scope of the work, timeliness, and the quality of delivery – I can’t say enough. If I had a colleague who asked for a firm, I would recommend you”
-- Vice President of Global Markets at a leading education publishing company
“Our On-Request Partnership with Emerging Strategy has exceeded all expectations. It is the single indispensable resource for our function"
-- Director of Competitive Intelligence at a global education assessments organization
“You have gone above and beyond in producing quality work. Historically we’ve played in more comfortable spaces – as we look at research to inform new product development and expansion opportunities, you are our go-to vendor.”
-- Senior Program Manager at a diversified education products and services company
Over the last 10+ years we have extensively
researched, analyzed and reported on a variety
of education market segments
Assessments
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English Language Assessments
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Formative Assessments and Adaptive Technology
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K-12 and Undergraduate Entrance Assessments
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Graduate and Professional Entrance Assessments
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High Stakes Summative Assessments
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Hiring Selection Tests
PreK and K-12
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PreK & K-12 Curriculum and Content
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Private School Operators
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Online K-12 Providers
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Enrichment Programs
Workforce Training and Continuing Professional Education
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Professional Training
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Professional Certifications
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Other Workforce Training
Higher Education
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Non-Profit Higher Education Institutions
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For-Profit Higher Education Institutions
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OPMs and Online Higher Education Providers
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Higher Education Curriculum and Content
Language Learning
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English Language Learning (ELL) Curriculum and Content
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Offline ELL
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Online ELL
Test-Prep
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K-12 and Undergraduate Entrance Test Prep
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Graduate and Professional Entrance and Certification Test Prep
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English Language Ability Test Prep
Technology Platforms
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Adaptive Learning
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Data Analytics
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Communication and Productivity Tools
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Gamification
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Human Resources Management (HRM)
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Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Hardware
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Personal Devices
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Classroom Technology
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Scientific and Laboratory Equipment
GLOBAL EDUCATION
INDUSTRY MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Case Studies
A K-12 formative assessment analytics platform provider in the United States faced declining market share in recent years in key markets to due the surprising gains of some successful new entrants. As a result they decided to revamp their product.
Emerging Strategy was engaged to map the competitive landscape for K-12 assessment-related data analytics platforms/tools, benchmark products, compare key product features, and generate insight on best-in-class product capabilities.
Analyzing the product feature sets found in leading platforms along with the pain points and feature gaps identified by competitor platforms' customers allowed us to provide deep insight into opportunities for our client to leapfrog the competition as they developed their new product. The analyses of strengths and weaknesses in the competition presented opportunities for our client to either emulate successful features or develop entirely new ones to address the critical gaps elicited from customers, leading to a more informed product development process and a successful product launch.
Case Study:
Competitive Landscape of K-12 Formative Assessment Analytics Platforms in the US
To build on international student enrollment growth at it's US campuses, our clients - the Provost and senior leadership of a major US university - were intrigued by the idea of satellite campuses located in other countries in order to offer additional program options to international students including hybrid degree programs and other models. The client had limited international experience and wanted to start with a broad look at ~20 countries that accounted for its traditional international student enrollment as well as other countries that the Board had prioritized. Based on a set of screening and evaluation criteria, the client wanted to narrow down to a shortlist of countries that would then be evaluated in greater detail.
Emerging Strategy designed a study with a Phase 1 structure that leveraged macroeconomic, demographic and educational indicators as a starting point, together with other unique indicators and data points based on our experience of program evaluation in international markets. In Phase 2 with a shortlist of 5 countries we conducted a PEST framework analysis relevant to higher education opportunities in each country for a foreign player, looking across online, blended, and classroom models as well as full-degree, hybrid, and other degree structure programs.
Our analysis focused the client on the most attractive opportunities and also raised a number of questions and choices that would need to be resolved at the board and senior leadership level before embarking on an international expansion.
Case Study:
Prioritizing Locations for a US University's International Expansion
A market leader in the development, administration, and scoring of a wide range of assessments for Workforce applications wanted to maintain its leading position and ensure continued growth by identifying sizable adjacent opportunities to its traditional markets, both globally (top-down view) and in specific countries. In particular, the client wanted to evaluate the growth potential in working with third-party recruitment and staffing agencies as a channel for its assessments.
Emerging Strategy identified the top 3-5 third-party recruitment companies by sector (e.g., hospitality, tourism, airlines, etc.) and then researched the number of roles each company filled annually that required various categories of workforce assessments (currently, as well as potentially in the future). We used this approach to determine the market size and growth for this channel. We also provided qualitative insights on the current methods used by third party recruiters to evaluate skills for hiring purposes, and mapped those with assessment opportunities and prioritized the most promising applications.
This detailed understanding of potential volume within the channel, by country, by workforce application, and by skill allowed the client to make informed new product development and marketing and sales decisions and reduce their risk and increase their potential for expanding into these adjacent opportunities.