Archipelago Learning is an American subscription-based, software-as-a-service provider of education studies used by over 14 million students in nearly 38,700 schools throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Their comprehensive digital supplemental product suite uses technology to transform education. Their goal is to make rigorous learning fun, engaging, accessible, and affordable. The company's core business, Study Island, provides standards-based instruction, practice, testing and other tools for students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. During the 2010-2011 school year, Study Island products were utilized by approximately 11 million students in nearly 23,700 schools in 50 states and 3 Canadian provinces. These students answered over 3.6 billion practice questions. In April 2009, Archipelago Learning introduced Northstar Learning, which provides instruction, practice, assessment, and test preparation for college and career subject areas through a web-based platform. In June 2010, Archipelago Learning acquired EducationCity, which provides an online K-6 educational program that includes instructional content and assessments in language arts, mathematics and science. At the end of 2010, EducationCity was being used by 9,200 schools in the U.K. and 6,000 in the U.S. In August 2010, Archipelago Learning entered an agreement with Blake Publishing and began distributing Reading Eggs in the U.S. and Canada. Reading Eggs is a comprehensive, online supplemental literacy program for students Pre-K to grade 2. In June 2011, Archipelago Learning purchased Alloy Multimedia, which publishes ESL ReadingSmart. ESL ReadingSmart, is an online, standards-based program for English language learners (ELL) targeted toward grades 4-12. The product offers individualized, content-based instruction to develop English language proficiency with emphasis on literacy and academic language development. Founded in 2000, the company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and is a publicly held company with the largest shareholder being Providence Equity Partners, a media focused private equity firm. The company went public in November 2009 under the ticker (NASDAQ: ARCL). On 17 May 2012, Archipelago Learning (ARCL) was acquired by PLATO Learning in an all-cash deal valued at $291 million. As a result, the stock was delisted.