As all language learners know, growth multiplies exponentially by acquiring a new language, so it’s hardly surprising that Imagine Learning is widening its product portfolio with the acquisition of Maine-based World Languages publisher, Wayside.
Imagine Learning, originally founded in 2004 in Utah as a digital language and literacy software provider, has grown into a massive K-12 curriculum giant serving half of US school districts, but is still focused on literacy and language.
Imagine’s vice chair and chief strategy officer, Sari Factor, and Meghann Gorden, Wayside’s CEO, explained the rationale behind the acquisition in a conversation with Language Magazine: “We really believe that these [literacy and language] are the skills that kids are going to need as they move out into the world in a world that is more AI-infused than ever,” said Sari. “They’ll need communication skills and language proficiency. How they express themselves, whether it’s in English or another language, and the cultural understanding of how to work with people is going to become even more important. So that’s the impetus.”
Meghann described Wayside’s motivation, “The ability for us to scale our business and reach more teachers and students with our products is what really drove us to desire to be acquired. We want to be able to reach as many students and teachers as we can, so that’s the primary impetus. We’re really excited to give our products more reach with this opportunity.”
Encouragingly, Sari went on to say that she believes demand for world language learning is and will continue to be strong, “There are some who say, ‘why are we even teaching world languages in high school anymore?’ In the age of AI, you can translate immediately. That is not why we teach a world language. It is both for the cultural knowledge and the communication skills that we want learners to have exposure to other languages. People are wanting to learn languages, and it is one of the best things you can do for your brain.”
On a practical level, Imagine and Wayside share a commitment to ongoing customer support, “When we’re selling a product, we are partnering with a school district to ensure that the product is implemented well, and that teachers are well equipped to teach with the materials. It’s a partnership for years after we sell a product,” stressed Sari.
“We do the same. This is what we always did before we joined Imagine Learning—we work very closely with the school for the entire life cycle of their subscription. If they purchase for 6 years, we’re in that district every year, doing a training, working with the teachers, staying in constant contact and providing additional resources and support all along the way, so we’re there for them at all touchpoints,” agreed Meghann.
There will also be opportunities to develop materials for other languages as demand develops, according to Sari, “This whole school choice movement has created a resurgence of classical schools, which I think gives us a real opportunity with Latin that might have kind of gone by the wayside in public schools, and now is coming back through classical schools. Those schools are still pretty small in scope, so we have an inside sales team that really focuses on special markets and can get into them where Wayside couldn’t have done so before. I do expect a resurgence in Latin.”
“We think we can really empower the Wayside group to grow within the Imagine Learning organization,” she continued. “Wayside has been under-marketed, frankly, because they just haven’t had the team to do it. We’ve got a large sales organization that can and we’re already in 50% of the districts across the country. We can bring those districts more and provide more value to our own customers.”
