Big Move For Big Bird: Sesame Street Moving Into Classrooms

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SEATTLE (AP) -- The Sesame Street company is taking its beloved, critically acclaimed brand of educational television into the highly profitable world of classroom curriculum.

It's a move that experts say could open the door for other companies to move into the sensitive learning space with possible influence on children.

Sesame Workshop and McGraw-Hill Education announced their new partnership Thursday.

The company behind Big Bird and Elmo and the billion-dollar for-profit company known for school textbooks both declined to disclose the financial terms.

Heather Kirkorian is a University of Wisconsin professor who studies the effects of media in young children and says, "Sesame Workshop probably can be trusted to do this in an ethical way."

But she says she worries it will allow other companies to enter classrooms in a less ethical way.

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