SPARK Schools flies onto Series B
My flight from Accra landed at a painful 5 am local time. I stumbled into a taxi and directed the driver to head straight to an address in Ferndale, a suburb of Johannesburg. It was my first time in South Africa and I was dropped off at an unassuming building — nothing noteworthy — it had formerly served as an insurance office. The driver looked a bit puzzled at the destination but this was clearly the correct address. A tall flag post with a bright blue SPARK Schools flag waving along with the South Africa flag marked the campus. Inside newly painted gates awaited eager students and a small, top-notch team of educators and entrepreneurs with a big vision.
I had arrived early enough to watch Sparks Fly — the morning singing and dancing routine of SPARK Schools designed to energize students for the school day ahead. During Sparks Fly all of the students and teachers gather outside in the morning at assembly — late arrivers scurry to join in the fun. Pop music blasts out of speakers and teachers lead a choreographed routine that includes that all students singing along to inspirational tunes. This morning routine radiates joy, which is evidenced by the smiles on children’s faces and their eagerness to engage. Still taken aback by the power of collective energy from Spark’s fly, Bailey Thomson, the head of academics and school model innovation, whisked me away on a campus tour.
Bailey bounded to the learning lab where SPARK students were practicing math and English literacy using adaptive online software tools under the guidance of a learning facilitator. As Bailey explained, this aspect of the curriculum is an element of their blended learning model where students use technology to personalize academic exercises, which, in turn, ensures that students have fully mastered concepts before advancing to the next lesson. This learning lab enables expert teachers to then focus their time on ensuring students are fully engaged in deeper learning experiences in groups, teams and individual exercises when they are in the classroom. You can see Spark model at work for yourself.
After the excitement of the morning, I was looking forward to a short break. But that was not to be; I had just sat down, fresh coffee in hand, in a bright room when SPARK co-founder and CEO, Stacey Brewer, confronted me with some brutal facts about academic outcomes in South Africa: in aggregate, South Africa’s education system was performing worse than Kenya and Uganda, she proclaimed. This must be an exaggeration, I thought; South Africa is a relatively rich country, it has good infrastructure, how bad could the education system be? But Stacey was spot on: Despite strong funding, international rankings consistently show South Africa at the bottom of the charts. In practical terms this means that a large portion of South Africa’s 12.2 million school age children are enrolled in school but learning very little. Stacey and the team find the status quo entirely unacceptable.
The story of SPARK Schools is now well-documented. In collaboration with Ryan Harrison, a classmate, Stacey developed the business plan for SPARK while in business school: two passionate South Africans committed to improving educational outcomes for the children of South Africa. Passionate about their cause, they toured the world to uncover the best educational models; among their travels they were connected with Preston Smith at Rocketship. They were impressed by Rocketship’s blended learning model and recruited a bright, up and coming school innovation leader, Bailey Thomson, to join the team.
Bailey dove straight into the first goal of adapting the school model and tailoring it to the local context. Global expertise matched with local leadership and implementation — a common combination for successful education ventures. SPARK thus became the first ‘blended learning’ academy on the continent.
Through my work with the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund, I’ve visited hundreds of school chains around the world — and there are several in South Africa — but SPARK’s approach is second to none. SPARK uniquely maintains an absolute focus on high quality teaching and learning at low cost. The early results show that this approach pays off — the average SPARK student is ahead of their peers by a grade level in reading and math. The joy of both teaching and learning is evident among both teachers and students. SPARK is affordable, at roughly $1,000 a year, for low income parents and attractive to the middle tier for the quality. The cost is also less than the government spends on a per pupil basis. Stacey is committed to a school model that delivers in every way — she recruits the best teaching talent, invested in blended learning technology that personalized learning and maximizes instructional time. She also watches every cost and expense, demanding that SPARK prove a business mode that works for private sector investors at a price that parents can afford — the only way to scale
No school chain can succeed without being a community for it’s three biggest constituents: students, teachers, and parents. The SPARK community is thriving. SPARK’s re-enrollment rate is above 90%, teacher turnover is exceedingly low, teachers report being energized because they are empowered to use the most impactful learning methods, and teachers feel supported by the range and number of professional development opportunities. Parents choice speaks for itself and survey and interviews consistently show enthusiastic parent support. SPARK Scholars report a love for learning and feel engaged and empowered through their education, all of which is evidenced by the number of smiles in the classrooms and in the halls.
There are hundreds of millions of children around the world who are in school but not learning much and SPARK presents a clear solution. The big question is: “How do we scale this success?” Luckily, SPARK, like many other school chains in South Africa, operates as a for-profit company who can benefit from investment capital to support enhanced scaling. Through the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund we were able to invest in SPARK in order to support its continued growth. We were the first institutional capital investing in SPARK in 2014. Our capital would help SPARK grow from 161 students to a scalable school model that could support thousands of students with high quality learning outcomes and proven unit economics.
Our investment thesis is that this model can be implemented at greater scale and that parental demand will match supply. As a result, tens of thousands of students in South Africa will benefit from greater educational outcomes.
When we started PALF four years ago, our thesis was to invest in the best education companies in emerging markets serving high quality education at low cost. We responded to the resounding demand from parents for affordable choices for their children. There is no debate about low-cost affordable private schools on the ground — this is a thriving market where parents in emerging markets are clearly committed to identifying and obtaining educational options that position their children for the future.
Scale is necessary both for the business model and to tackle the large challenge of higher quality education. SPARK has already grown immensely from the 1 pilot school we first invested in, to 8 schools with over 2,400 students today. We are excited to be joined by Omidyar Network and others for an additional $9m investment into the promising future of SPARK Schools. With the new round of capital we aim to double the student population at the beginning of the school year in January and continue on an ambitious growth path getting to 62 schools in South Africa and beyond.
I’m American. I don’t pretend to understand the depth and complexity of Apartheid and what it means to be South African. I do know that the violence and divisiveness of a race-based system was terrible and the solutions to past harms are complicated. From the evidence and what I see in my home country — integrated communities and educational institutions that are racially and socially diverse are essential. Everyone benefits. Embedded in any solution in South Africa certainly must be a commitment to ensuring that every citizen — regardless of race, religion, and income bracket — has access to a high quality education that provides an equal footing in the global economy. SPARK provides one solution.
The stakes are high for South Africa. The OECD reports that South Africa has the second-most potential to gain from improved education: If every fifteen-year-old were empowered to achieve a basic level of education, GDP would increase by 2,624%. South Africa is in need of creative solutions driven by local leadership. Increasingly, governments and education ministries see organizations like SPARK as solutions to transforming and improving their country. Public-private partnership models provide a potential path toward further scale and impact.
Entrepreneurship and investing is inherently personal — as an investor you are backing a vision of the world you want to see. I’m proud to be an early supporter of this world-class company and values-driven leadership team. Today, big congratulations go to Stacey, Ryan, Bailey and the entire SPARK team. Tomorrow, the day after, and the many years to come: we are with you for the hard yards of the next phase of the SPARK trajectory. Let’s make more SPARKs fly.
Katelyn Donnelly
Co-founder and Managing Director, Pearson Affordable Learning Fund, a venture capital firm that invests in emerging market education companies. Katelyn is also a Board Member of SPARK Schools.
