Illuminate Education
Illuminate Education provides K-12 assessment and MTSS management software to school districts across all 50 US states, serving 17 million students in 5,200 schools through products including FastBridge, DnA, eduCLIMBER, and SchoolCity, and operating under Renaissance Learning.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersIrvine, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Illuminate Education does
Illuminate Education provides K-12 assessment and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) management software to public and charter school districts across all 50 US states, serving approximately 17 million students in 5,200 schools and districts. The platform integrates several core products: FastBridge (research-based universal screening and progress monitoring for reading, math, and social-emotional behavior, including the proprietary FAST Projection Line that delivers growth predictions in 6 data points), DnA (standards-based assessment creation and administration with instant scoring and formative feedback), eduCLIMBER (MTSS collaboration and whole-child data visualization), SchoolCity (assessment and data platform), Illuminate Content/Inspect, and CaseNEX (professional development). The platform ingests student data from dozens of SIS systems via APIs and supports SSO (SAML, LDAP, OAuth2), LTI 1.0/1.1, OneRoster, and Ed-Fi 2.5+ interoperability standards.
The company generates revenue primarily through district-level annual SaaS subscriptions negotiated on the basis of student enrollment, number of schools, and product selection. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; procurement is facilitated through direct enterprise sales, regional buying consortiums (Texas TIPS/ESC, California EdTech JPA, Michigan REMC SAVE, Arizona S.A.V.E.), and reseller partnerships. State-level approvals as universal screeners in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arizona provide additional demand-pull channels.
Illuminate was formed in 2018 through the consolidation of five leading K-12 education technology companies, followed by a 2019 merger with FastBridge Learning. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California (530 Technology Drive, Suite 100), employs 101-250 people, and is led by CEO Christine Willig. According to source data, Illuminate operates under Renaissance Learning following a 2021 acquisition, though structured ownership commentary in the input suggests no parent ownership is disclosed. The company has faced significant regulatory actions following a December 2021 cyberattack that exposed personal data of approximately 10.1 million current and former students, resulting in FTC enforcement orders and state-level settlements totaling millions of dollars.
Illuminate Education firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Illuminate Education
- Legal name
- Illuminate Education, inc.
- Website
- https://illuminateed.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Illuminate Education provides K-12 assessment and MTSS management software to school districts across all 50 US states, serving 17 million students in 5,200 schools through products including FastBridge, DnA, eduCLIMBER, and SchoolCity, and operating under Renaissance Learning.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Illuminate Education industry classification
Industry- Product category
- K-12 Education Technology / Student Assessment Platform
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Survey, Formative Assessment & Classroom Response (Quizzes/Polls) Tools (EDAFADAN)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Classroom Assessment & Grading (Formative/Summative) (EDAJAFAC), Assessment, Testing & Analytics Platforms (Formative/Summative) (EDAJAMAC), Portfolio, Performance & Rubric-Based Assessment Platforms (EDAFADAL), Standards Alignment & Curriculum Mapping (State/National) (EDAJAFAD)
Keywords
Where Illuminate Education is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Irvine
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Illuminate Education business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- SaaS Platform Subscription (K-12 Assessment & MTSS): Illuminate Education generates revenue through annual subscription licensing of its K-12 assessment and MTSS management platforms to school districts and schools. Customers access products including FastBridge, DnA, eduCLIMBER, SchoolCity, and Illuminate Content through district-level subscriptions. Pricing is tied to district/student scale, with regional consortium purchasing agreements available. Revenue is recurring (annual subscriptions) with typical multi-year contract relationships with district customers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | District-level annual subscription — pricing not publicly disclosed |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels10 records
Illuminate Education product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Illuminate Education provides a K-12 student performance platform that combines comprehensive assessment administration with MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) management and data visualization tools for school districts. The integrated platform includes FastBridge (research-based universal screening and progress monitoring for academics and social-emotional behavior), DnA (standards-based assessment creation and administration), eduCLIMBER (MTSS collaboration and whole-child data visualization), SchoolCity (assessment platform), and Illuminate Content (standards-based assessment content), serving 17 million students across 5,200 schools and districts in all 50 U.S. states through annual district-level subscriptions.
