Common Goal Systems

What Common Goal Systems does

Common Goal Systems, Inc., operating under the brands TeacherEase, SchoolInsight, and CGS, is a privately-held Illinois corporation founded in 2001 and headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois, with a mailing address in Lake Forest. The company is a bootstrapped, founder-led (Michael Xakellis, Founder and CEO) SaaS vendor with 11-50 employees that builds cloud-based educational software for K-12 institutions, primarily small to medium-sized public school districts, Catholic schools and dioceses, and non-public/private schools across the United States. The platform is web-based with native iOS and Android apps, secured via SSL encryption, and certified for FERPA, HIPAA, COPPA, GDPR, and Illinois SOPPA compliance. Operating geographies span at least 13 disclosed states (Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, Washington, Colorado, New Jersey), with the company claiming "hundreds of thousands of users worldwide."

The company's two core product lines are SchoolInsight, a modular Student Information System (SIS) covering demographics, scheduling, attendance, grade reporting, health records (HIPAA/FERPA compliant), discipline, lunch tracking, online registration, and parent communication; and TeacherEase, a standards-based learning platform with integrated gradebook, report cards, learning management system, curriculum mapping, learning targets, rubrics, formative/summative assessments, and longitudinal data analytics. SchoolInsight Financials is a separate add-on financial management suite covering payroll, accounts payable, general ledger, and timekeeping. The platform integrates with Google Classroom (bi-directional sync), Canvas LMS via OneRoster 1.1, Clever, IMS OneRoster, Google Login with native 2FA, and state reporting systems for Wisconsin WISEdata Ed-Fi, Massachusetts DESE, Missouri MOSIS, Illinois ISBE, and Oklahoma SIF.

Revenue is generated through annual SaaS subscriptions with publicly disclosed tiered pricing: TeacherEase at $104-$176 per teacher per year, SchoolInsight SIS Core at $3.92-$7.83 per student per year (with modules at $0.97-$2.96/student), and SchoolInsight Financials at $4,306-$13,000 per district per year based on student count. Professional services revenue comes from training ($750/day on-site, $75/person public sessions). The go-to-market is a sales-led direct enterprise model targeting district administrators via website demo requests, with a SmartStart specialist assigned to new customers for first-year onboarding, inside-sales renewals with up to 10% annual price increases, and conference presence at NCEA and ASCD. No venture capital, private equity, or institutional investment has been disclosed.

Name

Common Goal Systems

Legal name

Common Goal Systems, Inc.

Website

https://teacherease.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Common Goal Systems is a bootstrapped Illinois SaaS company that builds TeacherEase and SchoolInsight, cloud-based standards-based learning and student information systems serving small-to-medium K-12 public school districts and Catholic schools across the United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Elmhurst

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. TeacherEase Subscription: Annual subscription-based revenue model for TeacherEase standards-based learning platform. Pricing tiers based on number of active employees (teachers, staff, administrators). Admin accounts priced at 2/3 teacher rate. No charge for parent or student accounts. Report cards sold separately. Additional storage available at $1/GB annually.
2. SchoolInsight SIS Subscription: Annual subscription revenue for Student Information System based on number of students. Modules can be purchased separately or together with subsequent modules at 66% discount. Includes Core Student Management plus optional modules for online registration, discipline, lunch, health records, advanced scheduling, and enhanced parent communication.
3. SchoolInsight Financials Subscription: Annual subscription for financial management system based on district student count. Pricing tiers: 1-200 students at $4,305.60/year, scaling up to 3000+ students at higher tiers. Includes payroll processing, accounts payable, and financial reporting.
4. Training Services: Training revenue including onsite training at $750/day, public training at $75/person for half-day sessions. Self-service online training and individualized mentoring provided free. Physical manuals printable from electronic documentation at no charge.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Common Goal Systems develops and sells cloud-based SaaS software for K-12 educational institutions. Its two flagship products are TeacherEase, a standards-based learning and differentiated instruction platform featuring a gradebook, report cards, parent communication, curriculum mapping, and learning targets, and SchoolInsight, a Student Information System for demographics, scheduling, attendance, grade reporting, discipline, health, lunch, and parent portal. SchoolInsight Financials adds payroll, accounts payable, and general ledger for school bookkeepers. All products are sold as annual subscriptions priced by employee or student count.

