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 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

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.

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 Announces Outcomes of Five-Year R&D Effort on Math and Executive Functioning Skills

The Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF), a national nonprofit focused on addressing pressing education challenges, today announced new innovations and learnings from its EF+Math program, a five-year research and development initiative focused on transforming mathematics education. Key highlights of the investment include scaled and commercialized products that are actively used in schools today, new professional development resources for educators, tools for conducting inclusive R&D, and scientific research findings that have advanced the field’s understanding of how students learn math. Today, AERDF is launching a

News

Transforming Math Education for All Students: Introducing the EF+Math Resource Library

After five years of groundbreaking work to transform mathematics education,

News

Podcast: Reading Reimagined on NPR’s Teaching Matters

Reading comprehension challenges persist well beyond the early grades, yet

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.