AERDF

We are a national discovery and invention hub purpose-built for PreK-12 education to unlock breakthrough methods, knowledge, and solutions for our most pressing teaching and learning challenges.

What Makes Us Unique

Discovery and Invention: We fund multi-year, high-impact research and development (R&D) programs that tackle urgent and complex challenges in teaching and learning.

Next-Generation R&D Infrastructure: We build shared tools, platforms, and virtual environments for education innovators that compress research timelines and make breakthrough work more efficient, ethical, and scalable.

Research-to-Practice Acceleration: We bridge the gap between discovery and adoption, ensuring that bold ideas are co-designed with stakeholders, tested, improved, and ultimately implemented at scale.

How We Conduct Our R&D

At the core of our work is Advanced Inclusive R&D, a model that drives high-impact, high-reward scientific rigor to push beyond known solutions with the people education was built to serve from day one: learners and educators.

We provide R&D capabilities, infrastructure, partnerships, and expertise to develop next-generation tools and approaches that keep pace with innovation and drive necessary change. This includes our multi-year, problem-driven R&D programs and our fellowships that convene diverse researcher-practitioners and fuel advances across the field.

AugmentED brings together expert teachers, researchers, and technologists to reimagine education for the AI era, developing and testing new teaching approaches and AI-powered tools to nurture every student’s potential.

Reading Reimagined

Reading Reimagined develops foundational literacy skills in students who need ongoing support tailored to their developmental stage.

Assessment for Good

Assessment for Good aims to transform assessment to deliver accurate, meaningful data that ignites instruction and fosters a more student-centered experience – at the speed of teaching and learning.

EF+Math Program

EF+Math improves math outcomes by strengthening executive functioning skills that manage our attention, thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

Fellowships

AERDF convenes multi-disciplinary researchers and leading educators to cultivate new approaches for applying research to the real needs of learners and education systems.

What We Do

Learn how our R&D is transforming learning by creating, testing, and scaling new innovations across the field.

Are you a PreK-12 teacher, school system leader, student, caregiver, or leader of a community organization supporting learners?

We have opportunities for you to share your expertise and wisdom to help transform education.

Assessment for Good Presents the Futures of Assessment

Explore four possible futures where asset-based, formative assessment is the norm — centered on dialogue, customized support, student agency, powerful learning opportunities, and community connections. Experience the worlds of Celia, Jayden, Alejandro, and Kendra.

OUR STORIES OF DISCOVERY & INVENTION

Blog

From Classroom to Co-Design and Research: How Vista Unified Teachers Transformed Math Learning Through Collaborative Product Development

When an email from the principal lands in teacher inboxes asking for volunteers, it doesn’t always lead to transformative experiences. For Pam Barrett and Chris Davis, two veteran mathematics teachers at Vista Magnet Middle School in California’s Vista Unified School District, responding to that call changed not only their teaching practice but also their understanding of the power of authentic co-design on math learning approaches for their students. Experienced Educators Meet Real-World Research Mathematical Thinkers Like Me (MLM) is a project team that was funded

Press

Addressing The Nation’s Report Card: How We Can Tackle Declining NAEP Scores

“There’s a misconception that students are done developing reading skills

Learnings

Bold Ideas, Rigorous Methods: Shaping the Future of Education Using an Advanced Inclusive R&D Model

At AERDF, we exist to push the boundaries of what’s

Featured Announcements

AERDF at ISTELive+ASCD Conference

AERDF debuted our latest advancements in math, literacy, assessment, and AI at this year’s ISTE+ASCD Annual Conference.

NCTM Features AERDF EF+Math Program

Watch a video about the AERDF EF+Math Program featured at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Annual Meeting & Exposition.