Product overview

Common Goal Systems offers a platform-plus-modules architecture consisting of two primary products: SchoolInsight SIS (Student Information System) and TeacherEase (Standards-based Learning Platform), both offered as cloud-based SaaS subscriptions. SchoolInsight Financials provides financial management capabilities. SchoolInsight SIS is modular, with Core Student Management as the base and optional add-on modules including Online Registration, Discipline, Lunch, Health Records, Advanced Scheduling, and Enterprise Data Access. TeacherEase includes integrated Learning Management System, Curriculum Mapping and Lesson Planning, Standards-based Gradebook, Standards-based Report Cards, Data Analytics, Learning Targets, Rubrics, Assessments, and Committee Collaboration tools. The products are designed to work independently or together, with SchoolInsight providing administrative SIS functions while TeacherEase focuses on classroom-level instructional management and standards-based grading. Catholic school configurations are also available for both products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SchoolInsight SIS Comprehensive web-based Student Information System (SIS) for small- to medium-sized K-12 districts and non-public schools, covering demographics, scheduling, attendance, grade reporting, discipline, health records, lunch tracking, online registration, parent portal, and state reporting with optional add-on modules.
• TeacherEase Standards-based learning and differentiated instruction platform that helps K-12 teachers implement standards-based grading, featuring an integrated gradebook, report cards, parent communication, curriculum mapping, learning targets, rubrics, formative/summative assessments, and a Learning Management System.
• SchoolInsight Financials Cloud-based financial management system for school bookkeepers at small to medium-sized districts, including general ledger, payroll, accounts payable, and financial reporting, priced annually by district student count.
• Health Records Module Add-on module for school nurses within SchoolInsight SIS to track immunizations, clinic visits, medications, screenings, medical alerts, and health documentation, with HIPAA and FERPA compliance.
• Lunch Module Add-on module to SchoolInsight SIS providing meal accounting, food item management, and integration with point-of-sale scanning for school nutrition programs.
• Discipline Module Discipline tracking and management module for SchoolInsight enabling schools to record incidents, manage referrals, and generate state-reportable code mappings.
• Advanced Scheduling Module Enhanced course-scheduling capabilities for SchoolInsight, including interactive student scheduling and automated scheduling algorithms for complex district schedules.
• Standards-based Gradebook Standalone standards-based gradebook component supporting mastery tracking and proficiency-level recording aligned to standards-based learning methodology.
• Learning Management System (LMS) Full-featured LMS for TeacherEase that lets teachers create, manage, and deliver instructional content and assignments, with integration to Google Classroom and curriculum/standards alignment.
• Curriculum Mapping and Lesson Planning Instructional content management system within TeacherEase enabling alignment of units, lessons, activities, and assessments to standards and learning targets, with collaborative curriculum database.
• Standards-based Report Cards Report card system supporting standards-based grading formats with configurable proficiency scales and parent-facing visualizations for TeacherEase customers.
• Data Analytics (Longitudinal Data Analysis) Analytics module that builds longitudinal digital portfolios per student, tracking performance across assessments with disaggregation by gender, ethnicity, race, disability, and other factors to identify achievement gaps.
• Catholic Schools/Dioceses Configuration Specialized configuration and reporting for Catholic schools within SchoolInsight and TeacherEase including NCEA Summary reports and faith-based institution requirements.
• SmartStart Onboarding Service Structured onboarding service assigning a dedicated SmartStart specialist as the main point of contact for a customer's first academic year, including data migration, configuration, training, and ongoing support through academic year transition.
• Training Services Training services including free self-service online training and individualized mentoring, public training at $75/person half-day, and on-site training at $750/day.

