The story
Edmark was founded in 1970 by Gordon B. Bleil through the merger of Educational Aids and Services Co.—a small supplier of educational materials and programs—and L-Tec Systems Inc., which had developed programs based on its research. The Child Development and Mental Retardation Center at the University of Washington, under the direction of Dr. Sidney Bijou, had conducted research into B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning and reinforcement theories as applied to human learning. From this research, they developed academic programs which for the first time proved the viability of teaching reading to people with severe mental limitations. Bleil adapted this research into the Edmark Reading Program, which became the company's principal product for the next decade.
Bleil left the company to return to banking in 1980 and retained no interest in the company.
They began developing software in 1992. Edmark was listed on NASDAQ. Their audience was children between the ages of 2 and 16 years. Edmark had more than 65 industry design awards.
In 1989, their children, Richard, Lucy, Heather, and Chris became directors. Richard became the chairman, Heather became the CCO, Chris became the president and Lucy became the CEO in October 1989. Edmark hired former teacher Donna Stanger as vice president of product development in October 1991.
In 1992, Edmark released Millie's Math House and KidDesk. Sally Narodick resigned as CEO in September citing the stress, and Stanger became the CEO.
Edmark was acquired by IBM in November 1996, for $102.3 million ($15.50 per share for two-thirds of Edmark's shares) to expand its presence in home software.
In September 2000, it was sold to Riverdeep Interactive Learning for about $85 million.
As of 2017, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt offered the Edmark, Edmark House Series, Mighty Math, and Thinkin' Things brands as licensing opportunities on its website. HMH sold the rights to many of Edmark's products to Rise Global in 2021.
From Wikipedia’s article on Edmark, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3