In this episode of the EdTech Startup Podcast, host Jeff Bradbury interviews Mike Cronley, co-founder and CEO of Class Composer and former third-grade teacher. Mike shares his journey from the classroom to entrepreneurship, sparked by a casual conversation with his school's music teacher about students being incorrectly placed together. This "aha moment" led him to develop Class Composer, a software solution that helps elementary schools create balanced, equitable classroom rosters. Over seven years, Mike transitioned from teaching while developing his idea as a side project to fully committing to his startup. The conversation explores the challenges of the traditional paper-based class placement process, the importance of listening to customers, and advice for educators considering entrepreneurship.

In this EdTech Startup Showcase episode, host Jethro Jones interviews Vidya Sundaram (CEO) and Elisabeth O'Bryon (Chief Impact Officer) from Family Engagement Lab. The conversation explores how their platform bridges the gap between classroom learning and home support through bite-sized, actionable text messages that help families understand what their children are learning and how to reinforce those skills at home. The founders share their personal motivations—Elizabeth's experience as a bilingual school psychologist working with diverse families, and Vidya's childhood experience of disconnect between her immigrant family's educational values and school communication. They discuss their FAST Talk model (Families and Schools Talk), which has supported over 70,000 students across 50+ districts, and their new AI learning coach that provides personalized support for parents' questions.

Key Takeaways

• Family engagement works best when it's accessible and actionable
  • Short text messages (160 characters) with specific, grade-level appropriate activities are more effective than lengthy emails
• The impact is greatest for underserved students
  • Research shows the most pronounced learning gains for students whose families don't share a common language with teachers and those who started the year behind academically
• Parents want to help but need the right information
  • Families have passion and interest in supporting learning but often lack insight into what's happening in the classroom and how to help at the right developmental level
• Sustainable implementation requires cross-functional coordination
  • Success comes from communications experts working alongside curriculum teams to create a shared responsibility for family engagement
• AI can personalize family support
  • Their new AI learning coach allows parents to ask specific questions about their child's needs and build their own confidence in supporting learning at home

Jamie Rosenberg is a two-time founder of technology platforms, including education philanthropy platform AdoptAClassroom.org, and the subject of today’s conversation, ClassWallet. We discuss:

• Jamie's entrepreneurial background and how he got into education
• The problem ClassWallet is aiming to solve
• How many states, districts, and schools ClassWallet is working with
• If Jamie was starting the company again today, what would he do differently?
• With the growth of ESAs and personalized funding, what do the next 5 years look like?

Learn more at https://classwallet.com

About the guest
Jamie Rosenberg is a visionary entrepreneur and a two-time founder of technology platforms that have transformed how public funds reach communities in need to drive large-scale, systemic change. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of ClassWallet, a transformative digital wallet financial technology company reimagining how public funds are distributed to citizens, and spent. Prior to ClassWallet, he founded AdoptAClassroom.org, one of the country’s leading education philanthropy platforms, ensuring classroom teachers get the support they need. With a lifelong passion for social impact, Rosenberg has dedicated his career to reducing poverty and inequality by leveraging technology to improve educational opportunities, enhance government efficiency, and foster trust and transparency between citizens and public institutions.

About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and host of The Authority Podcast. Listen at https://authoritypodcast.net