Direct Competitors

Introduction ​ ​ ​	While one resources lists up to 102 applications in the broad assessment market, many of these websites are not direct competitors; they offers ervices, products, or applications with little scale-ability, limited design or user-interface, and /or no connection to theories of cognition and learning, or theoretical model of statistical analysis (i.e, over-reliance on frequency analytic methods) (EdSurge, n.d.). There are approximately 5-10 comparable, direct competitors to R & O’s current and developmental products: (1) Socrative, (2) Quizizz, (3) GoFormative, (4) Kahoot!, (5) Learnosity (listed in order of annual revenue, and reach). ​
Socrative ​ ​	(1) Socrative, founded in 2013, is a testing application, in and through which teachers design, administer and record tests and test-scores. The strength of this application is that it has great design and intuitive user-interface; consequently, this application has universal appeal K-HigherEd. Additionally, this site supports the importation of test templates and test-questions. A final benefit, this application leverages basic knowledge of psychometrics, although this is limited to frequency analysis and item analysis. Despite the fact that this application has only few glaring weaknesses, the fundamental basis of this application is flawed: there is no fundamental understanding of psychometrics, inducing a network of interrelated instabilities. For example, their lack of a principled and thorough approach to psychometrics does not support an understanding of the quality of the test-templates or test-questions utilized by teachers. This lack of understanding also manifests in a several contradictions of their fundamental philosophy related to formative assessment; there are no indicators of methods for improving teacher-instruction or student-development, nor does it support methods for improving teacher-created assessments. Finally, as a result of the underdeveloped knowledge of psychometric principles, this application does not provide a platform for performance and alternative assessments, which require more sophisticated models of statistical analysis (i.e., CTT, IRT). While there is limited market data available for Socrative sources indicate that this web application raised $750 thousand in their initial seed round. Shortly afterward, in 2014, Socrative was acquired by MasteryConnect for $5 million (Buhr, 2014), followed by Showbie in 2018. Current estimates indicate that Socrative currently has 91,000 content downloads/month, with a reported 3.3 million visitors/month to their website. Finally, Socrative reports an estimated annual revenue of $5 million (Crunchbase, n.d.). Current valuation estimates are unavailable.
​Quizizz ​	(2) Quizizz, which was founded in 2015, is a web-based application strikingly similar to (5) Kahoot! (listed below). This application leverages classroom-based assessments through game-style, multiple-choice quizzes and classroom polling. This application has several strengths: simple design and user interface, importation of test-templates and test questions, and unlimited cost-free usage. This application also has several weaknesses, similar to the previous entry. First, the design lacks sophistication, and is only appropriate for pre-K and elementary audiences. Second, there is an apparent lack of understanding of psychometrics; consequently, there are no indicators of the effectiveness of the test templates or test-questions. Additionally, teachers are given no direction for improving future instruction for student development, nor for the ways in which their assessments can be improved. Finally, there is no method for teachers to provide performance assessments or alternative assessments, which require more sophisticated statistical models. These facts indicate that this company will: first, have a limited universal appeal beyond the pre-K and elementary markets; and second, the trustworthiness of the assessments designed within this application are questionable. Quizizz has a reported annual revenue at $2 million. In 2018, they received an initial seed investment of $3 million (Crunchbase, n.d.). Although verifiable statistics from external sources regarding total users, and market reach, are not available, Quizizz website (Quizizz,n.d.), reportedly has over ten million active users, and 50% of all US schools have used the application at least one time. The Quizizz website states that the service is free for all teachers, students and parents. Current valuation estimates are unavailable.
