Another leading tech company is running the EdTech race as Oracle announces that it will be building a high school campus.

“Set to be completed in the fall of 2017, it is described as a ‘64,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, LEED-certified school’ enrolling 550 students in the ninth and tenth grades upon opening,” according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

“In addition to donating the land, Oracle will pay to build the facility.”

The report stated that the school will incorporate STEAM learning and the company intends on incorporating student input for the design process of the facility.

“Oracle’s announcement comes on the heels of another foray into education by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who announced that they will open a free private school — as opposed to d.tech, which is a charter school — serving 700 students,” according to the report.

Tech companies are continuing to dominate the education market and with projects such as Oracle’s charter school and Facebook’s private school, they show that they actually value student learning fused with progression. The companies are essentially giving back by opening schools that will be at the forefront of technology and influence the STEAM fields, not forgetting the arts and design is important to note.

“Both the Oracle and Zuckerberg announcement come at a time of record-breaking investment in education startups: In 2014, U.S. education technology companies raised a total of $1.36 billion across nearly 400 investors,” according to the report.

“In 2015, venture money has continued to flow into education-focused startups, with companies such as General Assembly, Coursera and Khan Academy leading the pack in offering access to coding and other forms of technical training for adults.”

Oracle’s goal is for their model to spread further than just one campus, according to Colleen Cassity, Oracle’s head of corporate responsibility.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor