Grounded Adaptability
What if young people excelled at navigating complexity, making values-driven decisions, and taking informed action in an unpredictable world?
Like a reed in a rushing river, students must be deeply rooted yet agile enough to bend, adapt, and shape their own paths forward. The Reed Project aims to reshape the three forces that determine what students learn and how they grow: curriculum, teacher preparation, and assessments. At the core of its work is grounded adaptability—the ability to navigate complexity, make values-driven decisions, and take informed action in an unpredictable world. The world isn’t slowing down. Our education system can’t afford to either. By 2035, grounded adaptability won’t be an add-on—it will be an essential pillar of K-12 public education.
Jessica’s goal is to improve education R&D for deeper and wider positive impacts on learning. Most recently, she led the From Seedlings to Scale grant portfolio at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the U.S. Department of Education. This portfolio supports nascent education solutions to develop from seedlings of ideas to realized and scalable products. Previously, Jessica has pursued R&D impact in the private philanthropy sector with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Jacobs Foundation; the nonprofit sector with Digital Promise Global and the Center for Measurement Justice; and as a researcher at Stanford. She is a co-author of the 2016 book The ABCs of How We Learn. Jessica has a PhD in Educational Psychology from the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
Jason Atwood is an applied researcher and education strategist working at the intersection of learning science, organizational design, and impact measurement. Through his consultancy, he helps mission-driven organizations sharpen insight generation, refine strategy, and build the field to advance positive youth development. Previously, Jason led measurement, evaluation, research, partnerships, and impact storytelling at NewSchools Venture Fund, Education Pioneers, and Teach For America, shaping major initiatives such as NewSchools’ Expanded Definition of Student Success and the impact and implementation studies of a $50M U.S. Department of Education innovation grant. His academic work at UC Berkeley explored the conditions of learning environments that cultivate optimism, self-belief, and a sense of developmental potential in young people. A former youth cross-country coach and group fitness instructor, Jason believes that “play is the beginning of knowledge” and brings a focused interest in embodied cognition as a powerful pathway to cognitive and emotional development. He serves as Board Chair of CommonLit, holds degrees from Georgetown and UC Berkeley, and lives in Portland, Oregon.