Product overview
Illuminate Education offers a comprehensive education technology platform combining multiple integrated products for K-12 assessment and student performance management. The core portfolio includes FastBridge (research-based universal screening and progress monitoring for academics and SEB with computer adaptive tests and curriculum-based measures), DnA (standards-based assessment creation and administration with instant scoring and formative feedback), eduCLIMBER (MTSS collaboration and management with whole-child data visualizations), SchoolCity (assessment platform with universal screening and progress monitoring), and Illuminate Content/Inspect (standards-based assessment content). The platform serves over 17 million students across 5,200 schools and districts, emphasizing interoperability through Ed-Fi standards, LTI certification, and extensive API integrations with student information systems, learning management systems, and assessment tools.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- FastBridge: Research-based K-12 universal screening and progress monitoring assessments for academics and social-emotional behavior (SEB) with intervention recommendations.
- DnA
- eduCLIMBER
- Illuminate Content
- SchoolCity
- CaseNEX
Products and services
- FastBridge Comprehensive K-12 assessment solution providing research-based universal screening and progress monitoring for academics (reading, math) and social-emotional behavior (SEB) with built-in intervention recommendations. Includes computer adaptive tests (aReading, aMath), curriculum-based measures (CBMreading, earlyReading), and SEB assessments (SAEBRS) for K-12 school districts.
- DnA (Data and Assessment) Standards-based assessment creation and administration platform with instant scoring, formative feedback, interactive reporting, and targeted activities. Provides a publicly available API for clients and other EdTech vendors to retrieve student assessment results.
- eduCLIMBER MTSS collaboration and management platform providing whole-child data visualizations and built-in tools for essential MTSS practices, including student need identification and intervention effectiveness tracking for K-12 educators.
- SchoolCity Assessment platform enabling universal screening, curriculum-based measures, computer adaptive tests, reports, progress monitoring, reading and math assessments, and social-emotional behavior assessment for K-12 districts and schools.
- Illuminate Content (Inspect) Standards and skills-based content and assessments providing a complete set of tools to understand each student's academic and social-emotional behavior learning and needs.
- CaseNEX Professional development course offerings for educators including online and asynchronous courses to enhance skills, maintain certifications, and earn university credits.
Quantifiable outcome
- Math achievement losses of 3-4 months in grades 5-8 identified through FastBridge fall 2020 screening data
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Illuminate Education
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Illuminate Education technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration42 records
Feature9 records
Illuminate Education partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
34 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- 1EdTech ConsortiumcoreIlluminate is a Contributing Member to 1EdTech and officially LTI 1.0, LTI 1.1, and LTI Outcomes Service Certified. The company utilizes 1EdTech Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) technology for assessment item types and One Roster export solution for seamless student roster and grade data exchange with SIS systems. Illuminate is exploring CASE standard interoperability in partnership with 1EdTech.
- Apex LearningcorePartnership announced November 17, 2020 enables educators to connect Illuminate assessment results with Apex Learning digital curriculum (Math and ELA), correlating learning gap assessments to digital curriculum for individualized learning pathways. Particularly relevant for addressing COVID-19 learning gaps for grades 6-12.
- ASCDcorePartnership announced December 9, 2020 expanded Illuminate's CaseNEX professional development course offerings with ASCD resources, including the ASCD Activate Professional Learning Library. ASCD is a renowned educational leadership association with 113,573 members across 129 countries. Courses accessible to educators starting in 2021.
- TurnitinminorPartnership announced December 2, 2020 provides teachers with knowledge and resources to help discourage cheating and promote quality formative assessment creation and delivery in a distance learning environment.
- Google for EducationcoreIlluminate is a Google for Education Premier Partner, committed to integrating Illuminate products into the Google ecosystem including full support for Google Cloud, Google Classroom, and G Suite. Illuminate works alongside Google's team to provide solutions for Educators, Students, and Parents.
- Ed-Fi AlliancecoreIlluminate partnered with the Dell Foundation to develop the ability for standard assessment data originating within DnA to be made available to providers utilizing the Ed-Fi 2.5 and higher standards. Illuminate also utilizes Ed-Fi standards to incorporate SIS data from Ed-Fi certified systems such as the Michigan Data Hubs.
- Canvas (Instructure)coreUsers of Instructure's LMS, Canvas, can utilize Illuminate's DnA and SchoolCity online assessments and receive student scores in Canvas gradebook using the LTI standard and Canvas API for DnA. Automatic single sign-on (SSO) is supported, and the eSD automated file export consumes staff, student, and roster data along with assignment and score data.
