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 developed foundational literacy skills in students who need ongoing support tailored to their developmental stage.

2021–2026

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 developed and tested approaches that strengthen students’ executive function (EF) skills alongside math learning. Explore tools, products, and research in the EF+Math Resource Library.

2020–2026

Neuroscience and the Future of Learning

AERDF’s newest program, backed by a $20 million foundational investment from Lemnis, will bring together neuroscientists, educators, and young people to study learning as it happens and turn discoveries into better tools, practices, and learning environments.

Read Our White Paper

Read our new White Paper about lessons learned from AERDF’s first five years driving breakthrough innovation and the next phase of our work as an R&D Investor, Platform, and Connector.

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.

Now live: Explore the EF+Math Resource Library, the enduring home for tools, learning products, and research insights from EF+Math (2020–2026).

OUR STORIES OF DISCOVERY & INVENTION

Press Release

AERDF Launches Neuroscience and the Future of Learning With $20M Investment From Lemnis

New program will build shared infrastructure to advance adolescent learning in the age of AI NEW YORK (Oct. 14, 2026) — Today, the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) announced the launch of Neuroscience and the Future of Learning, a new Advanced Inclusive R&D program backed by a $20 million foundational investment from Lemnis. The initiative will bring neuroscientists, educators, and young people together to study how the adolescent brain develops and learns in real classrooms and to translate those findings into practical tools,

News

Can AI Help Measure Critical Thinking? New Research Offers Early Insights

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing education, creating both new

Press Release

New AERDF Report Offers Recommendations for Addressing K-12 Reading Crisis

The report, based on research from AERDF’s Reading Reimagined program,

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.

Meet the AERDF Moonshot Methodologies Network

AERDF’s MMN brings together researchers, practitioners, designers, scientists, innovators, public leaders, and experts from within and beyond education to build a new field of study to accelerate breakthrough innovation.