News about our grantees, the Foundation, and the field.
At the end of each year, our team gathers to reflect on what the data, our grantees, and our partners are telling us about where education is headed. Once again, we used these insights to craft our predictions for 2026, as well as review the accuracy of our predictions from 2025.
Year-round, we keep our ears to the ground to identify new and interesting research that can spark ideas and deepen our understanding of the education landscape. Here, Meghan McCormick reflects on the past year of evidence in education, highlighting five standout research studies that inspired our thinking in 2025.
We partnered with Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies to launch the inaugural AI Accelerator for nonprofit leaders. Here, we share the insights, questions, and lessons that emerged, and how they can inform future philanthropic efforts to support nonprofits in responsible AI adoption and innovation.
In Q4 2025, our foundation awarded 49 grants totaling over $17 million. Here, we highlighted just some of the direct impact and ecosystem organizations we’re proud to support this quarter as we conclude our 2025 grantmaking.
Our latest Grantee Perception Report, conducted by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, showed progress across impact on grantees, strength of relationships, and communications. Here, we share notable insights and outline how they’ll shape our strategy and operations moving forward.
In Q3 2025, our foundation awarded grants totaling over $10 million. Here, we highlighted just some of the direct impact and ecosystem organizations we’re proud to support.
The average 8th-grade NAEP science score decreased four points since 2019. These results are a warning, but they can also be a turning point. Emma Banay, Christine Cunningham, and James Ryan call for investment in K-12 inquiry-based science learning that is active, relevant, and engaging, both in and out of school.
Teachers’ time is one of the most valuable resources in education. Yet too often, much of it is dedicated to non-student-facing work. Jessica Fredston-Hermann shares three practices school and district leaders can use to help teachers reclaim time to foster deeper student engagement and improve outcomes.
Chronic absenteeism remains one of the most pressing challenges facing schools today, but the field lacks rigorous evidence on the key drivers and potential solutions to reduce it. Here, we share early lessons from five studies focused on generating actionable insights to boost attendance from Pre-K through high school.
As districts embrace the science of reading to improve literacy outcomes, there’s a real risk of squeezing out something just as vital to early learning: play. Meghan McCormick and Carly Roberts make the case that play doesn’t compete with explicit reading instruction. Instead, it helps build the very skills kids need to become strong readers in the first place.