Harcourt buys classroom connect. (technology update).

Harcourt Education, the nation's third-largest educational publisher behind Pearson Education and McGraw-Hill, recently bought the online curriculum and professional development provider Classroom Connect in a bid to strengthen its technology component. Neither party would disclose the purchase price.

Classroom Connect's products are in about 40,000 schools in the U.S., and according to Tony Lucki, CEO of Harcourt Education, it is that kind of reach that appealed to him. "Classroom Connect brings our group the strength of a leadership position in the discipline of technology enabled learning, an area that we believe will be increasingly important in the future of the education sector."

More importantly, the move instantly makes Harcourt a force to be reckoned with in the online professional development arena, an area in which Harcourt was not a factor prior to the acquisition. Even though the dot-com market has fallen off tremendously in the past year, established companies like Classroom Connect have been able to weather the storm by offering schools standards-based curriculum and professional development products.

And, competition is heating up in the professional development sector. Pearson Education recently hired a strategic partnerships executive who will be looking at beefing up the company's professional development offering throughout Pearson Education (see story on page 8).

Judith Hamilton, president and CEO of Classroom Connect, said that it was the specter of that competition that, in part, led the 180-employee company to consider being acquired. She told DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION that the sale will not result in any staffing changes within Classroom Connect.

"We looked at our position in the technology-based professional development industry--we feel we're the no. one company in the market--and we saw that some of the big educational players were also starting to address this area" Hamilton says. "So, we thought we were probably the most valuable right now than we've ever been, and we sought out companies that might be interested in acquiring us."

Hamilton did not disclose the names of the other companies she spoke to, but McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin, WRC Media and others were likely on the list. "Harcourt was the most serious. They seemed to understand that while textbooks are still the dominant media in schools, and would likely remain so for some time, the Internet is playing a more important role in schools."

With Harcourt's--and parent company Reed Elsevier's--deep fiscal pockets, Classroom Connect is undoubtedly stronger, but Hamilton says she expects the new owners will not make radical changes to Classroom Connect's core. She added that it was too early to tell if or when Harcourt's curriculum content will start appearing on Classroom Connect's Web site.

"We have an advantage in the marketplace by being small enough to be able to adapt quickly to change," Hamilton says.

www.classroom.com