Schoology, the leading cloud-based collaborative learning platform for K-20 classrooms, has announced that it has raised $6 million in financing led by FirstMark Capital, a leading NYC-based venture capital firm with a history of successful investments in online, software and education businesses, and joined by existing investor Meakem Becker Venture Capital. Schoology has raised $9.3 million in funding to date.

In the wake UC Davis’ announcement that the school was ending an Apps pilot for faculty because of privacy concerns, Google is celebrating a milestone. As of today, 8 million students, faculty and staff at educational institutions around the world are using Google Apps. Google says that the U.S. has about 16 million college students total, so the productivity suite is steadily gaining its piece of the pie.

In total, Google has around 25 million Apps users, so education makes up a generous slice of the suite’s userbase. Google has made a strong push to recruit educational institutions to use Google Apps, launching a new centralized site targeted towards recruiting educational institutions. It makes sense; not only is it a huge market for the productivity suite, but schools and colleges are where many people get trained, start relying on, and form brand allegiances to productivity apps.