How Renaissance Learning Built a Unified Edtech Ecosystem – With Eric Swanson & Storey Sitwala

Jun 23, 2025

Join Eric Swanson, Senior VP of Practice and Instructional Products, and Storey Sitwala, Senior Director of Product Management at Renaissance Learning, as they discuss the transformative role of EdTech. Discover how Renaissance Next is streamlining data for teachers and why personalization is key for both educators and students. They dive into the importance of unifying diverse educational tools and maintaining teacher autonomy in AI design. Learn about the synergy between UX and AI, enhancing educational outcomes through data-driven insights.

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ANECDOTE

Teacher Values Human Connection

A teacher described how her students vie to be in small groups for human connection.
AI can help by blending insights so she doesn't spend time going through multiple reports.

INSIGHT

Renaissance's Strategic Acquisitions

Renaissance expanded from reading to a holistic edtech ecosystem by acquisitions.
Integrating varied cultures and customer needs is challenging but necessary to compete.

ADVICE

Unify Around Shared Strategy

Establish a shared guiding strategy to unify disparate acquisitions into a cohesive product.
Listen closely to teachers and leaders to identify pain points and unify solutions around their needs.

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Eric Swanson currently holds the position of Senior Vice President of Practice and Instructional Products at Renaissance Learning. In this capacity, he works with educators, technologists, and researchers to build best-in-class practice products and experiences that improve academic outcomes for students and educators. Working with the Renaissance Next, myON, Accelerated Reader, Lalilo, and Freckle teams, as well as our Math and Literacy product portfolios and new product ventures, Eric ensures the practice and instruction product strategy, roadmaps, and Go- to-Market activities fit within Renaissance and with our customers’ needs.

Storey Sitwala is Senior Director of Product Management at Renaissance. Throughout her career, she has focused on the challenge of how to scale insight-driven best practices for educators. She has spearheaded and developed innovative solutions across education nonprofits, school systems, and within the education technology sector, leveraging her expertise in information science, data visualization, psychology, and user experience design.

💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:

How Renaissance Next streamlines data for teachers
The strategy behind Renaissance’s edtech acquisitions
Personalization for students, teachers, and leaders
Responsible AI use in education
Why teacher autonomy stays central in AI design

✨ Episode Highlights:

[00:02:04] Eric on Renaissance’s acquisitions journey
[00:09:17] What Renaissance Next is and why it matters
[00:12:42] Designing dashboards for different users
[00:20:21] What beta testing revealed about real teacher needs
[00:23:30] Balancing AI support with teacher control
[00:32:06] Partnering with core curriculum providers
[00:38:05] Renaissance’s AI ethics and governance
[00:46:28] The future: personalization and faster prototyping

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🎉 Presenting Sponsor/s:

This season of Edtech Insiders is brought to you by Starbridge. Every year, K-12 districts and higher ed institutions spend over half a trillion dollars—but most sales teams miss the signals. Starbridge tracks early signs like board minutes, budget drafts, and strategic plans, then helps you turn them into personalized outreach—fast. Win the deal before it hits the RFP stage. That’s how top edtech teams stay ahead.

This season of Edtech Insiders is once again brought to you by Tuck Advisors, the M&A firm for EdTech companies. Run by serial entrepreneurs with over 25 years of experience founding, investing in, and selling companies, Tuck believes you deserve M&A advisors who work as hard as you do.