Business of Education: Buying & Selling

Business sure seems to be humming in the education services sector, based on the slew of stories out this week. And it's not just in higher education, folks. For better or worse, education is business. Mergers, acquisitions, public offerings -- they're all here or on their way.

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First, two private equity firms bought Ed Management Corp and part of the Learning Annex for $3.4 billion: Group pays $3.4B for education firm (Boston Globe), Education Management Said to Be Sold for $3.4 Billion (NYT), 2 Private Equity Deals in School Sector (LA Times). With scads of colleges like the Art Institutes, EMC is the 2nd largest for profit education company in the nation, and the transaction "could presage a wave of similar deals," according to the Times.

Not to be left out, our friends at ETS are also on a buying spree, ETS Buys Into Formative-Assessment Market (EdWeek): The Educational Testing Service last week acquired the a Portland, Ore.-based Assessment Training Institute, a for-profit company that specializes in helping teachers use classroom assessments to improve daily instruction.