AERDF December Newsletter

It’s been a momentous year here at AERDF. We reflect back on 2021 with gratitude for the opportunity we have had through our founding to join scores of leaders and organizations pursuing research and community-driven approaches that better support students in realizing their fullest potential. AERDF is a new nonprofit homebase for Inclusive R&D programs aimed at tackling persistent teaching and learning challenges that disproportionately affect Black and Latino students and students of all races experiencing poverty. We identify visionary program directors who design and lead multi-year R&D programs that bring together diverse teams of educators, researchers, and developers to co-create new, practical solutions to real-world problems. Each program builds on existing evidence and learning science to translate fundamental insights into more useful practices, approaches, and tools for educators and students. In less than six short months, our portfolio has grown to three powerful inclusive R&D programs working toward bold missions:

• EF+Math, AERDF’s proof of concept program, founded in 2019, is infusing executive function skill development into high-quality math instruction, with a goal of dramatically improving math outcomes. 
• Assessment for Good is transforming assessment through a series of R&D projects that will engage students, parents, and educators as partners and lead with students’ assets.
• Reading Reimagined will tackle critical, unanswered questions in reading that result in groundbreaking coordination of curriculum, intervention, assessment, and supplemental literacy support for elementary and middle-school students.

To reflect on the past year and the progress we’ve made, we asked each of our program directors to respond by video to a few questions, calling to mind points of pride from the year, what Inclusive R&D means to them, and telling us a story of the power of including voices of educators, parents, or students in their work. To hear from our valued colleagues, watch the video below!

Reflections from Program Directors

Our program teams will hit the ground running in 2022, as they continue to pursue breakthrough outcomes in student learning, well-being, and opportunity. Here are a few of the developments that you can expect to hear more about in the new year!

In our effort to ensure reading fluency and comprehension through Inclusive R&D cycles, we will be releasing a white paper that looks at the current state of reading instruction in America, examines what we know about how children learn to read, and presents the program’s theory of change for how to move from the current state to our vision.

Reading Reimagined also will release its first Request for Proposals to engage in design efforts grounded in the lived experiences of the students and educators it is committed to serving. Its planned program will do so in part by examining how all elements of reading instruction and social development must interact to support students to reach their full potential as readers. 

News will be shared in the coming weeks about the awarded partner teams from AFG’s first RFP, which was released in Summer 2021. 

The next Request for Proposals window for Leveraging Education Advanced Research Now, or LEARN, is February 15 – March 1, 2022. LEARN is a means of identifying innovative, rapid-response research proposals that will advance solutions that support the assessment of social, emotional, and educational assets in culturally diverse populations. LEARN RFPs occur twice per year and funding is typically received in 60 days or less. Learn more about LEARN here.

Early in the new year, the team will begin sharing some early learnings around implementing Inclusive R&D in practice while engaging voices from its partner organizations. More updates are coming as well on expanded team capacity to support the program’s big milestones for 2022!