Over the past 14 months we at AERDF have been fortunate to be able to work with so many visionary education professionals, researchers and leaders at AERDF, and yet one among them stands out for her uniquely important role in our work. Please join us in celebrating the significant contributions of educational neuroscientist Dr. Melina Uncapher, co-founder of AERDF and founder of EF+Math. This year Melina transitioned from her full-time role in our organization, concluding a six-year tenure marked by tremendous achievements.
Melina’s imprint on this organization’s story runs deep and predates our founding. Prior to AERDF’s public launch, in 2018, we began to seek solutions to persistent education challenges by gathering insights through a Request for Information, focus groups, surveys and listening tour with education leaders. Many ideas were submitted covering a broad range of subject areas. That call to the education sector led to the launch of EF+Math, founded by Melina and co-built and now led by Dr. Aubrey Francisco. EF+Math’s launch proved the viability of an Advanced Inclusive R&D model that paved the way for a launch of AERDF and ultimately, Assessment for Good and Reading Reimagined.
The EF+Math team established the initial foundation for AERDF while also pursuing their breakthrough goal to dramatically improve mathematics learning by embedding in math instruction the strengthening of executive function (or “EF”) skills. With AERDF’s launch, Melina was named Chief of Research and Development, a role through which she helped pioneer the application of R&D, already a powerful “engine of innovation” in other sectors, to the PreK-12 sector.
Among Melina’s many contributions to AERDF was creation of a framework to understand how our R&D projects progress from basic research to advanced application at scale. She also brought in new thinking around how to improve collaboration across traditionally rigid boundaries experienced by educators, researchers, and developers, which we now call “Inclusive R&D.” Additionally, Melina built a robust infrastructure that provides our programs the scientific, engineering, and policy support to accomplish our bold goals; this includes a highly secure technical infrastructure, legal and ethics support, scientific and technical reviews, data management plan development, and general research and evaluation support to strengthen equitable approaches to R&D. We are excited to share that these foundational services will now be available outside of AERDF through a new organization called SETA-ED (Scientific and Engineering Technical Assistance for Education). SETA-ED operates independently from AERDF to bring the lessons learned in our 5 years conducting Advanced Inclusive R&D to strengthen the broader education R&D ecosystem.
“I’ve learned a lot from Melina in the time we’ve been able to work together.” Auditi Chakravarty, CEO of AERDF, reflects “One of the frequent sayings I will carry from her is the advice from now Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Arati Prabhakar that a great Program Executive Director should have their ‘head in the cloud and boots on the ground.’ This continues to serve as a powerful motto for our program leaders as they pursue their bold breakthroughs. I thank Melina for that and other indelible contributions to this organization as we continue to innovate and apply Inclusive R&D to transform learning experiences for Black and Latino learners and learners experiencing poverty. I asked Melina to sum up what she was most proud of during her time at AERDF and very fittingly she spoke to what could be possible for the future of PreK-12 education if we dared to dream big.”
Melina shared “As a field we’ve come together to think and do things we couldn’t have imagined before AERDF. We’ve been inspired by what is most important–the brilliance and potential of every learner–and we’ve built new ways of revealing that brilliance using science and engineering, but also heart and soul. I hope that in 10 years, every young learner in the US will be positively impacted by the work AERDF is up to.”
Melina’s new organization, SETA-ED, will operate as a scientific and engineering technical assistance (SETA) provider, which is a familiar model in other Advanced R&D sectors that provides on-demand expertise and robust infrastructure services to reduce start-up friction, amplifying R&D teams’ expertise and impact by helping them envision, plan, execute and scale their R&D efforts. This SETA continues to support AERDF, and now extends its support to the education R&D sector, particularly in the face of pervasive PreK-12 teaching and learning challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. More information can be found by contacting info@seta-ed.com or visiting http://seta-ed.com.
We look forward to continued partnership with Melina in her new capacity and are excited for the many ways the R&D ecosystem is poised to benefit from her leadership. Please join us in congratulating Melina for her incredible service to AERDF!
In a interview leading up to ISTELive 24, AERDF CEO discusses R&D strategies for new learning techniques and speaks about the AERDF’s approach to integrating educators, researchers, and product developers to ensure tools used in PreK-12 classrooms work by providing scientific evidence of improved student learning outcomes.
