Serendipity35

It has been a little over a year since I wrote about Yahoo! for Teachers. It was a free tool for all teachers, administrators, and education specialists. It had a K-12 focus and was connected with some of the people in their Yahoo! Teachers of Merit program.

I signed up for their email updates, but none came. I joined the peer network for my regional area but few others ever joined. They were behind on the launch (their own blog post from March 2007 talked about a summer launch but it was still building by the start of the new school year.

I finally got an update, but it wasn't what I expected.

Dear Yahoo! for Teachers user,

Yahoo! for Teachers will be discontinued as of November 30, 2008. Yahoo! for Teachers is being discontinued as Yahoo!'s focus shifts to our core businesses' future growth. This closure will not affect your other Yahoo! services. While your Yahoo! for Teachers content will no longer be accessible after November 30, 2008, you may continue to use the various Yahoo! Groups associated with Yahoo! for Teachers.

After November 30, you will have the option to re-register your profile and portfolio on Edtuit—a new site, independent of Yahoo!. Sign up to be notified when Edtuit becomes available. It is important to remember that after November 30, 2008, your Yahoo! for Teachers content will no longer be accessible.

Please review the FAQ for more information about the closing of Yahoo! for Teachers, and to learn how to save copies of your existing Yahoo! for Teachers content.

We appreciate the support and feedback. Thank you for using Yahoo! for Teachers.

It troubles me that this particular project failed. It troubles me more that the corporate explanation for discontinuing it is that Yahoo!'s focus is shifting to "our core businesses' future growth."  Education is not their core business. I didn't expect it to be, but when I see all the tools that their competitor Google IS offering to education, it makes sense that Yahoo! continues to lose ground.