Report: Apple Acquires Ed-Tech Start-up LearnSprout

Apple has reportedly acquired education technology start-up LearnSprout.

San Francisco-based LearnSprout develops software that lets schools and teachers track students' performance. That fits into Cupertino's plan to expand its mobile education tools: According to Bloomberg, the tech titan will allow students to see interactive lessons and track progress on shareable iPads.

Apple and LearnSprout did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment. But a Cupertino spokesman gave Bloomberg its standard acquisition statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

LearnSprout launched in 2012—a product of the education-focused start-up accelerator Imagine K12. The organization, which provides a set of APIs through which developers and schools can transfer student information, quickly picked up customers across the U.S. To date, LearnSprout provides services to more than 2,500 schools in 200 districts across 42 states, according to its website.

That made it attractive to Apple, which, in March, was reportedly making plans to revamp its iPad in Education program, in hopes of putting more tablets into the hands of students.

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The company is expected, sometime this year, to ditch the Apple ID requirement for schools, while also allowing faculty to configure student accounts via iCloud—with parental permission, of course. Apple also plans to simplify the admin experience, making it easier to enroll, manage, and support a large deployment, and reduce the steps schools go through to set up new devices.

The changes follow a disastrous $1.3 billion effort in 2013 to provide an iPad to every student and teacher in Los Angeles. The project suffered early technical setbacks when students figured out how to "hack" the tablets to access Twitter and other unauthorized services.