Revenue Recognition, Contracts with Customers (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2021

Revenue Recognition, Contracts with Customers [Abstract]

Revenue from Contracts With Customers Disaggregated by Segment and Product Type

The following tables present our revenue from contracts with customers disaggregated by segment and product type.

	For the Years Ended April 30,
	2021		2020		2019
Research Publishing & Platforms:
Research Publishing	$	972,512	$	908,952	$	903,249
Research Platforms		42,837		39,887		35,968
Total Research Publishing & Platforms		1,015,349		948,839		939,217

Academic & Professional Learning:
Education Publishing		363,870		352,188		372,018
Professional Learning		280,667		298,601		331,285
Total Academic & Professional Learning		644,537		650,789		703,303

Education Services:
Education Services OPM ⁽¹⁾		227,700		210,882		155,819
mthree ⁽¹⁾		53,915		20,973		1,730
Total Education Services		281,615		231,855		157,549
Total Revenue	$	1,941,501	$	1,831,483	$	1,800,069

⁽¹⁾

In May 2020, we moved the IT bootcamp business acquired as part of The Learning House acquisition from Education Services Online Program Management (OPM) to mthree. As a result, the prior period revenue related to the IT bootcamp business has been included in mthree. The revenue for the IT bootcamp business was $1.6 million, $3.5 million and $1.7 million for the years ended April 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. There were no changes to our total Education Services or our consolidated financial results.

Accounts Receivable, Net and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers

The following table provides information about accounts receivable, net and contract liabilities from contracts with customers.

	April 30, 2021		April 30, 2020		Increase/ (Decrease)
Balances from contracts with customers:
Accounts receivable, net	$	311,571	$	309,384	$	2,187
Contract liabilities ⁽¹⁾		545,425		520,214		25,211
Contract liabilities (included in Other long-term liabilities)	$	19,560	$	14,949	$	4,611

⁽¹⁾

The sales return reserve recorded in Contract liabilities is $38.0 million and $32.8 million as of April 30, 2021 and April 30, 2020, respectively. See Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, Recently Issued, and Recently Adopted Accounting Standards” for further details of the sales return reserve.