Transforming Key Curriculum Press

1. Transforming Key Curriculum Press A case study on implementing change June 4, 2012

2. Key board meeting - New York, May 2010 What now? Textbook Revenues 2008 2010

3. Step 1: See, Feel, Change – A Night at Key What role are you going to play in the transformation of Key? • “See, Feel, Act” instead of “Think, Analyze, Act” • We revamped our offices for 1 night and created 5 separate rooms to let our team experience reasons for change within the company. • After each room was visited there was an open discussion about what emotions the images, music and videos sparked, these all related to Key’s current state, its market and its opportunities.

4. Step 2: Our value proposition and vision Higher Goals - Why does Key exist? Big Hairy Audacious Goals- Where is Key going? • By 2015, at least half of all users in the 3–12 mathematics market will be impacted by our products • By 2015 we will have entered the non-school market and made this a sustainable, profitable revenue stream • By 2015 we will be the most trusted voice in math learning • Spark Learning • Connect with Math: “Now I get it!” • Transform Lives Core Values - What does Key stand for? Core Qualities- What does Key excel at? • We are experts in math education • We are customer-focused • We simplify • We act with entrepreneurial spirit • High Quality • Responsibility • Respect, Creativity, and Humor

5. Step 3: Stop the bleeding - Get out of textbooks! • The competitive landscape for K–12 textbook publishing has changed dramatically over the last 3-5 years. • Huge pressure on state and local budgets as recession impacts education budgets. Districts stall on instructional materials spending. New normal sets in. • Scale has increasingly become important in order to compete making it difficult to survive as a niche print publisher as costs of overhead and individual sales increase • Long lead times, heavy print sampling, committee decisions, complicated and lengthy negotiations, state contracts, district contracts, printing regulations, warehousing, state depositaries • In addition, the sale generated the necessary cash to convince our shareholders to remain committed to Key as they had lost confidence over the years

6. Sale of textbooks led to change in financial profile Revenues 2011 Revenues 2012 • Divested almost 60% of Key’s revenues in the 2nd half of 2011. • Workforce was reduced to approximately 35 FTEs: Morale with existing staff remained high because of Key’s new stated direction and investment in growing the business again.

7. Step 4: Executives consider their actions on a regular basis What have we done?

8. And are determined to make it work $$$$$! Learning tools!

9. Step 5: Brainstorm with your team From number sense to algebra, from grade 3 to college Apple’s iBook (in HTML5) Learning Analytics Data, data,data! Tablet computing vs. desktop And how will it fit with existing platform for teachers resources, etc? Allow for inquiry Interactive curriculum Interactive whiteboards MULTI TOUCH What is the business model??? Subscription- model? funding? The challenge The next “hockey-stick” projection? Common Core State Standards Feedback! loops to monitor progress Testing & next-gen assessment SMART / PARCC An organized learning journey! Native applications with HTML5 Device and platform friendly Bandwidth within schools multiple choice Inter-operability; file format friendly Usage Model? No more warehousing, remove hidden costs Should tie seamlessly to the LMS Can we do Dynamic Assessment? Relevant & ratified pedagogy Able to customize No overhaul of the existing curriculum How does this all add to the top line? Pay per student? FUN! ENGAGING How to explain it to our shareholders / stakeholders? iPad and Android Use the data to evaluate student/class performance Richer “Dynamic Assessment” items In the cloud! College readiness

10. Step 6: Start anew with your best employees and strongest assets • A strong brand name. • A vision for the company that still holds. • Some very powerful assets: Sketchpad; Fathom & TinkerPlots. • Merging our Research & Development unit, KCP Technologies, with our publishing unit and agree on a roadmap for the development of the learning tools. • We also aligned corporate governance / shareholder structure; in return we got fresh capital from our shareholders to implement the new change / infrastructure. • Show no fear, you can’t lose (just be patient and keep pressing on).

11. Step 7: Link your vision to a new strategy Financial • By 2015, at least half of all users in the 3–12 mathematics market will be impacted by our products • By 2015, we will have entered the non-school market and made this a sustainable, profitable revenue stream • By 2015, we will be the most trusted voice in math learning Profitable Growth / Shareholder Value Accelerate revenue growth in new and existing markets Manage cash responsibly Win grants /RFPs Customers A Now I get it brand reputation Differentiate among target groups Exceed customer expectations based on listen, learn, act Community Community based social marketing • A successful centralized platform Strike profitable partnerships Internal Processes A light infrastructure Mine the data Integrate web & call Employees Multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial employees which are outward looking Excited about the difference technology can make (Key 3.0)

12. Step 8: Who would have guessed?

13. Karen Coe: kcoe@keycurriclum.com Milan Wielinga: mwielinga@keycurriculum.com