McGraw-Hill Opens Technology R&D Center in Boston's "Innovation District"

BOSTON, June 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw-Hill today announced that it will open a new office in Boston's "Innovation District" in June that will serve as a hub for the research and development of education technologies that build on the company's portfolio of digital learning solutions for the K-12, higher education, assessment and professional markets. The new office is the company's latest initiative to develop and integrate cutting-edge technologies that meet today's education challenges and attract the best tech talent in the business. The office, which will be located at 281 Summer St., will employ approximately 60 people before the end of the year.

For the past 100 years, McGraw-Hill has produced proven educational content and instructional design that is used every day in classrooms around the world, generating a wealth of data and insight about how students learn most effectively. Today, McGraw-Hill is offering digital solutions that facilitate stronger educational results through personalized learning technologies such as:

• The LearnSmart Advantage adaptive learning suite – which includes SmartBook, the world's first-ever adaptive e-book
• McGraw-Hill Connect, a digital teaching and learning environment that incorporates all of the company's digital tools for higher education on one central platform, and
• ALEKS®, an artificially intelligent, adaptive learning program distributed by McGraw-Hill in higher education for math
• The McGraw-Hill Practice suite of 3D, multiplayer learning games
• CINCH Learning, the cloud-based, interactive K-12 curriculum for math and science
• Acuity InFormative Assessment, an interim benchmark assessment system for the K-12 market that helps teachers gauge student performance and deliver personalized instruction

McGraw-Hill's Boston location will continue this tradition of education innovation by aggregating technologists, developers, education specialists, cognitive researchers, and people who have a passion for learning and making education better and more effective.

"We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform education, and investing in digital technologies – and the best digital talent that this country and the city of Boston have to offer – is a critical element of our strategy to do just that," said Stephen Laster, chief digital officer of McGraw-Hill. "McGraw-Hill is a $2 billion startup that brings together a strong, established market presence and an agile, experimental and creative approach to product development that enables us to bring industry-leading innovations to market."

The Boston office is one of McGraw-Hill's centers of excellence, joining its other centers in Bothell, Wash.; New York; Columbus, Ohio; San Francisco and Israel. The office will offer a creative, innovative, team-centered startup environment and culture, featuring everything from open work spaces to gaming consoles to flexible work schedules.

"We're looking for people who want to re-imagine what education can be; who have the vision and desire to change people's lives and serve a global market. Boston is well known for its spirit of innovation and focus on producing technologies that have a real impact on our society, and we're excited to be a greater part of that," added Laster.

Over the last several months, McGraw-Hill has aggressively recruited the top educational tech talent in the business, including:

Chief Executive Officer Buzz Waterhouse, previously chief executive officer of Harcourt Education and general manager of e-business services at IBM

McGraw-Hill School Education Group President Peter Cohen, formerly chief executive officer of Pearson School at Pearson Education

• Chief Digital Officer Stephen Laster, previously chief information officer of Harvard Business School
• Chief Information Officer Ray Lowrey, formerly chief technology officer of Archipelago Learning
• Senior Vice President of Learning Platforms and Architecture Bobby Babbrah, formerly executive vice president and chief technology officer of Archipelago Learning
• Vice President of Technical Product Management for McGraw-Hill Higher Education Richard Keaveny, formerly vice president of digital strategy for health science and careers at Pearson Education
• Senior Vice President of Marketing for McGraw-Hill School Education Victoria Burwell, formerly vice president of marketing and business development at Headsprout

For more information about the new office or to inquire about joining the team, please contact us at www.mheducation.com/contact/careers.