Listen in here
From a solution to repurpose cold plasma to treat seeds to 3D printed living seawalls, the eighth annual awards honor new and inspiring solutions to the most daunting challenges of today.
OAKLAND, Calif., May 14, 2024 — Fast Company announced and recognized The Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF), the first nonprofit, Advanced Inclusive Research and Development (R&D) organization focused on scientific discovery and invention in PreK-12 education, as one of this year’s World Changing Ideas. From some of the world’s most creative minds and pioneering organizations seeking to disrupt the status quo, the solutions cover everything from renewable energy storage and waste in the fashion industry to a building made entirely from recycled concrete and a fridge that’s solar-powered and designed to run off the grid.
Fast Company honored AERDF’s cutting-edge approach to conducting education R&D. AERDF is redefining education research and innovation while propelling the design of scalable, breakthrough education solutions that address long-standing PreK-12 teaching and learning challenges. Inspired by the US federal government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) initiatives that already exist in defense, health, and energy, AERDF grounds its approach in Advanced R&D and the science of learning. Through focused, shorter cycles of innovation with clear, ambitious goals, AERDF brings together learners, educators, researchers, developers, and others from the beginning and throughout this process to find solutions to pressing education challenges. This approach provides the opportunity for educators, learners, and caregivers who are most impacted day to day in and outside of classrooms to co-create the best solutions to support students.
This year’s World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 50 winners, 127 finalists, and 172 honorable mentions—with health, education, energy, and AI among the most popular categories. A panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners from a pool of more than 1,300 entries across climate, social justice, wellness, politics, technology, corporate social responsibility, and more. Several new categories were added this year, including beauty and fashion, health products, health services, materials, and science and technology. The 2024 awards feature entries from across the globe, including the Republic of Korea, Brazil, and Madagascar.
“We are deeply invested in developing solutions for and with Black and Latino learners and learners from households experiencing poverty, populations that have so often been underserved by our education systems,” says Auditi Chakravarty, Chief Executive Officer of AERDF. “This fuels our drive to illuminate and share innovative PreK-12 solutions, encompassing new insights, technologies, programs, and products designed to transform each learner’s learning trajectory. We are appreciative of Fast Company for recognizing our efforts and honored to be part of a global community of notable organizations dedicated to creating positive, multigenerational change.”
“I was struck this year by the global sweep of the honorees,” says Fast Company Editor-in-Chief Brendan Vaughan. “It’s endlessly inspiring to see how the world is coming together to devise inventive solutions to our most challenging problems. We need ideas from everywhere, and this year’s World Changing Ideas Awards are an extraordinary encapsulation of the innovation and creativity that is so abundant around the globe.”
ABOUT AERDF: Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF, sounds like air-diff) is a national nonprofit organization launched in 2021 that advances scientific discovery & inventions that further learners’ brilliance and transform their PreK-12 futures. AERDF’s ambitious three-to-five-year initiatives (known as programs), funded with budgets up to $25 million, address major teaching and learning challenges and opportunities the public and private sector have historically ignored for Black and Latino learners and learners experiencing poverty in the United States.
AERDF programs build on existing community-driven evidence and expertise, as well as learning sciences, to translate fundamental insights into usable knowledge, useful practices, equitable approaches and transformative tools for education practitioners and students.
Since AERDF’s launch, its programs – currently focused on math, formative assessment, and reading – have engaged more than 20,000 students.
Learn more about AERDF and our programs at https://aerdf.org.
ABOUT THE WORLD CHANGING IDEAS AWARDS: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and bold concepts that make the world better. Judges choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to work on solving the problems that affect us all.
ABOUT FAST COMPANY: Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Marvin Smith, Chief of Public Affairs, msmith@aerdf.org
Yasmene Mumby, Communications Director, ymumby@aerdf.org
In this newly developed role, Sasha will lead AERDF’s growing portfolio of Advanced Inclusive R&D programs — including existing programs EF+Math, Assessment for Good, and Reading Reimagined; as well as future programs AERDF will launch over the next year and beyond. As CPSI, Sasha will provide strategic vision and leadership for all AERDF programs, enhance and codify rigorous program evaluation efforts, and strengthen our technical and R&D infrastructure. He will also oversee a team of research and technology experts across our programs. These experts maintain an evolving infrastructure that safeguards and enables ethical use of data as AERDF programs pursue their R&D goals.
