Paper is an educational technology company that partners with school systems to provide an unlimited on-demand Educational Support System (ESS) that offers tutoring, coaching on writing skills, college and career support, AI-powered literacy help, gamified learning, and after-school enrichment.

Paper's products had more than three million users across the United States at the height of the pandemic. The company is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec and has operations across North America with a second headquarters in Las Vegas, NV. 

Paper claims to offer one-on-one virtual tutoring, but in fact tutors often work with multiple students at the same time without informing the students or school districts which they serve.

Paper considers their 250 full-time corporate employees, and 2000 part-time tutors to be remote workers rather than coming into an office on a full time basis. 

In recent months, due to reduced pandemic funding being provided to school districts, Paper's revenue and bookings significantly lagged expectations. This resulted in the layoff of 105 corporate staff shortly after a cut of 81 corporate staff earlier in 2023, along with hundreds of tutors.

History 
Originally named GradeSlam, Paper was founded in 2014 by McGill University graduates Philip Cutler and Roberto Cipriani. Cutler, a former teacher and tutor, recognized that many of his students were seeking additional support through tutors or homework help programs. These services were reserved for the wealthiest of families, with hardly any options available for the general student population. He felt that education should be focused on access and equality, so he left teaching to start the company with a mission to deliver true educational equity and level the playing field for all students.

Since 2016, the company has been venture backed. They have raised $389.6 million dollars from investors including Google, Salesforce, Softbank,  IVP, Sapphire Ventures.

Paper received tens of millions of dollars of contracts from schools trying to help students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, Paper acquired career and college readiness platform MajorClarity, and AI-based reading software provider Readlee.

Software and product

Live Help 
Paper provides a comprehensive Educational Support System (ESS). The ESS consists of a number of student, teacher and administrator tools. They are best known for the online academic support that provides 24/7 live help and essay review.
For students, Paper provides schools with the ability to offer students with chat-based access to tutors. Tutors working for Paper are regarded as an extension of each school’s individual teaching staff. Teachers are granted access to see their students' interactions on Paper. Teachers also receive insights to help inform their teaching and have a pulse on their class' assessments.

Though advertised as one-on-one, Paper's virtual tutoring actually involves tutors working with multiple students at the same time, as a cost-saving measure, without informing the students. In some cases, the schools and districts Paper contracts with are unaware of this practice. Although Paper tells clients that it provides "a 1:1 student-tutor ratio", its internal materials says tutors can easily work with three studennts at once and that "there is no maximum number of students a tutor can be matched with simultaneously". According to the company's records, tutors spend 45% of their time working with two or more students at once. Paper pays tutors extra when they work with four or more students at the same time.

Writing Feedback 
In response to requests for writing specific feedback, Paper launched a service called Essay Review. Essay review allows any written work to be annotated and reviewed by a writing specific tutor who helps the student advance their written skills. Tutors are advised to spend no more than 30 minutes per assignment regardless of its length; to meet the time limit, some tutors say they copy pre-written feedback on assignments.

Initially intended for language arts classes, Essay Review began being used by students in all classes, as well as for resumes and other personal writing pieces. In 2020, Paper introduced the “plagiar-eyes” badge. The badge appears on reviewed essays. It lets students and teachers know that there is work required to remove any instances of plagiarism.

Education Content 

In March 2020, Paper launched an education industry focused blog. The Paper blog includes educator spotlights, industry interviews, and series about coping with school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company has released a series of White Papers and guides for the education and edtech industry. These documents highlight research and analysis across a spectrum of issues and ideas in education.

Educational impact 
Paper has conducted a number of efficacy studies to identify the educational impact of their ESS. A study conducted with 5th grade students saw students using Paper experience 30% more growth in English language development than peers without access to the ESS.

A study with Hillsborough County Public Schools found statistically significant academic gains among students who used Paper for ELA. Students of hispanic descent and those below the poverty line were the two groups who saw the largest gains.

During the extended school closures caused by COVID-19, Paper was heavily depended upon by schools looking to provide remote teaching and learning for students. The company reported record months of student engagement in March 2020 and April 2020 as a result of distance learning initiatives. The company is reported to have large penetration in major US markets including the Bay Area where over a dozen school districts have implemented the service.

In June 2021, the company reported supporting over 1 million students and employing 1000 tutors and 130 staff.

As of 2023, Paper reported supporting over three million students on the platform. School districts partnering with Paper included many of the largest in the US including Los Angeles Unified School District, Clark County School District, Hillsborough County Public Schools, School District of Palm Beach County, Boston Public Schools,Atlanta Public Schools.

Officials in New Mexico cancelled a contract with Paper in 2023 after finding that its services were not adequately helping students. Furthermore, officials from the New Mexico Public Education Department, along with other school districts have stated that Paper had given them the impression that students were working one-on-one with tutors and weren't aware that tutors were in fact handling multiple students at one.

Awards and Recognition 
Paper has been featured on Bloomberg News, CNBC,  Cheddar, NBC News, The National (CBC) for its role in the education and technology markets.

In 2015, the company was selected by Tourism Montreal as one of the Top 10 Startups In Montreal.

Paper is the winner of many awards including the 2022 Canadian EdTech Company of the Year, 2020 EdTech Award for Best Tutoring Solution. 

The company has been labelled one of the fastest-growing companies in North America. It was listed as the 21st fastest-growing company in Canada in 2020.

Paper was selected to the GSV EdTech 150 in 2021 and 2022. The GSV EdTech 150 recognizes the 150 "most transformational growth companies in digital learning". The list highlights companies that are selected based on their impact finding innovative and scalable ways to serve learners around the world.

References

Distance education in Canada
Education companies of Canada
Online companies of Canada
Companies based in Montreal
2014 establishments in Quebec