(2017-09-23) ThinkCERCA Raises $10 Million To Build Critical Thinkers Readers And Writers

ThinkCERCA lands $10M Series B, plans to expand sales team and roll out 7,000 new lessons

ThinkCERCA has secured a $10.1 million Series B round to further its mission of increasing the critical thinking skills and literacy rates of K-12 students. The round was led by Intuit founder Scott Cook and his wife Signe Ostby

The edtech startup’s software helps students learn critical thinking through personalized lessons that teach argumentative writing and close reading. Murphy Buckley founded ThinkCERCA in 2012 after working as an English teacher of 15 years and also serving as the director of curriculum for 115 Chicago-area schools.

ThinkCERCA Raises $10.1 Million to Build Critical Thinkers, Readers and Writers

It has also notched another $500,000 in grants, a chunk of which came from the Gates Foundation as part of its Courseware Literacy Challenge.

Founded in 2012, ThinkCERCA offers a set of digital tools and lesson plans to help educators teach critical thinking skills across a variety of subjects, including English language arts (ELA), math, social studies and science. Some districts purchase the product as a wholesale textbook replacement for their ELA classes.

A core skill that Murphy wants to help students build is argumentation, and the company’s approach to teaching this is built into its name—Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, Counterargument, Audience (CERCA). This framework informs how ThinkCERCA designs its literacy instructional materials and lessons. Teachers can choose a lesson in the program, which guides students through a multi-step process to analyze the reading materials and write a response essay.

According to her, the education industry looks at “reading and writing as two separate kinds of tools.” That’s a mistake, she believes. “Writing is the way you learn to read, and the way you express an understanding of other content. Teachers teach writing to improve how kids learn.”