Quantifiable outcome

• Student academic performance improves 8% on average using TeacherEase
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• GooglecoreTechnology or Integration · 1 August 2025SchoolInsight supports Google Login for authentication and Smart 2FA integration with Google for users who have 2FA already configured in Google accounts. Google Classroom integration enables bidirectional sync of assignments and grades.
• Canvas LMS (by Instructure)coreTechnology or Integration · 2 August 2021Canvas LMS integration using OneRoster 1.1 standard, enabling synchronization of roster data and assignment information between TeacherEase and Canvas.
• Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE)coreTechnology or Integration · 9 September 2019SchoolInsight SIS certified by MA DESE for Data Quality and SIF Compliance, enabling proper state reporting for Massachusetts schools.
• IMS Global Learning Consortium (OneRoster)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 October 2017TeacherEase supports IMS OneRoster 1.1 standard for interoperability with other educational systems and platforms.
• ClevercoreTechnology or Integration · 1 October 2017TeacherEase integrates with Clever for single sign-on and roster data synchronization with educational applications.
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WISEdata/Ed-Fi)coreTechnology or Integration · 9 May 2016SchoolInsight certified for Wisconsin WISEdata Ed-Fi version 1.0, enabling state reporting compliance for Wisconsin schools.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• PowerSchool: PowerSchool is the largest K-12 SIS in North America, serving districts of all sizes with a broad suite including SIS, LMS (Schoology), and assessment. It is the dominant incumbent that Common Goal competes against in the SMB-district segment, with substantially larger R&D and sales scale.
• Frontline Education: Frontline is a broad K-12 administrative software provider covering HR, special education, and SIS-adjacent workflows. It overlaps with Common Goal's SIS-adjacent capabilities at the district administrative level, though it focuses on different functional modules.

Direct peers

• Gradelink: Gradelink is an SIS built specifically for independent and private K-12 schools — the closest direct competitor to Common Goal in the non-public/private school segment, with similar pricing structure and feature set including gradebook, attendance, and parent portal.
• FACTS Management (Renweb): FACTS/Renweb is the dominant SIS/administration platform for Catholic K-12 schools in North America — the most direct competitor to Common Goal in the Catholic-diocese vertical, with overlapping NCEA reporting, parent communication, and SIS modules.
• Infinite Campus: Infinite Campus is a long-standing K-12 SIS competitor with similar module architecture (demographics, scheduling, gradebook, state reporting). Competes head-to-head with SchoolInsight for district contracts and shares the small-to-medium district target market.
• Jupiter Ed: Jupiter Ed is a smaller K-12 SIS with similar SMB-district positioning, offering grading, attendance, and parent portal at a comparable price point — a niche competitor in the same lower-end of the district market that Common Goal addresses.
• Skyward (qmlativ): Skyward's qmlativ SIS is a direct competitor to SchoolInsight in the small-to-medium K-12 district market, offering comparable student management, scheduling, and state reporting functionality with strong mid-market district penetration.

Emerging players

• Schoology (PowerSchool): Schoology (now PowerSchool) is a K-12 LMS with grading and standards-alignment features that overlap with TeacherEase's standards-based gradebook and curriculum mapping — a relevant adjacent platform in the same standards-driven classroom workflow.
• Alma (by Alma SIS): Alma is a modern K-12 SIS that has gained traction with charter and independent schools, offering a clean modern UI alternative to legacy SIS products — competes for the same non-public and small public district customer base as Common Goal.
• Canvas (Instructure): Canvas is a leading K-12 LMS that integrates bidirectionally with TeacherEase via OneRoster 1.1. As an LMS it overlaps with TeacherEase's LMS module and curriculum/lesson planning tools — both partner and competitor for instructional-content workloads.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/teacherease
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCnBLyj6IHqVIPt7g漫天
• Facebookfacebook.com/TeacherEase
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/common-goal-systems

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Common Goal Systems