A new technology platform that matches parents with teachers to book virtual and in-person, local, private tutoring curriculums for children has launched in Southport ”“ and, according to one of its co-founders, is already getting A-pluses.
“We went from having the idea to actually having something ready to go in about two weeks,” Evan Klein, co-founder of The Teacher Marketplace, told the Business Journal. “And in our first six weeks, we”™ve lined up over 2,000 professional educators in 35 states.”
Klein said the need for the platform arose from a simple problem: How do deal with ensuring that one”™s children receive a consistent, full education at a time when schools are struggling with how and when to open ”“ not to mention the possibility of Covid-19 suddenly requiring more shutdowns.
“We all have young kids,” Klein said of himself and his two partners. “They”™re starting kindergarten this year, so we were weighing the different options. We didn”™t think the stop-and-start that everyone went through last year was the best experience, so we started thinking about tutors and teachers.
“But there was nowhere to go to find a teacher to support our kids in the kind of environment we were looking for,” he continued. “We have backgrounds in technology, so we decided to create Teacher Marketplace to provide a searchable matching service.”
Word-of-mouth and social media campaigns helped attract educators like Dorothy Dziedzic, a reading specialist who recently relocated from the Hartford area to Fairfield.
“I”™ve had so many friends call me and ask who I”™d recommend for a particular subject area,” Dziedzic said. “Teacher Marketplace definitely fills that kind of need. And it”™s helped me, being new to the area, to make connections that allow me to set up sessions with kids with special needs after hours ”“ I”™m usually out of school by 2 or so.”
Educators ”“ including full-time, retired and substitute teachers ”“ set their own instructional rates and receive 100% of the fees collected for each student session. Parents can sign up for free to search for educators by instructional age, topic, and location to find the best match for their student.
With everything being gratis so far, how does the company make money?
“We”™re looking at a couple of business models,” Klein said. “One of them involves charging for families to become a member of the Marketplace, where they can search and message as much as they like. The second model would generate money on a per-booking basis.
“We”™ve just launched ”˜verified profiles”™,” he said, “which gives teachers the option to include more certifications and background checks for parents to check out. There will be a fee associated with that.”
The company also plans to donate 10% of its profits to the nonprofit organization AdoptAClassroom.org to support teachers and schools across the country.
For now, however, Klein said The Teacher Marketplace is content to “help solve this immediate problem ”“ the same situation that we are in ”“ and we feel we”™re on target.”
To date the company has signed up over 100 families who have logged in and set about finding the right educator.
“A lot of our teachers work locally,” Klein noted, “but there”™s nothing stopping someone who has a student here in Southport from doing virtual lessons with a teacher in Chicago, or wherever they may be.”
The Teacher Marketplace is designed to continue if and when a vaccine for Covid is found, he said.
“We believe that the education model has been forever changed. Parents have done what they can with virtual learning, but it”™s usually been in a supplemental capacity. This type of marketplace is not just about solving today”™s problems, but also continuing to provide opportunities going forward.
“Parents and teachers are both looking for more flexible options,” Klein said. “We feel there”™s a lot of sustainability for us, well beyond the coronavirus pandemic.”
