RTI International transfers management of Tangerine open-source education platform

Originally developed by RTI, the technology suite will be managed by new startup Tangerine Central, continuing data hosting services coupled with agile technical assistance

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC — A suite of open-source education applications developed by independent scientific research institute RTI International will now be managed by the newly launched startup Tangerine Central, LLC.

Tangerine Central is available to support ministries of education, organizations and researchers in collecting and managing data more efficiently. Through centralized data management, customizable dashboards and secure cloud-based storage, users gain timely insights to inform decision-making. Developed as an offline-first application for mobile devices and in contexts with limited technology or bandwidth, both technical and non-technical users can leverage Tangerine® to simplify data collection and student assessment, allowing local teams to focus on improving results.

“Open-source technology has long been a cornerstone of RTI’s innovation,” said David Spiro, senior vice president, advisory and implementation. “The Tangerine Central transition represents a strategic evolution, which extends the reach of our tools to support data collection in education and beyond.”

Tangerine Central leaders Carmen Strigel, Ed.D., chief executive officer, and Amber Gove, Ph.D., chief impact officer, were both instrumental in designing the original technology. Lachezar Hristov will support the new company’s technology setup and deployment as head of implementation.

“We’re thrilled to launch Tangerine Central as a new chapter in the Tangerine journey,” said Strigel and Gove. “Our mission is to empower communities with flexible, offline-first tools that make data collection easier and more meaningful—especially in resource-constrained settings. Built on RTI’s strong foundation, we’re committed to expanding access, fostering local ownership, and unlocking the power of data to improve lives.”

Strigel and Gove collectively bring more than five decades of experience in education research, policy, EdTech, large-scale assessments and program implementation. Strigel will also continue in her position as RTI’s senior director, Center for Advanced Analytics and Visualization; these dual roles will ensure alignment and momentum in advancing the two organizations’ shared goals around education, innovation and improving the human condition. RTI will continue to utilize the Tangerine suite through its existing and future projects.

The three distinct Tangerine products can be customized to fit a user’s specific language, script and data collection needs:

Tangerine – Used to collect data for large-scale assessments and surveys. Results are synchronized to Tangerine’s server and analyzed to obtain a full picture of student learning across geographies, such as school districts, regions or countries.

Tangerine:Teach – Shorter assessments used in class by educators to track students’ individual attendance, behavior and learning over time. Results are stored on mobile devices, are accessible in simple graphs and tables, and help teachers understand and adapt to their students’ learning needs in real time.

Tangerine:Coach – Produces rapid assessments, surveys and classroom observations for instructional coaches to assist in teachers’ professional development. Provides immediate teacher feedback as well as long-term progress reports that help ministries of education monitor and evaluate individual teachers’ progress and learning.

Tangerine® was originally developed at RTI in 2011 as a mobile data collection app and has been used in more than 65 countries and 100 languages to conduct surveys and assess student learning. The technology has demonstrated effectiveness in low-resource settings, with ministries of education in six countries running their own Tangerine servers.

Learn more about Tangerine Central