Written by Toni Maraviglia
About
MPrep was founded in 2011 by Kenyan teachers and educators serious about making technology useful for their students. From the rural areas of Nyanza to Wajir Town and the Mombasa Coast, Kenyan teachers united to create the content of our initial Class 7 and Class 8 study tool.
We wanted a tool that combined the best of great teaching practices: scaffolded assessments, direct feedback, and high engagement. And we wanted to make sure all kids had access to our system. What better way to start than with a simple SMS-based system?
Our focus right now is on building the MPrep platform from an assessment-based system that quizzes students on topics learned in class to a multi-media learning platform accessible to as many students and schools as possible through widely used ICT. With our automated data, we are finding amazing ways to give teachers and schools ongoing information about their students to target specific areas of need.
What started as an idea on SMS has evolved into an educational ecosystem meeting teachers and schools with the appropriate technological fit.
MPrep aims to be an educational equalizer…
With simple mobile technology, we are building an educational ecosystem that gives deprived students access to quality study tools and provides teachers with meaningful data about their students.
What our partners say…
“MPrep goes beyond testing. It prepares.”
– Gibbonce Ager, KEPSHA representative from Ojwando Primary School
Data for Teachers & Schools
MPrep collects data from “study sessions”:
- Activate study topic by sending an SMS to our 4-digit number
- Receive series of questions on local content and answer them
- Receive individual feedback for answer choices.
- Continue studying after learning score, rank, and suggested study topics
From our data, teachers know:
- Individual students’ strengths and weaknesses
- A full class’s strengths and weaknesses
- Topics that need review
- Subjects that need review
Schools know:
- How they measure up to other MPrep schools
- Overall trends in topics
- Strengths and weaknesses of different class streams
Team
Toni Maraviglia – Founder and CEO
Before founding MPrep, Toni co-founded an educational organization in rural Nyanza, Kenya called WISERBridge in 2008. She was also a Teach For America corps member and Program Director for Teach For America in New York City. Toni has spent the past 7 years teaching/managing teachers, and she also holds a Masters in Teaching.
Michael Milanya
Michael is an expert upper primary teacher at the highly respected school, Nairobi Primary. He helped lead his students to a 97% percent passing rate on the KCPE in 2010. In 2010 Nairobi Primary was the highest performing primary school in Kenya. Michael has over 10 years experience teaching.
Isaac Kosgei
Isaac is an influential, young entrepreneur that graduated from University of Egerton with a degree in Agri-Business. Isaac’s experience ranges from working as a translator at Wikipedia to administrative support for Bridge International Academies. He is passionate about education and social media.
Chris Asego
Chris is wholly dedicated to our mission after spending his life among educators. He graduated from Jomo Kenyatta University with a degree in IT and is currently on the Kenyan National Rugby team.
Awards & Accolades
Education category winner of the 2012 Pivot East Competition
Article in the Business Daily Africa
MPrep wins $25,000 at the Desire 2 Learn Competition
MPrep wins the Milken-PennGSE Education Business Plan Competition
