AERDF Launches New, Five Year, Up To $25M "Moonshot" for Education -- Open Call for Ideas and Leaders

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Apr 11, 2024, 10:00 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., April 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- 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, [email protected]
Yasmene Mumby, Communications Director, [email protected]

SOURCE AERDF