Classblox courses range from 8 to 12 weeks long, with one hour online sessions once each week.For parents who want to be involved in the process, a student's success can be monitored through weekly assessments and an online dashboard. Each Classblox course is taught by one instructor, and has up to only four students in a class. All Classblox instructors undergo a thorough and rigorous screening and training process. Teachers are paid an hourly rate, are assessed periodically, and let go if they are not performing adequately. Course prices differ depending on the topic and length, ranging from $199 to $749.
This past spring, Classblox completed its first round of funding with hedge fund billionaire Andy Bluhm of Delaware Street Capital. Resulting from Andy's investment, pilots of Classblox are currently underway in both Chicago and Ann Arbor. The second phase of funding is in movement. While the product, in beta, has been used by students since the end of June, Classblox has seen a 3.6 percent conversion rate from visit to buy, breaking industry conversion metrics for revenue generating pilots. There are 50 students currently enrolled in the program.
Shaily grew up teaching in India before coming to the US in 2005 to pursue an MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. During her time at Ross, Shaily launched her first business venture in 2008, Elevate K-12. Elevate K-12 is a product used in the classroom that provides digital instruction and online resources to millions of at-risk students across the US. Proven successful, Elevate K-12 provided over one million hours of online instruction, and boosted student's test scores by an average of a 35 percent. Through both Classblox and Elevate K-12, Shaily's lifelong passion has always been to help children and improve the education model in the US.
