Education doesn’t always work with a one-size-fits-all approach, which is why most schools have special education programs. But with schools shut down, children in special education programs aren’t always getting the resources they need.
As school curriculum moves online, special education must too. PresenceLearning is a company that provides online special education instruction to K-12 students, and it’s proving its worth while schools are closed.
On Tuesday, PresenceLearning announced that it raised $27 million in a Series D funding round led by Bain Capital Double Impact.
PresenceLearning has created an online teletherapy platform with a network of over 1,000 licensed clinicians. The company partners with schools to provide their students with resources like speech-language therapy, psychoeducational assessments, behavioral and mental-health services, occupational therapy and more.
Seven million students in the United States have individualized education plans (IEPs) and need some form of special education. But unless schools work harder to provide at-home and online special education, many of these students will be underserved. Since its founding in 2009, PresenceLearning has facilitated over 2.5 million teletherapy sessions. This new funding will allow the company to continue to expand its services in order to meet growing needs.
“We aim to ensure that every student in the public education system receives the special education services they are entitled to, and to create a new way to work for highly skilled school-based clinicians seeking the flexibility of remote work,” Kate Eberle Walker, CEO of PresenceLearning, said in a statement. “Our work has taken on new importance and expanded relevance this year, and this capital will support our continued growth and help us reach even more students and clinicians in special education programs.”
