The flow of venture capital into the K-12 education market has exploded over the past year, reaching its highest transaction values in a decade in 2011, industry observers say. They attribute that rise to such factors as a heightened interest in educational technology; the decreasing cost of electronic devices such as tablet computers, laptops, netbooks, and mobile devices; and the movement toward standardization of curriculum through the Common Core State Standards. Venture capital transaction values in the K-12 field, which include both public and private schools, increased from roughly $130 million in 2010 to $334 million last year, according to data from the Chicago-based GSV Advisors. Jennifer Carolan, an associate partner for the San Francisco-based NewSchools Venture Fund, said that venture capitalists always look for huge markets, and education is a massive market, but there's been a lot of friction in the past with getting for-profit companies to find profits in schools. Meanwhile, as education draws renewed interest from venture capitalists, a new breed of investors is emerging, said Kim Smith of Bellwether Education. "There's a small, emerging niche of "impact" investors," she said, who typically made their money in the corporate sector and now want to reinvest in a good company that will provide profitable returns, but will also have a positive social impact. "Education is a complicated business, but it hasn't made huge productivity gains, ever, so that's clearly an area ripe for innovation," Ms. Smith said. The productivity gains that technology could achieve in the education market are attracting attention from impact investors as well as traditional venture capitalists, she said.