Sasha brings an entrepreneurial spirit and a track record of innovation to his work. He is passionate about leveraging education’s transformative power and driving positive change for districts, schools, students, and communities. Previously, Sasha served as president of Equal Opportunity Schools, where he spent more than 11 years in various roles including Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Program Officer. Before his tenure at EOS, Sasha dedicated himself to grassroots advocacy, organizing students and families for social change through The Institute for Community Leadership. He was also a founding member of the Jack Hunter O’Dell Nonviolence Leadership Education Center.
“AERDF is entering an exciting phase with our growing portfolio of programs now 3 to 5 years into their work at a time when the education R&D ecosystem is maturing and eager to learn, collaborate, and contribute to the field,” said AERDF Chief Executive Officer Auditi Chakravarty. “Sasha’s leadership offers a rich blend of experiences and expertise to build on our progress of the last several years, including a deep commitment to equity-centered school partnerships, a fierce technical acumen, and most importantly, a vision for innovation and how education systems can be reinvented through a deliberate, R&D-driven approach. I am excited to welcome Sasha on board.”
Look out for reflections from Sasha as he’s diving into the role and learning in the coming weeks!
Powerhouse panel of nation’s leading experts discussed the essential role of R&D in the future of education.
Our PreK-12 public school systems need powerful, proven ways to improve student learning experiences. Various proposed solutions have emerged – from scaling high quality existing tools to increasing support for ethical platforms fueled by artificial intelligence. When it comes to student well-being, these and other approaches should all be on the table. While doing so, we must address a longstanding challenge: teaching and learning solutions developed today are often created without students’, educators’, or administrators’ involvement. As a result, these well-intended solutions are disconnected from current classrooms. And too often, new discoveries in student learning are siloed from classroom-ready solutions.
To accelerate progress, we need new ways to support and develop PreK-12 learners. Yet only a fraction of the federal budget is dedicated to research and development (R&D) in education.
“The moment we’re in really demands a new nimbleness and creativity in how we address some of our biggest challenges,” said Roberto Rodriguez, Assistant Secretary of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development for the U.S. Department of Education. “We need to marshal the will to invest more in R&D in education to move our country forward. We can’t afford to not do more R&D in education.”
On May 2, Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) gathered a powerhouse panel of R&D leaders to discuss this pivotal moment. Rodriguez delivered the opening keynote, then participated in a panel conversation with Auditi Chakravarty, CEO of AERDF; Dr. M. C. Brown II, Executive Director of the Payne Center for Social Justice at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; and Joshua Elliott, Chief Scientist for Renaissance Philanthropy and Co-Director, Brains Initiative at Speculative Technologies. The panel was moderated by high school seniors Malcolm Fleming and Medina Alibasic.
Rodriguez said young people need to prepare for the demands of a new digital economy—while making up precious instructional time lost during the pandemic and overcoming social and emotional barriers to learning success.
“All of this requires us to build an evidence base and to lean into more innovative ways to support student learning and success,” Rodriguez said. “We’re not going to address big, dynamic challenges unless we design differently.”
Panelists had specific ideas about how R&D could reshape the future in bold and promising ways. They said:
R&D must be inclusive.
“The conversation around R&D in education needs to be grounded in the needs, voices, perspectives, and experiences of those working in the field,” Rodriguez said. “There’s so much opportunity in bringing research, policy, and educational practice together.”
Ideally, he said, educators, researchers, and developers will work hand-in-hand to create and scale new learning systems. And every student and school will have the resources to participate in innovation and evidence building.
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘Who are we inviting to the table to participate in innovation?’ We can address these challenges if we’re more open and intentional about being inclusive,” Rodriguez said.
“We can’t do this work alone,” Chakravarty agreed. “It’s important to bridge the gaps between research and practical implementation.”
R&D can close long-standing equity and opportunity gaps.