​GoFormative ​	(3) GoFormative, which was founded in 2013, is a web-based application which leverages limited theoretical aspects of educational assessment to provide formative assessments to students in both traditional educational contexts (i.e., K - Higher Ed), and corporate contexts. This company’s application has several competitive advantages over other applications; however, these strengths are simply an amalgamation of the optimal aspects of the competing applications, which are leveraged to their maximum effect in a single product. The design is top-tier, the user-interface is intuitive, and they provide psychometric analytics (e.g., frequency analysis, item analysis) to improve future instruction. Despite these advantages, because they simply selected the best aspects of their competitors, their application is overly complex with little focus. The test-analytics are superficial and highly-reliant on frequency analysis, and these analyses lend no direct insight in to the ways in which educators can leverage the analytics to improve instruction. As with the previous applications, the limited utilization and lack of understanding of psychometrics forces the application into dichotomous test formats, with little attention paid to effective performance assessment, or alternative assessments. Finally, like the previous applications, while they have found footing in the market, their long-term sustainability will be limited. Although data is not readily available regarding reach, total current users, or growth, GoFormative has raised $2.5 million investment since 2014, reports estimated annual revenue of $4 million, and reports having up to 10 employees (Crunchbase, n.d.; AngelList, n.d.). Current valuation estimates are unavailable. ​
Kahoot!​	(4) Kahoot!, founded in 2011, is a web-based application which leverages game-based dichotomous assessment methods (i.e., traditional multiple choice questions) to evaluate student learning. The main strengths of this application are similar to those of (2) Quizizz. The design and user-interface are both beautiful and intuitive, and the application supports the importation of test-templates and questions from external sources. However, just like (2) Quizizz, it has limited appeal beyond the pre-K and elementary markets. Additionally, this application exhibits little understanding of psychometrics or educational measurement, which detracts from any potential instructional benefit, or benefit to test-design. As a game based application, Kahoot! exclusively leans on dichotomous assessment measures, and does not provide a platform for providing performance assessment or alternative assessments. Again, because this application is designed to appeal to younger audiences, and uses a game based approach to assessment, the data and information generated by this application lack of trustworthiness and face-validity. These facts indicate that this application has little appeal beyond traditional educational contexts and will most likely have difficulty growing beyond its current market segment. Kahoot! claims that over recent years their user growth rate has remained stable at 75% annually; other sources state that currently they have an estimated download rate of nearly 2 million pieces of content per month across all applications, with a total of 70 million current users (Crunchbase, n.d.; Kahoot!, 2018). Since their founding, from their seed round to series B rounds of funding, they have raised nearly $60 million (Crunchbase, n.d.). This growth and key investments from Disney have supported their most recent valuation at $376 million (Wan, 2018).
Learnosity ​ ​	​(5) Learnosity, which was founded in 2006, is a web-based assessment design, deployment, and analysis website aimed at providing both summative and formative information to teachers to understand what students know, and how to improve instruction for student development. The main strength of this application is their assessment design platform, and the scalability of the assessments in this platform. While design isn’t their strongest point, it doesn’t distract from the usability of the application. The user interface of their assessment design platform is simple and easy to use. These qualities lend themselves to wide appeal across all levels of education (i.e., K-12, higher ed, corporate). These qualities also imply a high degree of trustworthiness that the previous applications lack. Additionally, they offer the ability to customize test-templates and test-questions depending on the context; however, among several weaknesses, the application does not currently offer the ability to import external test-templates or questions. Although this website offers a certain level of psychometric analytics, like the other applications, the analytic reports lack sophistication and depth, relying on superficial frequency analysis. As a result, this weakness highlights the fact that these analytics have limited benefit aimed at improving instruction for furthering development, and provides little washback into the test-design process. Finally, this limited utilization of sophisticated psychometric analytics indicates a noticeable absence of consideration for performance assessments and alternative assessments, which require higher-level methodological models of statistical analysis. ​While specific data is not readily available regarding reach, total current users, or growth, states that they have raised $52.4 million in multiple funding rounds. In their 2016 funding round, they raised $33.6 million, at which point they indicated a valuation of $34 million. Two years later, in 2018, Battery Ventures acquired a 40% stake in Learnosity for $18.8 million dollars (Crunchbase, n.d., Learnosity receives nearly $12 million in annual revenue (Crunchbase, n.d.). Current valuation estimates are unavailable.
​Direct Competitor Analysis: Strengths and weaknesses ​	The primary strength of the companies in the educational measurement application market is their considerable budgets, which supports their ability to create and market products with high-level design features and exceptional user interface, lending themselves to ease of operation, and high initial impact and interest. However, these products tend to be over-reliant upon design features and operational appeal, but with time and overuse, students become bored with the applications quickly. This inevitably leads to a second apparent weakness: these products are marketed to appeal to students, as a method for raising student engagement; in doing so, the features become simplistic, and lacking the trustworthiness and credibility essential for the validation of the reliability of small-scale assessments. This over-reliance on unsophisticated features, focused on appealing to students, seems to be a result of a lack of fundamental, basic understanding of psychometric and the educational measurement industry. Finally, these companies have little innate understanding of the psychological and motivational aspects of their customers and the market. As a gatekeeper, assessment is often used as a tool for cutting society into classifications and selecting from these segments for the allocation of resources. As such, the guiding philosophy of a company in this segment of the market should be oriented toward social responsibility. This lack of perspective leads these companies to view education and assessment with purely profit driven motivations, creating a philosophical gap between the product and the consumers. In conclusion, while these companies have an immediate and initial appeal due to design and user interface, over time this interest diminishes because these features are purely superficial. These products also do not utilize contemporary theoretical frameworks in cognitive science or statistics, which are the underlying foundation of the assessment industry utilized for validating tests. Knowledge of these concepts is essential to efficiently respond to market needs calling for performance and portfolio assessments, and methods for validating the reliability of small-scale assessments. Finally, there is an enormous philosophical gap between their products and their customers. R & O expects these products to exhibit limited sustainability and growth over the short- and long-term.