Persona Education and Sunburst Digital Partner in the United States to Bring Life Skills Online Learning to Schools and Homeschoolers
Press Release
Bristol, UK, 17th October 2024 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Persona Education, a UK-based leader in online social-emotional learning, has partnered with Sunburst Digital to bring its Persona Life Skills platform to the United States. The platform empowers students aged 11-19 to develop essential life skills such as adaptability, critical thinking, and communication. Through this partnership, Sunburst Digital will act as an authorised reseller for Persona Life Skills serving US high schools, middle schools and homeschoolers.
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Image: Persona Education
Persona Education, a UK-based leader in online Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), has entered the United States market via a reseller partnership with Sunburst Digital, a well-established provider of digital educational solutions with solutions in more than 97% of US school districts.
Through the partnership, Sunburst Digital has become the exclusive reseller for US middle schools, high schools and homeschoolers, of Persona Life Skills, Persona Education's online SEL platform for students age 11-19.
“One of the biggest challenges in the world of education is the effective delivery and recognition of social-emotional skills for teenagers and young people. We are really pleased to select Sunburst Digital as our representative in the US, with their extensive reach and ability to bring Persona Life Skills to students right across the country. Sunburst’s 30 year reputation for quality education solutions, twinned with their enthusiasm for giving US schools the opportunity to experience Persona Life Skills, makes them the ideal partner for us”, said Pete Read, CEO of Persona Education.
Isidora Perezinigo, Operations Manager at Sunburst Digital said “We are proud to be partnering with Persona Life Skills to help US middle school and high school educators offer a more complete educational experience. Persona’s social-emotional learning program is designed to empower students with essential life skills, enhancing their emotional intelligence and interpersonal communication. By using personality insights, students will learn to communicate and build confidence and understanding, which will improve their overall wellbeing and career or college readiness”.
Persona Life Skills is a unique SEL platform that uses a personality insights approach to help students aged 11-19 develop important 21st Century life skills such as adaptability, critical thinking and communication skills. The platform provides students with personalised learning experiences that help them understand themselves and others, build healthy relationships, manage emotions effectively, and make responsible decisions.
Persona Life Skills was developed in response to widespread and deepening concern over teenager wellbeing and employability, with funding from Google and the UK government’s innovation arm UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
To date, over 500 schools in 47 countries have signed up to use the platform, including many in the US.
The platform offers a scaffolded, age-appropriate online learning curriculum for Grade 6-12 students, mapped to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework and other benchmarks. The curriculum is built around Persona’s personality insights algorithm, rooted in behavioural science and complementing existing school SEL, life skills, careers education, guidance and wellbeing curricula.
Why Life Skills Matter
Social-emotional life skills are crucial for students' success in the social, learning and work life challenges they all face. In a Dec 2023 survey of 800 US managers, directors and executives by Intelligent, 58% said recent graduates are unprepared for the workforce, and Bloomberg’s Recruiter Report has found that leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills are among the most sought-after – but least commonly available – skills across industries.
Studies have shown that SEL programmes lead to:
- Improved academic performance
- Reduced behavioural problems
- Increased mental health and wellbeing
- Better preparation for the workplace
In today's rapidly changing world, especially with AI on the ascendancy, social-emotional life skills are more important than ever for young people. Students need to learn to adapt to new challenges, collaborate effectively with others, and think critically to solve the problems that AI cannot. Persona Life Skills equips students with the understanding and capabilities they need to thrive in the 21st Century.
Benefits for Schools and Parents
Persona Life Skills offers a number of benefits for schools and parents, covering all of the core competencies defined by CASEL.
Proven benefits of SEL programmes for schools include a more positive school culture, less bullying, higher academic results, improved teacher wellbeing and better destination metrics.
Implementing SEL in school can also reduce net costs, through fewer missed school days, less need for extra academic support, reduced personnel time addressing student problems, and fewer mental health interventions. Research by Columbia University’s Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education has found that the benefits of SEL programmes outweigh their costs by 11:1.
The platform is easy for any non-specialist teacher, parent or tutor to start using with students in less than an hour, and it’s flexible resources mean it can be integrated with existing curriculum materials.
Schools or parents can track student progress and the impact of the programme on students’ life skills.
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About Persona Education Ltd
Persona Education is a UK based edtech start-up developing life skills solutions for secondary students and educational institutions. Its web and mobile online learning platforms are built around a scientifically proven personality insights framework, that is social, practical and memorable. For further information visit https://www.persona-life.com or contact info@persona-life.com or +44 (0)117 313 2897.
About Sunburst Digital
Sunburst Digital is a provider of Digital Learning Solutions for K-12 which has been connecting educators with supplemental instructional technology and digital education solutions for three decades. Its solutions are found in more than 97% of US school districts. For further information visit https://www.sunburst.com or contact sales@sunburst.com or +1 (800) 321-7511.
