How to Make the Grade
Entrepreneur and card shark Gautam Rao has a solution to our education system’s failings – one part technology, one part tough love
by Lindsey Norris
Thirteen years ago, a friend asked Gautam Rao what he would do with his life if money was no object. He didn’t have to think about his answer. “I would help students do better at math,” he said.
At the time, Rao was a financial analyst in Edmonton. To an outsider, it may seem that there were easier ways of achieving this goal than starting a company from scratch in an unfamiliar industry. But Rao, who graduated with a mathematics degree from the University of Alberta in 1984, remembered how much he enjoyed helping other students grasp difficult concepts. Besides, Rao once played professional poker; he isn’t afraid to stake a bet on a good hand. So he went all-in, founding Castle Rock Research Corporation in 1995.
His original goal was modest: he wanted to develop a study guide that would help students score better on provincial Grade 12 math exams. In Alberta, the diploma exam counts for 50% of a student’s final mark, giving literal meaning to the term “high-stakes testing.” Once Rao was granted the reproduction rights to past provincial exams, he built a prototype to show to 47 schools in Edmonton and Calgary. All of them agreed to buy the completed product.
Today, Castle Rock offers curriculum-based study guides for several subjects in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and soon the United States. It offers these same guides online, with multimedia elements. Castle Rock has grown from two employees (Rao and a partner, who is no longer with the company) to 75 people in Edmonton, with hundreds of consultants in Canada and internationally. Revenues have increased 20-fold, and Rao expects another 10-fold increase in the next decade.
When Rao talks about his success in winning contracts, even against larger, international companies, he says he was “fortunate,” seeming to attribute success as much to luck as to hard work and careful research. In fact, remaining modest by tackling one subject, one grade and one province at a time has resulted in consistent, strong growth.
And he’s not done yet. Rao wants to change the landscape of education. “In five years, I hope this company can impact student learning all the way from kindergarten to post-secondary and throughout their university career,” he says.
In 2006, he committed $500,000 to establish the iCORE/Gautam Rao Industry Research Chair in Multimedia. The research examines how distance learning students can work collaboratively in a group using wireless technology. The technology, ultimately, should improve education around the world, so that a child in China can access the same educational resources as a child in Red Deer.
Castle Rock is exploring ways to extend its reach by branching out from study guides to producing software that is capable of administering tests. Currently, Castle Rock’s version of a software testing program, called Computer Adaptive Assessment, is in the third year of a pilot test. The test adjusts the questions posed depending on the student’s answers. In theory, these tests are less frustrating for students who are struggling and less likely to bore students who understand the concepts. It should also make it easier for teachers to build a customized lesson plan suited to each child’s ability.
Student-tailored learning can’t come at a better time. Alberta has the lowest high school graduation rate in the country; the large paycheques available in the oilfields and the abundance of “help wanted” ads can make teenagers question the value of an education. Ultimately, Rao believes the economy will suffer if the province can’t maintain an educated workforce.
“The reality is, especially in certain high-risk markets – rural Alberta, inner city, aboriginal markets – the graduation rates are not very strong. A 15-, 16- or 17-year-old student can work in the oilpatch or other high-paying jobs and earn $50,000 to $70,000 a year. There should be ways for the government to ensure large retentions of students until they hit 18,” Rao says.
Corporations that hire students when they are too young should be penalized, Rao believes, and the government needs to promote the value of education.
Raising educational standards should be easier today; the Internet boom in the mid-1990s suddenly gave people in Athabasca as much access to information as those in major city centres. For Rao, the Internet was an opportunity to break away from traditional pen-and-paper study guides and incorporate multimedia elements.
“If you want to help kids, you must embrace technology. When I was a young boy, if we had to write a book report, we would go to the school library and take out the one book that was available on the wolf, take it home, write a book report and hand it in. Today, you can use Google and find 20 different articles on the wolf in a matter of moments,” he says, snapping his fingers.
Rao sees how technology has given his children (he has five) different expectations and demands of the world. When Rao would write letters to his grandfather in India, it would take two weeks to arrive. If he wanted to phone him, the call would be prohibitively expensive. Now, his children can talk to someone on the other side of the world just by signing into MSN Messenger. And he argues that this access has changed the way children learn. Before educators and parents can help students, they must connect with this new way of learning.
Technology has allowed Rao to continue playing poker, despite a demanding business and growing family. By playing online, he says he could manage a few hours in the evenings and even contribute to the family income. Juggling a company and a young family is his greatest challenge.
“It’s very tough – I work really hard, really long hours…I have a wife and five little children, ages 13, seven, six, four and one. My family is the most important thing to me,” he says. When he talks about his wife, Salmana, he uses the word “fortunate” again, and says she allows him to be the best he can at his job by giving him peace of mind when he’s working long hours.
On a tour of the Castle Rock office in Edmonton’s Manulife Place, Rao points out the dozens of researchers and teachers who are helping him realize – and surpass – the goal he set 13 years ago. Raising children to become good citizens is a communal effort that requires the participation of their parents, educators and peers. And Castle Rock is now a part of that.
“I love Castle Rock and the work we do at Castle Rock,” he says simply. “It was the second-best decision I ever made.” His best decision? “Marrying my wife.”
It’s easy to see how Rao was a successful poker player. When he’s asked a question, he takes a moment to think about it before he answers. Even when he speaks passionately – about his hope that his children will learn the value of working hard and living life with integrity, for example – his tone never changes. And once he’s dealt a new card, he doesn’t hedge his bets.
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