Stanford Accelerator for Learning

Create+AI Challenge submissions are open! ⭐ The Accelerator invites you to apply for the Create+AI Challenge, a new opportunity to think beyond automation and imagine how artificial intelligence can deepen learning, creativity, and human connection, and in turn advance learning, well-being, and opportunity. Submit your application by January 8. Educators, researchers, designers, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, students are all encouraged to apply. At least one team member needs to have a Stanford affiliation—either as a current student, scholar, staff member, or as an alum. We welcome both early-stage ideas and existing projects ready to pilot, scale, or study. International applicants are eligible, with select country restrictions. We're looking for projects in three tracks: ✨ Augment Teaching: AI solutions that respond to teacher pain points, especially those that support the development of social relationships with students in school. ✨ Augment Learning: AI learning tools that foster participation, especially for learners with disabilities or learning differences. ✨ Augment Career Opportunities: AI solutions that support skill-building, mentorship, and pathways to meaningful work. The Accelerator will award a total of $400,000 in prizes to support the most promising ideas. Finalists will be recognized at our AI+Education Summit in February, and some winners will be eligible to continue project development at Stanford in a summer 2026 cohort. Applications are open now. To learn more and apply, visit our website: 🔗 https://brnw.ch/21wXGDr 📷: Ryan Zhang

One more week to submit your proposals for our new Tequity seed grant! This seed grant supports projects at the intersection of technology, equity, and learning which aim to create greater access and opportunity for all students. Stanford faculty, academic staff, students, and postdocs are eligible for the award. Apply by Friday, November 21st: 🔗 https://brnw.ch/21wXtgN

There's "a mountain of scientific evidence that the early years are the most important," SCEC Director Philip Fisher told Annie Lowrey for The Atlantic this week. NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani "aims to provide high-quality, year-round care to toddlers and infants as young as six weeks old, while setting day-care workers’ earnings 'at parity' with those of public-school teachers," Lowrey writes. "It’s a cosmically aspirational set of goals, and it faces a steep set of obstacles. But if he can pull it off, the scheme would transform New York’s demography and economy, constituting one of the most radical examples of policy entrepreneurship in recent memory." Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/gmgyiwCV

Exploring future-ready learning design at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning’s Accelerate Edtech Impact Summit 2025 🚀 To join the conversation, watch the full recordings on our website: https://brnw.ch/21wXp6d 🎥: F Laubscher

Understanding how children learn to read means understanding how the brain itself develops. For cognitive neuroscientist Jason Yeatman and his team, studying the neurobiology of reading is about more than science - it’s about building bridges between the lab and the classroom. During the pandemic, Yeatman’s team developed ROAR, a free, scalable reading assessment tool now used by more than 600 schools nationwide. With ROAR, entire districts can assess early literacy in just 20 minutes, helping educators identify and support students more effectively. “Systems change isn’t going to come from another, better product being sold to schools,” Yeatman says. “It’s going to come from reimagining how research and practice connect.” #ResearchMatters 🗞️: https://lnkd.in/gcTvZEhz 📸: Andrew Brodhead

What does it mean to be future-ready in the age of AI? 5 key takeaways from the 2025 Accelerate Edtech Impact Summit at Stanford University: 💡 AI is a design opportunity for teaching and learning. ↳ “Our AI future is a design problem, not a prediction problem,” said Stanford professor Rob Reich. Researchers, educators, tech developers, learners, and funders need to exercise our agency by setting goals and working together to co-design tools that enable all learners to thrive. 💡 When designing educational technology, don’t fall for the myth of the “average student.” ↳ “Don't design for all students,” said Adam Siegel, Ph.D., a teacher at New Valley High School. “Design for students who have been left out. Design for students who have the biggest gaps in their education, the highest levels of trauma. If you do this, the tools that you develop are going to work for all students.” Impact means reaching all learners: those with learning differences, students who live in rural areas, young children, and working adults. 💡 Teachers are on the front lines of implementing emerging tech. ↳ “One of the key things which has helped [our AI] project in Estonia is that nobody has ever forgotten the teachers. Teachers need help now, and you need to have national and state level programs for teachers, because teachers are the people who set the tone,” said Ivo Visak, CEO of the AI Leap Foundation. Preparing teachers for the future means equipping them with training, tools, research, and opportunities for collaboration. 💡 In order to look ahead, we must look back. ↳ “As we prepare to be future-ready, let's remember to look both ways: in front of us, for paths of discovery, and behind us, for innovations of the past that have relevant implications for the present and future,” said Maisha Winn, faculty director of the Accelerator’s Equity in Learning Initiative. Speakers throughout the day reflected on innovations of the past, such as calculators, computers, and social media, and the lessons we can learn from them. 💡 Technology should be used to strengthen the connections that make us human. ↳ Anika Kumar, Henry M. Gunn High School senior, said, “If we can hold on to that human spark, that no algorithm can replicate, then AI won’t be the end of problem solving. It will be the beginning of solving problems we've never had the power to tackle before.” We can use AI to foster creativity, belonging, and connection, helping us reach our human potential. A huge thank-you to our event collaborators, sponsors, and speakers. Sign up for our newsletter to receive event photos and recordings next week: https://brnw.ch/21wXgT4 📷: Ryan Zhang

Apply now to the Graduate School of Education for academic year 2026-27 and the second cohort of the Zaentz Fellows Program! The Zaentz (Master's) Fellows Program is a tuition-free program designed to support the leadership development of Stanford University Graduate School of Education students who have an interest in early childhood. Prospective Zaentz Fellows must meet GSE admission requirements for one of the following master’s programs: Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS); Global and Comparative Education/International Education Policy Analysis (GCE/IEPA); Learning Design and Technology (LDT); or Education Data Science (EDS). Please see the GSE Admissions website (https://brnw.ch/21wXg3F) for details on master’s program admission requirements. Applicants who wish to be considered for the fellowship must submit answers to supplemental essay questions along with their online admission to the master’s program. Applications are due Jan. 8, 2026. Visit https://brnw.ch/21wXg3E for more information on the Zaentz Fellows Program. Photo: Ryan Zhang . From left to right: Sosi Day (LDT ‘26), Charlie Barron (POLS ‘26), Abigail Stewart-Kahn, SCEC Managing Director; Phil Fisher, SCEC Director; Miranda Xin (IEPA ‘26), Ellie Yang (EDS ‘27), and Kwasi Adi-Dako (LDT ‘26).