LAKE FOREST, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Higher Ground Education, Inc., the leading network of schools dedicated to Montessori education, today announced it has acquired NeighborSchools, a platform supporting hundreds of in-home entrepreneurs who launch and operate childcare programs embedded into their homes and communities. With NeighborSchools unmatched technology and domain knowledge, Higher Ground will expand its footprint into in-home offerings, increasing access to pedagogically exceptional early childhood programs.
Higher Ground owns and operates over 100 Montessori schools, with programming from infancy through adolescence. Since COVID, the company has also launched an array of in-home offerings, including a virtual school, a homeschooling platform, and a nanny placement service. Higher Ground’s infrastructure fuses digital tools with physical materials and provides educators with training and resources that support Montessori practice. Higher Ground serves more than 10,000 students worldwide
The NeighborSchools acquisition will also usher in a new “Hub & Spoke” model. Higher Ground plans to expand infant classrooms per school by opening Guidepost micro-schools in small home-based satellite locations, with guides operating classrooms supported by the central school serving as a hub. These micro-centers throughout communities will allow Guidepost to greatly increase capacity for infants and toddlers, where demand for quality programming most dramatically outstrips supply.
“What makes this partnership between Higher Ground and NeighborSchools especially thrilling is the unprecedented opportunity that comes from combining the great work both teams have already done,” said Ray Girn, Founder & CEO of Higher Ground Education. “Historically, organizations have either pursued a center-based strategy or an in-home strategy. We believe solving the childcare crisis requires an integration of the two, and that is what we are now uniquely positioned to achieve. We believe a “Hub & Spoke” model is a critically important step towards increasing the reach and impact of the Montessori pedagogy, particularly at the infant and toddler levels.”
“NeighborSchools was one of the most audacious attempts to disrupt the childcare industry for the better,” said Brian Swartz, CEO & Co-Founder of NeighborSchools. “In joining Higher Ground we’ll combine the best of tech-enabled micro-scale child care with operational excellence and deep pedagogical knowledge to create a new model that will serve families with children from cradle to college.”
For more information on Higher Ground, please visit tohigherground.com.
