About us
Launched in 2021, the Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF, sounds like air-diff) is a national nonprofit that harnesses the power of research and development (R&D) to unlock scientific breakthroughs and deliver research-backed solutions to pressing teaching and learning challenges, inclusively with educators, caregivers, and learners.
Our R&D generates new scientific research, technical advancements, and dynamic prototypes pushing on the edge of what’s believed to be possible in education.
These solutions aim to help our nation realize new capabilities that significantly improve our teaching, learning, and assessment systems.
Our Advanced Inclusive R&D programs generate powerful scientific insights with evidence-based teaching and learning solutions.
What we do
We build and support ambitious five year initiatives (known as programs), funded with budgets up to $25 million, to address major teaching and learning challenges in the United States.
Our programs produce
- scientific insights about teaching and learning that can be applied across our PreK-12 education system,
- technical capabilities that can be embedded in education products and practices, and
- prototypes that offer adaptable solutions to foster student growth – all helping to catalyze improvements in education.
Our Approach
We ground our approach in Advanced Inclusive R&D where we engage a community of learners, educators, researchers, developers, and others from the beginning and throughout the process in shorter cycles of innovation with clear, ambitious goals to achieve a breakthrough.
Through our unique Advanced Inclusive R&D approach, AERDF programs orchestrate an actively managed portfolio of R&D projects that are scoped beyond what can practically be explored with a single grant. AERDF programs focus on opportunity spaces that are:
- Under-explored and with strong potential for major breakthroughs, unlocking significant new capabilities that would propel multigenerational change in our US PreK-12 education system.
- Critically important for learners in order to nurture their brilliance and transform their education experiences.
- Ideally explored by a cross-sector community whose diverse expertise, perspectives, and resources catalyze progress in a way no one could achieve on their own.
Our Story
Our story started in 2018 with a vision to demonstrate an approach to reduce the time it takes to translate research into breakthrough practices, programs, and solutions that better recognize the brilliance within every student and support them to achieve their full potential.
In 2019, we gathered insights through a Request for Information, focus groups, and surveys, seeking solutions to persistent educational challenges. The ideas submitted by many educators, researchers, and developers, among other experts, covered a broad range of subject areas.
Our first program began with EF+Math, founded by educational neuroscientist Dr. Melina Uncapher and co-built and now led by Dr. Aubrey Francisco, targeting innovative math learning systems that strengthen executive function skills. Next, Assessment for Good, under Dr. Temple Lovelace, focuses on developing dynamic, formative assessments. Our third program, Reading Reimagined, guided by Rebecca Kockler, aims to increase reading fluency and comprehension. AugmentED, our fourth program, led by Sherry Lachman and Caitlin Mills, sets out to reimagine teaching and learning in the age of AI.
Looking ahead, AERDF will continue to support innovative research and development programs to expand possibilities in student learning and opportunities.
Our Privacy Protections and Commitment to Safeguarding Data
We are guided by the tenet that all information worth collecting is worth protecting. Our key policies can be found here.
To learn more about our privacy protections and receive a copy of the Policies and Procedures, please contact us at info@aerdf.org