Kurzweil Educational Systems acquired by Cambium Learning

April 18, 2005 | Source: KurzweilAI

Kurzweil Educational Systems Inc. has been acquired by Cambrium Learning Inc. in a move to support underserved student populations. The purchase price was over $20 million.

Kurzweil Educational Systems, founded by Ray Kurzweil and Mike Sokol in 1996, is the “leader in print-to-speech reading systems for people with reading disabilities such as dyslexia and for the blind,” says Sokol.

The Kurzweil 3000 reads printed material with natural sounding synthetic speech while highlighting the words being spoken on an image of each page. Providing a wide array of educational features, the Kurzweil 3000 is used in 14,000 schools in the United States.

Cambrium Learning provides research-based, culturally responsive, and proven instructional materials, services, and technology to help educators raise the achievement level of challenged learners in grades pre-K through 12. Kurzweil Educational Systems is widely recognized for its technological innovations in reading, writing, and learning solutions for individuals with learning disabilities and people who are blind or visually impaired.

“Leveraging the pioneering spirit of its cofounder, Ray Kurzweil, an innovator of pattern-recognition technologies, Kurzweil Educational Systems has received worldwide recognition for developing products that improve the lives of others,” said Nader Darehshori, CEO and Chairman of Cambium Learning.

“By bringing Kurzweil Educational Systems into our family of companies we are able to deliver a powerful triumvirate of content, training, and technology to educators looking for more effective solutions for their special student populations.”