Open Up Resources congratulates EL Education on this exciting moment in their history. EL Education’s merger with Cognia reflects the vision, quality, and market leadership that drew us to this partnership nearly a decade ago.
ALPHARETTA, Ga., May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — For decades, schools and districts nationwide have been forced to assemble their own improvement ecosystems — piecing together disparate curricula, assessments, professional development, and continuous improvement support from different providers with no common thread. The result has been a fractured landscape in which even the best individual tools fail to deliver the equitable, lasting outcomes students deserve.
Today, Cognia®, a global nonprofit improvement organization that helps improve student outcomes through accreditation and certification, student assessment, professional learning, and school improvement services, announced a new merger with EL Education that intends to change all that.
EL Education is a leading New York-based national K-12 nonprofit with a 30-year track record of raising student achievement through its acclaimed Science of Reading-based English Language Arts curriculum, coaching and school support, and an evidence-based Full School Model. The merger is expected to take place by September 1, pending regulatory approval.
The combined organization will retain the Cognia name and help school districts nationwide leverage the critical attributes of improvement, spanning curriculum, instruction, coaching, assessment, and school-wide transformation, in one organization.
“This is a major step in Cognia’s ongoing evolution toward providing a single, comprehensive, and coherent improvement system for schools,” says Cognia president and CEO Dr. Mark A. Elgart.
Now, the combined organization will offer assessment and professional learning aligned with what will be a complete ecosystem—first in literacy and English Language Arts, and then in mathematics and science in the coming years.
EL Education’s literacy curriculum and Full School Model will continue to carry the EL Education brand under the combined organization. Cognia will make EL Education’s curriculum, resources, and improvement services available to its global school improvement network of 40,000 schools serving 17 million students in over 100 countries.
“The focus on expanding curriculum offerings aligned with our assessments is crucial to strengthening and targeting areas where schools want and need assistance,” Elgart says. “Our vision is to strengthen how learners engage and teachers instruct using the best learning tools and assessments.”
Statement from Open Up Resources
On behalf of the Leadership Team and Board of Directors at Open Up Resources, we congratulate EL Education on this exciting moment in their history. EL Education’s merger with Cognia reflects the vision, quality, and market leadership that drew us to this partnership nearly a decade ago.
Since joining forces, EL Education has been an invaluable collaborator, sharing our commitment to providing highest-quality curricula to educators and students. Together, we have brought the best-in-class K–8 ELA curriculum to more than 1 million students across the U.S. That alignment continues and expands with the resources and reach that Cognia brings, meaning the best chapters of our work together are still ahead.
We look forward to kicking off our work with the Cognia team, building on the strong foundation we have established with EL Education, and continuing to deliver on the shared mission that makes our relationship so impactful.
Educators and students are our shared priority, and we have affirmed with Cognia that our partnership will operate “business-as-usual” with no impacts to Open Up Resources customers.
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