Brown sees this moment in education and R&D as an opportunity to “double down” and align, so every student receives high-quality, relevant learning. Educational breakthroughs can create a more inclusive system that can be scaled for all learners to succeed.
“There are those who are thriving and those who are not,” Brown said. “Shifts in American culture, machine learning, and our growing dependence on technology have made this a critical moment—not just for education, but for our national way of life.”
The nation needs R&D to uncover breakthrough transformations in learning and teaching and close long-standing inequities.
Advanced Inclusive R&D will accelerate progress for everyone.
All students benefit when R&D is grounded in the science of human learning and development and educational equity.
“AERDF is deeply invested in developing solutions for Black and Latino learners and learners who are experiencing poverty—populations that are typically underserved by traditional education systems,” Chakravarty said. “But educational R&D yields benefits for every learner.”
“The goal is to generate breakthrough insights and technical capacities that change teaching and learning in multiple ways,” she said. “We need new and different knowledge tools, products, and ways of approaching teaching and assessing.”
“If we do that,” Rodriguez said, “we will see a more inclusive system that can be scaled for all learners to succeed.”
Technology has a starring role in the future of education—and not just in classrooms.
“We have to take a more hands-on approach to innovation, education, and technology,” Rodriguez said.
He wants to blend technology in new ways to increase learning outcomes—and to accelerate research and collaboration. Technology can change how we test, validate, and scale innovations in education. And it can connect the research community to leaders in classrooms, instructional design, and product development.
“Right now, we have small pockets of innovation here and there across the country. Let’s think about how we can scale that,” Rodriguez said. “What if we were able to embrace innovation in all corners of our country? We need to support knowledge building and knowledge sharing across our system in a bigger way.”
People are irreplaceable, even as technology proliferates.
Successful R&D programs need “fantastic people with big ideas, vision, and creativity,” Elliott said.
People need space, resources, and the authority to do “big and ambitious things.” If everyone agrees your program will work, then you might not be thinking big enough to uncover transformational change, he suggested.
Elliott said it takes special leadership qualities to coordinate complex programs that advance the social good. Program leaders have to drive teams toward goals that are “just beyond impossible.”
“It’s massively challenging because every institution has completely different incentive profiles, motivations, time scales, and limitations. It’s also extremely rewarding,” Elliott said. “We have to stay focused on the people, the soft skills, and the ambition.”
Educational R&D is a national imperative.
One could argue that all our national priorities are dependent on how well we educate students, starting right now.
“Innovation has always been at the core of our competitiveness and the core of our potential as a country,” Rodriguez said. “We need to put innovation at the core of education to get ahead. We can’t afford to be left behind.
“We have to take a more hands-on approach to innovation, education, and technology,” he said.
Watch the recording of the conversation below.
An opportunity to practice Advanced Inclusive R&D.
The panel concluded with an open invitation to work with AERDF and across the industry to pursue transformative ideas for PreK-12 education.
AERDF is currently accepting applications for a program Executive Director to lead its next initiative, which launches in 2025. The program Executive Director will design and lead an Advanced Inclusive R&D project to unlock breakthrough capabilities in PreK-12 teaching, learning, or assessment systems.
Candidates should submit an intent to apply by May 23. Select candidates will be asked to submit a recorded interview and concept paper that explains their proposal.
A full selection committee will review the applications and proposals. Eight finalists will be offered a paid, part-time fellowship to refine their ideas into an actionable program. During that time, they’ll receive personalized support and feedback from AERDF, funders, and potential partners.
At the end of the fellowship, one candidate will be offered the program Executive Director position to pursue their audacious idea.
The full job description, application guide, and applicant resources are available at https://aerdf.org/prove-the-impossible/.
Chris Liang-Vergara and Kyla Haimovitz are hosting office hours throughout May to answer questions about the position and the application process. Scheduling instructions are in the FAQ.
Watch the replay of the question and answer session about the program Executive Director application process below.
“The best assessment processes allow a learner to be measured alongside milestones of their own developmental trajectory, not in comparison to arbitrary—and potentially outdated—standards that may or may not reflect their unique, lived experiences.”
