Type of site Education Owner Jason Shah Revenue N/A | Available in American English Created by Jason Shah | |
Slogan(s) The mission of INeedAPencil.com is to empower underserved students through innovative online resources that maximize access to higher education. | ||
The INeedAPencil is a not-for-profit website created in 2006 by tutor Jason Shah, a graduate of Harvard University. The mission of the site is "to empower underserved students through innovative online resources that maximize access to higher education". The site supplies a free online collection of more than 60 lessons in math, reading, and writing that invoke pop culture to make them more entertaining. There are over 800 practice exam questions that simulate the SAT and provide full explanations.
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Description
Shah outlined his mission as to "Nearly 1 million students in the U.S. are denied the chance to go to the very best college that they can attend because, in part, their test scores are not high enough. However, these students have peers with all of the resources, from tutors to books, at their fingertips. Income should not determine outcome. The mission of INeedAPencil.com is to empower under served students through online resources that maximize access to higher education."
INeedAPencil was acquired in 2011 by CK-12 Foundation, an educational non-profit with a mission of reducing the cost of high quality educational materials for all.
Jason Shah
Jason Shah holds a degree from Harvard University with a concentration in sociology. He is originally from Edison, New Jersey. DURING high school, he was inspired by his sister and Teach for America to help disadvantaged students get into college. In November 2006, with the support of his parents and a web-savvy high school friend, Shah's site launched in late 2006.
He was recognized as one of America's Cool College Start-ups in 2010 by Inc. Magazine. People Magazine named him with their Heroes Among Us title. In May 2009, Jason Shah gave a presentation about INeedAPencil to an audience at the University of Texas at Austin. Other media appearances include GOOD, Cal Newport's Study Hacks and Sparkseed.com.
Jason Shah has been featured on CNN and interviewed by CNN news anchor Ali Velshi, and interviewed at GSBI in August 2009.