- Schoology (PowerSchool)coreUsers of Schoology LMS can utilize Illuminate's DnA and SchoolCity online assessments and receive student scores in Schoology gradebook using the LTI standard. Automatic SSO to DnA and SchoolCity for staff and students is supported. The eSD OneRoster API consumes staff, student, and roster data along with assignment and score data.
- BlackboardcoreUsers of Blackboard LMS can utilize Illuminate's DnA API to populate data within the application. The eSD API is utilized in Blackboard to consume staff, student, roster, and other data. Using the LTI standard, users can launch DnA or SchoolCity online assessments and receive student scores in the Blackboard gradebook.
- Brightspace (D2L)coreUsers of Brightspace D2L LMS can utilize Illuminate's DnA and SchoolCity online assessments and receive student scores in Brightspace gradebook using the LTI standard. Automatic SSO to DnA and SchoolCity for staff and students is supported.
- MoodlecoreUsers of Moodle LMS can utilize Illuminate's DnA and SchoolCity online assessments and receive student scores in Moodle gradebook using the LTI standard. Automatic SSO to DnA and SchoolCity for staff and students is supported.
- PowerSchoolcoreDistricts control and manage a process to transfer data from PowerSchool to Illuminate. Illuminate also has a process to ingest PowerSchool content (assessments or items) and to send/receive roster data.
- SkywardcoreUsers of Skyward can control and manage data transfer to Illuminate. Users can push assessment grades into the Skyward gradebook. Users can launch DnA online assessments and receive student scores in the Skyward gradebook. SSO between Skyward SMS, DnA, SchoolCity, and FastBridge is also supported.
- Infinite CampuscoreUsers of Infinite Campus LMS can launch Illuminate's DnA online assessments within Campus and receive student scores in Infinite Campus's gradebook using the LTI standard. For SchoolCity users, Push to Points-Based Gradebook via Infinite Campus API and OneRoster API are supported.
- Aeries (Pacific Data Images)coreUsers of Aeries SIS can utilize Illuminate's DnA API to populate data within its application. API is utilized to consume staff, student, roster, and other data. Users can launch DnA online assessments and receive student scores in the Aeries gradebook. SSO to Illuminate for staff and students is also supported.
- Synergy (Edupoint)coreDistricts control and manage a process to transfer data from Synergy to Illuminate. Users can push assessment grades directly to the Synergy gradebook using Synergy API.
- ClevercoreUsers of Clever can utilize SSO to SchoolCity and FastBridge for a seamless experience. Clever roster data can be sent/received. Clever also utilizes Illuminate's API to populate data in its application.
- ClassLinkcoreUsers of ClassLink can utilize SSO to DnA, SchoolCity, IDE, and ISE for staff and students. Additionally, ClassLink Roster is available for SchoolCity.
- Rapid IdentitycoreUsers of Rapid Identity can utilize SSO to DnA, SchoolCity, IDE, and ISE for staff and students. Additionally, Rapid Identity Roster is available for SchoolCity.
- NWEAcoreIlluminate provides a means to automatically import NWEA MAP results directly into Illuminate DnA, enabling educators to view MAP data alongside Illuminate assessment data.
- Renaissance LearningcoreRenaissance Learning utilizes Illuminate's API to populate data in its application. In addition, Illuminate users can import Renaissance Learning assessments. (Note: Renaissance Learning acquired Illuminate Education in 2021, creating a parent-subsidiary relationship with deep product integration.)
- Move This WorldminorMove This World works in partnership with Illuminate Education to help educators provide explicit instruction and regular practice of social emotional skills in response to the data they gather in the classroom. The multimedia curriculum supports and strengthens students through instruction aligned with CASEL's five core competencies.
- Choose LoveminorChoose Love and Illuminate Education's partnership provides schools with a holistic and comprehensive social-emotional solution. The SAEBRS assessment (part of FastBridge) enables schools to easily identify students that need additional social-emotional support, while Choose Love character education program teaches students, educators, and staff how to choose love in any circumstance.
- EmpowerUminorEmpowerU and Illuminate Education's partnership provides schools with a holistic and comprehensive social-emotional solution. The SAEBRS (part of FastBridge K-12 assessment) enables schools to identify students needing social-emotional support, and EmpowerU delivers vital support with an evidence-based, proven solution.