Advanced Education Research and Development Fund Program’s Assessment for Good Executive Director Dr. Temple Lovelace recently published a District Administration article on the future of assessment.
This short illustration by Rio Holaday, a Culture of Health leader with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, captures a few key moments of our work.
Read the article here
OAKLAND, Calif., April 11, 2024 – The Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF), the first nonprofit, Advanced Inclusive R&D organization focused on scientific discovery and invention in PreK-12 education, today announced a major new initiative to improve the future of learning for Black and Latino students and those experiencing poverty.
The organization is hosting an open call for innovators to shape and lead AERDF’s new, five-year program with an up-to-$25 million budget, beginning in 2025. Applicants are invited to outline the “opportunity area” their program would address. AERDF is particularly interested in proposals for the following Opportunity Areas:
- Relevant, High Quality Learning: A growing number of students are disengaged from school. What if all learners experience relevant, high quality learning every day?
- Multilingualism: Multilingual education raises achievement for all learners. What if all learners became multilingual?
- Assessment: PreK-12 assessments measure inequities. What if assessment eliminated inequity?
Applications are open now and close May 31, 2024. Interested candidates must start their application by April 30, 2024.
In June, AERDF will be selecting eight finalists to participate in AERDF’s AdvancED Fellowship: a paid, part-time, three-month fellowship beginning on July 19, 2024 to develop their idea into a potential new program. All AdvancED Fellows and the next Program Executive Director will benefit from the support and resources of the AERDF team—along with a broad community of partners and collaborators, including The Brains Initiative, The Dr. N. Joyce Payne Center for Social Justice, Education Endowment Foundation, Intentional Futures, The Marshall Memo, The Open System Institute, Transcend, Watershed Advisors, and Wisewire.
The AdvancED Fellowship will end in the selection and hiring of AERDF’s next Program Executive Director and the creation of a new program to advance their vision with an up to $25M program budget.
“We need to reimagine our current systems and solutions in order to create meaningful change for Black and Latino students and those experiencing poverty,” says Auditi Chakravarty, Chief Executive Officer of AERDF. “We’re looking for a curious, visionary leader who understands the long-standing challenges in US PreK-12 education who is ready to bring together diverse communities to pursue courageous solutions that produce strong outcomes for all learners.”
“The new program’s Executive Director doesn’t need to have a PhD. They don’t need to have the perfect resume, the right connections, or access to resources. They need a visionary mind, an ability to lead across sectors, and an insatiable drive to effect multigenerational change,” added Chakravarty.
About AERDF
Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF, sounds like air-diff) is a national nonprofit organization launched in 2021 that advances scientific discovery & inventions that further learners’ brilliance and transform their PreK-12 futures. AERDF’s ambitious three-to-five-year initiatives (known as programs), funded with budgets up to $25 million, address major teaching and learning challenges and opportunities the public and private sector have historically ignored for Black and Latino learners and learners experiencing poverty in the United States.
AERDF programs build on existing community-driven evidence and expertise, as well as learning sciences, to translate fundamental insights into usable knowledge, useful practices, equitable approaches and transformative tools for education practitioners and students.
Since AERDF’s launch, its programs – currently focused on math, formative assessment, and reading – have engaged more than 20,000 students.
Learn more about AERDF and our programs at https://aerdf.org
For media inquiries, please contact:
Marvin Smith, Chief of Public Affairs, msmith@aerdf.org
Yasmene Mumby, Communications Director, ymumby@aerdf.org
Nature Reviews Psychology spoke with Research & Development Scientist Dr. Lauren D. Kendall Brooks about her journey from a postdoctoral research associate to a research scientist with Assessment For Good.
“My main charge is keeping the science strong in our programme: making sure the decisions that we make are scientifically solid and pushing the field forward…Our stakeholders are Black and/or Latinx students ages 8–13 years, educators, and caregivers. I wanted to be able to directly impact communities in need in a timely manner.”
We are proud of Research and Development Scientist Lauren D. Kendall Brooks, PhD for Assessment for Good, one of our Inclusive R&D programs at Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF). Thank you to Teresa Schubert at Nature Reviews Psychology for interviewing Dr. Kendall Brooks about her journey from the lab to a career with us in education R&D.
