Our history

Watermark was formed in 2018 following the merger of Taskstream, Tk20, and LiveText. The newest members of the Watermark family are Digital Measures, EvaluationKIT, SmartCatalog, and Aviso Retention. But Watermark is more than the sum of our parts — we have continued to innovate, building a cutting-edge, unified Educational Impact Suite (EIS) focused on improving institutional and student success. You may know some of our products by a different name. But rest assured — we are committed to preserving the best of our original solutions and innovating to make them even better for you.

• 1996 – SmartCatalog is formed in Portland, ME and offers institutions digital solutions for course catalogs.
• 1997 – LiveText is founded in Chicago, IL and launches its first product to serve education preparation providers.
• 1999 – Digital Measures is launched in Milwaukee, WI to streamline manual administrative processes on campus.
• 2000 – Taskstream is created in New York, NY to help educators better assess student learning.
• 2003 – Tk20 is founded in Austin, TX, to help colleges better prepare teacher candidates for new standards.
• 2007 – EvaluationKIT is founded in Denver, CO, to improve inefficient, paper-based student feedback workflows.
• March 2017 – Taskstream & Tk20 unite. Two leading providers merge to form the largest assessment management technology company in higher ed.
• September 2017 – LiveText joins Taskstream-Tk20, expanding the company’s suite of assessment, accreditation, and ePortfolio solutions.
• October 2017 – Watermark reached a major milestone, serving 1000 higher ed institutions — nearly a quarter of all institutions in America.
• January 2018 – The company rebrands itself as “Watermark.” The name represents an enduring commitment to develop high-quality technology
  and provide data customers can trust.
• June 2018 – Watermark hosts its first annual user conference, Watermark Engage, in Austin, TX. More than 400 clients from the US and Canada participate.
• June 2018 – Digital Measures, the leading provider of faculty activity solutions, joins the Watermark family.
• July 2018 – EvaluationKIT, the leading provider of course evaluation and institutional survey solutions, joins Watermark.
• October 2018 – SmartCatalog, the first provider of a complete academic content management system including curriculum and catalog, joins Watermark.
• 2019 – As a combined entity, Watermark now serves more than 1,700 institutions with educational intelligence solutions for assessment and accreditation planning, learning outcomes measurement, ePortfolios, faculty activity reporting, course evaluation and institutional surveys, and curriculum and catalog management.
• 2022 – Aviso Retention, a leading provider of student success and equity solutions, joins Watermark.