- SWIFT Education CenterminorIlluminate joined forces with the SWIFT Education Center — the nation's leader in equity-based MTSS — to build system-wide capacity at all levels to promote academic and behavior supports and improve outcomes for all students. Paired with Illuminate's data and workflow tools, SWIFT's technical assistance and professional development provides a transformative approach to sustainable MTSS implementation.
- Kelvin EducationminorKelvin Education's Pulse surveys (providing regular check-ins with students, faculty/staff, and parents) can be uploaded into Illuminate's eduCLIMBER, enabling staff to analyze responses over time against key performance indicators and district strategic plans.
- University of Virginia (PALS)minorThrough a partnership with the University of Virginia, Illuminate offers PALS (PALS-PreK, PALS-K, PALS Plus, PALS español K/1-3) — six literacy assessments covering preschool through grade 8 — to school districts.
- Region 1 ESC Buying Consortium (TX)coreRegion One Buying Consortium member schools and districts in Texas can purchase Illuminate products without going through an RFP by using this consortium contract.
- Region 10 ESC Buying Consortium (TX)coreRegion 10 'EdTech' Buying Consortium member schools and districts in Texas can purchase Illuminate products without going through an RFP.
- Region 7 ESC Buying Consortium (TX)coreRegion 7 Buying Consortium member schools and districts in Texas can purchase Illuminate products without going through an RFP.
- Region 8 ESC/TIPS Buying Consortium (TX)coreRegion 8/TIPS Buying Consortium member schools and districts in Texas can purchase Illuminate products without going through an RFP.
- EdTech JPA (CA)coreEdTech JPA member schools and districts in California can purchase Illuminate products without going through an RFP by using this consortium contract.
- REMC SAVE (MI)coreREMC SAVE member schools and districts in Michigan can purchase Illuminate products without going through an RFP by using this consortium contract.
- S.A.V.E. Buying Consortium (AZ)coreS.A.V.E. member schools and districts can purchase Illuminate products without going through an RFP process by using this consortium contract.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Illuminate Education competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Illuminate Education social profiles
Digital presenceIlluminate Education compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Illuminate Education financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Illuminate Education leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles17 records
Illuminate Education subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Illuminate Education funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Illuminate Education M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A6 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Illuminate Education
What does Illuminate Education do?
Illuminate Education provides a K-12 student performance platform that combines comprehensive assessment administration with MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) management and data visualization tools for school districts. The integrated platform includes FastBridge (research-based universal screening and progress monitoring for academics and social-emotional behavior), DnA (standards-based assessment creation and administration), eduCLIMBER (MTSS collaboration and whole-child data visualization), SchoolCity (assessment platform), and Illuminate Content (standards-based assessment content), serving 17 million students across 5,200 schools and districts in all 50 U.S. states through annual district-level subscriptions.
Is Illuminate Education a public or private company?
Illuminate Education is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Illuminate Education founded?
Illuminate Education was founded in 2018. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Illuminate Education based?
Illuminate Education is headquartered in Irvine, United States, in the North America region.
How does Illuminate Education make money?
One revenue line is on record: saaS Platform Subscription (K-12 Assessment & MTSS).
Does Illuminate Education have an API?
Yes. Illuminate provides multiple API endpoints for data integration: DnA assessment results are available via a publicly documented API for clients and third-party EdTech vendors to retrieve student assessment data; FastBridge assessment results can be provided nightly through secure transfer file protocol (SFTP) as authorized by district administration; SchoolCity offers customized scheduled data extracts via SFTP; eSchoolData provides a fully functional RESTful API using Open ID Connect and OAuth 2.0 enabling authorized third-party applications to securely obtain and write data including school, staff, student, course, class roster, grade reporting, and attendance information. Partners such as Achieve3000, Aequitas, Aeries, BrightArrow, eSchoolData, Focus School, ParentSquare, PowerSchool, Renaissance Learning, and School Mint utilize the Illuminate API for data transfer. Developer documentation is at docs.renaissance.com.
What industry is Illuminate Education in?
Illuminate Education's product category is K-12 Education Technology / Student Assessment Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFADAN, Survey, Formative Assessment & Classroom Response (Quizzes/Polls) Tools, with a secondary code of EDAJAFAC, Classroom Assessment & Grading (Formative/Summative). Its NAICS code is 611710 and its SIC code is 8200.