Read the rest of the article here
In this primer, we aim to put forward our current views regarding the points of synergy between equity, executive function, and mathematics education and cognition that are relevant to the EF+Math program. The literature shared herein is not exhaustive, but instead is a high-level overview of aspects of these fields that are relevant to the work of EF+Math, with the intention that the information shared stimulates discussion and innovation at this intersection.Many sources of evidence—including learning science research and teacher expertise—reveal that every child is equipped to excel in mathematics, and yet disparities in mathematics performance still persist.
For instance, children’s understanding of numbers (‘number sense’) predicts later math knowledge and can show measurable differences by socioeconomic status (SES) and race as early as preschool (e.g., Bailey, Siegler & Geary, 2014). Early mathematics knowledge is related to long-term educational outcomes, as well as a person’s career attainment and health outcomes (e.g., Knuth, Stephens, Blanton & Gardiner, 2016; Rittle-Johnson, Fyfe, Hofer, & Farran, 2016). Given that there are no inherent differences in abilities in students from different races/ethnicities or household income levels, observed performance differences are instead likely driven by differences in opportunities to build math abilities given to students from different races/ethnicities or household income levels, with students of color and students in poverty more often held back, offered less challenging math curricula, and held to lower expectations (among other factors) than their peers from higher income households or their white peers (e.g., Carbonara, 2005; Chunn, 1998; Oakes, 1995; Sorhagen, 2013).
Thus, a core, and yet addressable, issue in mathematics education is the need to reduce inequalities between students’ opportunities to learn and to be given opportunities to be challenged in mathematics (e.g., Byrnes & Wasik, 2009; TNTP, 2018). We will support programs that tackle these challenges head-on.Despite structural inequities that perpetuate math performance differences, every child possesses foundational assets that enable them to learn what they deem important to learn. One set of skills associated with success in mathematics is executive functioning (EF) ability.EFs are thought to include three separable, yet interacting processes, often referred to as cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory/attentional control (Miyake et al., 2000):
• Cognitive flexibility refers to shifting one’s attention between or otherwise managing multiple tasks, goals, rules, or perspectives. An example in mathematics is when a student needs to switch back and forth quickly and easily between solving multiplication and subtraction problems.
• Working memory involves holding and working with information in one’s mind. An example in mathematics is when a student is doing algebra and is holding in mind which steps they completed on one side of the equation and the answer they got so they can balance it on the other side.
• Inhibitory/Attentional control is the ability to focus on the information or tasks that are important or relevant to you and ignoring or inhibiting distractions or behaviors that are not important or relevant to you. An 1. Introduction EF+MATH program | 5 example in mathematics is ignoring irrelevant details when solving word problems and focusing on the information needed to complete the task.
While substantial individual differences in EFs exist, all three components of EF on average have been found to be related to performance on mathematics tasks, and to predict mathematics achievement longitudinally (e.g., Bull & Lee, 2014; Cragg & Gilmore, 2014; Ribner, 2019). Teachers have also observed that EFs are important for math learning based on their experience in the classroom (Gilmore & Cragg, 2014).
Indeed, one study found that teachers’ ratings of students’ EF abilities predicted gains in mathematics skills over an 8 month period (Fuhs, Farran, & Nesbitt, 2015), though it’s probable that teacher expectations of both mathematics and EF skills may be correlated and thus predictive of math performance. Mathematics requires all three components of executive function: thinking flexibly, holding and updating important information in working memory (e.g., Fuchs et al., 2008; Raghubar et al., 2010), and inhibiting misconceptions and irrelevant information or rules (e.g., Cragg et al., 2017; Gomez et al., 2015).
We intend to support education product development teams to radically rethink design assumptions and biases in current ways of working, in the service of racial equity and anti-racism. This resource may be especially salient for organizations that have publicly spoken out about their commitments to Black and Latinx students and educators. The EF+Math Program has been encouraged by the significant and widespread advocacy for social change focused on race. We believe it is aligned with the program’s primary objective—to rework research and development (R&D) as inclusive and anti-racist—an urgent imperative for education product developers across the research, non-profit and for-profit spectrum working to increase racial equity.