From regulating behavior to teaching valuable skills like coding, there's no shortage of startups in today's education landscape looking to change the way things are done. But just as quickly as a hot startup wows venture capitalists, it can also fade into obscurity or fold under scrutiny.

We looked at the portfolios of New Schools Venture Fund, Kapor Capital, Learn Capital, Google Ventures, and Union Square Ventures and selected several startups that two or more of the portfolios had in common, examining what they aim to do and what they're doing now. Though a few face potential hurdles, the 9 startups listed below have shown significant potential and are worth keeping an eye on. We'll let you decide if they're the next big thing — or just a flash in the pan.

1. ClassDojo

Investors: Kapor Capital, Learn Capital, New Schools Venture Fund

Touted as "one of the fastest-growing education technology companies of all time" on its CrunchBase profile, ClassDojo is a behavior management tool that allows teachers to reward good behavior with points. The free software has been adopted by some 8 million teachers, and data and reports can be shared with parents and administrators via a single click.

What are they doing now? As this EdSurge piece shows, some teachers question whether good behavior can be reinforced with external rewards in the long run, but others suggest that it all depends upon implementation. Regardless, with $10.1 million in funding and millions of teachers in 80 countries using ClassDojo, the startup may be on to something.

2. BrightBytes

Investors: Learn Capital, New Schools Venture Fund

BrightBytes aims to improve learning by helping those in education, from the government level to schools, make better use of data in measuring learning outcomes. The Clarity for Schools business intelligence platform is its flagship product, powered by research from its BrightBytes Labs R&D hub.

What are they doing now? Concerns over student data privacy were one potential hurdle faced by the startup, but it seems to have overcome the obstacle with a user base now numbering around 10,000 schools and a recently announced $15 million in new funding. Still, BrightBytes will have to tread carefully where student data is concerned if it wants to avoid a fate similar to InBloom.

3. CodeHS

Investors: Kapor Capital, Learn Capital

The founders of CodeHS are focused on making it easier for educators to teach high school students how to code. The company pays computer science majors to tutor students worldwide, and its co-founders are Stanford graduates who both taught at the prestigious university. CodeHS was incubated at StartX and ImagineK12, but its current funding amount is unknown.

What are they doing now? Coding is a high-demand skill that has received a significant amount of attention in the past year — particularly when Code.org's December "Hour of Code" saw public figures from President Barack Obama and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to the Miami Heat's Chris Bosh express support on YouTube. The push, which occurred during Computer Science Education Week, saw CodeHS offer a free hour-long lesson. The startup also attempted to raise $100,000 in funding in an IndieGogo campaign the same month, but only got to $39,574.

4. Desmos

Investors: Google Ventures, Kapor Capital, Learn Capital

Originally launching in 2011 as an interactive whiteboard, Desmos quickly shifted course due to the huge amount of interest in its graphing calculator function. Today, that function is the startup's only focus and is a free alternative to the expensive physical models, which cost as much as $150, offered by companies like Texas Instruments. Better yet, iPad versions with pinch-zooming are available, and students can save their graphs and share them with teachers and peers. Its total funding so far comes to about $900,000.

What are they doing now? Since the shift in course, Desmos has forged partnerships with publishers for digital textbook integration, ensuring it ends up in front of educators and students and giving the free-to-use tool a revenue source. It's not hard to imagine the tool eventually being acquired by a single publisher, though.

5. NoRedInk

Investors: Google Ventures, Kapor Capital, Learn Capital, New Schools Venture Fund

During his eight years teaching English in Chicago, Jeff Scheur created NoRedInk to help his students improve their skills with more engaging content while making it easier for him to track their progress. Students are given grammar questions generated from their favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, and friends, but the questions aren't plain vanilla multiple choice, either. They feature drag-and-drop punctuation, click-based capitalization, and direct text editing. And they align with the Common Core. The company has raised a total of $2 million in venture funding.

What are they doing now? NoRedInk is already being used by 10% of U.S. schools and has received glowing reviews from teachers. It is currently still free for all teachers and students to use.

6. Edmodo

Investors: Learn Capital, Union Square Ventures

With over 33 million users, Edmodo — a social network designed for teachers, students, and parents — has been billed by some as the Facebook of education. Educators using the site can manage classrooms, deliver assignments, track grades, create polls, and share lessons and tips with peers. Additionally, the site offers an app store with tools like SchoolTube, an educational video site.

Greylock Partners and Benchmark Capital are also among its investors, from whom it had raised $47.5 million as of July 2012.

What are they doing now? Just over a year ago, Edmodo acquired Root-1, maker of the OpenMinds platform for uploading, sharing, and re-purposing question banks for apps, websites, and games. There hasn't been much in the way of major news about the company since, but Quantcast data estimates show its traffic in decline. Some also question how the company "collects, uses, and shares the 'metadata' generated by students."

7. eSpark

Investors: Learn Capital, New Schools Venture Fund

Looking to save schools and parents the time of sorting through myriad educational apps, eSpark's iPad app tailors personalized learning plans for K-8 students. These plans are developed via the app's own metrics or using a student's standardized test scores to recommend the games, instructional videos, and audiobooks that will benefit them most. Essentially, the Gates Foundation grant recipient is the Pandora of education apps. The company claims that, in 8 weeks, its product can help students grow an average of 1.4 grade levels in a specific subject area. It has raised a total of $5.7 million.

What are they doing now? A quick look through eSpark's press page gives a pretty good idea of its growth and adoption over the last few years.Twice a month, the company also offers free blended learning webinars, and its site houses a library of past webinars.

8. Curriculet

Investors: Kapor Capital, New Schools Venture Fund

There's no shortage of e-reading platforms available, but Curriculet does more than simply let students read books on any browser-enabled device. Teachers using the platform can also embed questions, quizzes, and media (including their own video explanations) into the reading material, receiving real-time feedback and monitoring Common Core progress in the process.

The platform is free to use for both teachers and students — a selection of reading assignments in the public domain are available. But teachers can also purchase contemporary texts outside of the public domain for as low as 99 cents per student per title to use for three months or $1.99 a year. To date, Curriculet has raised $1.8 million.

What are they doing now? Curriculet is still on the rise, with 58% month-over-month growth in 2014 so far through March. The aforementioned paid content is part of a pilot program currently under way, and as of March, it's also available as an app on Edmodo.

9. LearnZillion

Investors: Learn Capital, New Schools Venture Fund

LearnZillion is a professional development and lesson planning resource providing support for educators and students as states move to curriculum based on the Common Core Standards. It was founded by a former principal and teacher, and it offers over 3,600 resources for grades 2-12 in math and English language arts, free to teachers. A premium platform is also available. To date, it has raised $9.4 million in funding.

What are they doing now? LearnZillion currently has state contracts in Delaware and Connecticut, where it was recently involved in assembling the state's 97-teacher Common Core "Dream Team." At the Education Industry Association's Education Industry Days Summit in February, the company also told us that it has seen 75% growth in 5 months.