AERDF

What AERDF does

AERDF (Advanced Education Research & Development Fund) is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit founded in 2021 and headquartered in Oakland, California, that operates as a discovery and invention hub purpose-built for PreK-12 education. The organization runs multi-year R&D programs that bring together educators, researchers, developers, and learners as co-design partners from day one under its Advanced Inclusive R&D methodology, with explicit focus on Black, Latino, and students experiencing poverty. Its portfolio of programs includes EF+Math (executive function integrated with math, grades 3–8, 2020–2026), Reading Reimagined ($40M investment in literacy for grades 3–8, 2021–2026), Assessment for Good (asset-based formative assessment for ages 8–13), AugmentED (AI-augmented teaching, launched 2025), and the AdvancED Fellowship.

AERDF does not sell products. Its business model is grant-funded R&D: it receives patient, non-dilutive capital primarily from three anchor donors — Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Walton Family Foundation, each with board observer seats — and operates funded programs that produce publicly available outputs including the EF+Math Resource Library, Reading Reimagined's intervention portfolio, ROAR (Stanford's reading screener approved in three states), Magpie Literacy, Read STOP Write, Big Words Project, and Assessment for Good's futures-of-assessment framework. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: co-design partnerships with 85 school districts, a 700+ person EF+Math community, conference presence at ISTE+ASCD and ASU+GSV, white papers, and free digital resource repositories. Notable technical components include AI-generated assessment items (82% expert acceptance, 167% scale-up in six months) and an AI Knowledge Graph mapping academic standards to learning science in partnership with Magpie Literacy and Learning Commons.

Customer segments are PreK-12 schools and districts, educators, students in grades 3–8, researchers and developers, policymakers, and caregivers. Distribution is entirely free to end users; reach metrics include 30,000+ students in intervention pilots, 85,000 student assessments analyzed, 180+ schools using ROAR, and outputs scaled by district partners with potential reach into millions of students. The organization was recognized as one of Fast Company's 2024 World Changing Ideas, and Auditi Chakravarty serves as President and CEO.

Name

AERDF

Legal name

Advanced Education Research & Development Fund

Website

https://aerdf.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

AERDF is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2021 that funds and operates multi-year R&D programs in PreK-12 education, using an Advanced Inclusive R&D model to co-design literacy, math, assessment, and AI-teaching tools with educators and learners, distributing outputs free to districts and schools nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Research and Development Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (61171), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Assessment, Testing & Analytics Platforms (Formative/Summative) (EDAJAMAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Early Warning & Risk Prediction (Dropout/Failure Alerts, Intervention Targeting) (EDAFAFAE), Curriculum & Instruction Effectiveness Analytics (Content Efficacy, A/B Testing) (EDAFAFAH), Literacy & ELA Instruction (School-Delivered) (EDAJAFAF), Diagnostic & Adaptive Assessment Content (Skills/Readiness) (EDAGADAJ)

Keywords

• Education research and development
• PreK-12 literacy interventions
• Math learning programs
• Educational assessment tools
• AI-powered education

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants and Donations: AERDF operates as a national nonprofit funded primarily by major foundations including Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Walton Family Foundation. The organization provides patient, non-dilutive R&D funding for specific time periods to multi-year research and development programs.
2. Federal and State Research Funding: AERDF pursues various funding mechanisms to support its R&D programs, with less than 0.2% of federal R&D funding going to the U.S. Department of Education, creating an opportunity for alternative funding models.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

AERDF operates multi-year research and development programs in PreK-12 education, producing evidence-backed learning products, assessments, and interventions co-designed with educators and learners. It runs flagship programs (EF+Math, Reading Reimagined, Assessment for Good, AugmentED), an AdvancED Fellowship, and public resource libraries that distribute AI-powered assessment tools, literacy interventions, math learning games, and shared R&D infrastructure to schools and districts nationwide.

Product overview

AERDF (Advanced Education Research & Development Fund) is a national nonprofit discovery and invention hub for PreK-12 education that operates multiple R&D programs rather than a single unified product. Its portfolio includes: (1) EF+Math Program with learning products like Fraction Ball, MathFluency+, CueThinkEF+, and InsightMath that integrate executive function skill development with math learning; (2) Reading Reimagined with literacy products including ROAR assessment tool, Magpie Literacy, Read STOP Write, and Big Words Project; (3) Assessment for Good focusing on formative assessment innovation including game-based assessments and the Futures of Assessment framework; and (4) AugmentED exploring AI-powered teaching and learning tools. AERDF also offers the AdvancED Fellowship program and builds shared R&D infrastructure including virtual environments and white papers. The organization bridges research and practice, ensuring discoveries are co-designed with educators and translated into classroom-ready tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EF+Math: AERDF's inaugural R&D program exploring how strengthening students' executive function skills alongside math learning can improve outcomes for grades 3-8, with particular focus on Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty.
• Reading Reimagined
• Assessment for Good
• AugmentED
• AdvancED Fellowship

Products and services

• EF+Math Program AERDF's inaugural multi-year R&D program focused on improving math learning outcomes for grades 3-8 by integrating executive function skill development with mathematical conceptual understanding and complex problem-solving, with focus on Black, Latino, and students experiencing poverty.
• EF+Math Resource Library Public repository at efmathprogram.org offering math learning products, research insights, inclusive R&D frameworks, and professional learning resources for grades 3-8, freely accessible to educators, researchers, and developers.
• Reading Reimagined Program AERDF's R&D program focused on ending illiteracy by researching and designing classroom-ready solutions supporting linguistic and developmental needs of older elementary readers, with $40 million invested over five years across 85 partner districts and 13 research institutions.
• ROAR (Rapid Online Assessment of Reading) Free, fast, and scalable reading assessment developed by Stanford University that assesses decoding, phonological awareness, reading fluency, morphology, and comprehension in approximately 30 minutes in English and Spanish, approved as a statewide screener in California, Minnesota, and Ohio.
• Magpie Literacy

Quantifiable outcome

• Students using ROAR assessment screened across 180+ schools and 3 states (California, Minnesota, Ohio)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• SRI InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021SRI International partnered with Reading Reimagined to explore promising approaches to strengthen reading skills for older elementary readers, including studies on Structured Linguistic Phonics effectiveness.
• Stanford University (Brain Development & Education Lab)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStanford's Brain Development & Education Lab developed ROAR (Rapid Online Assessment of Reading), now used in 180+ schools nationwide. Reading Reimagined partnered with Stanford and ANet to test the assessment tool in schools.
• Achievement Network (ANet)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAchievement Network partnered with Reading Reimagined and Stanford University to test ROAR assessment tools in schools and help educators identify older students struggling to read.
• Magpie LiteracycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMagpie Literacy developed videos, games, and assessment tools through Reading Reimagined's partnership to solve the decoding threshold problem, delivering measurable gains for thousands of students in 15 school districts.
• University at Buffalo and Michigan State University (Read STOP Write)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRead STOP Write was created in partnership between researchers at University at Buffalo and Michigan State University, improving foundational reading skills through evidence-based practices integrated with authentic grade-level texts.
• University of Tennessee and Texas A&M University (Big Words Project)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessors at University of Tennessee and Texas A&M University developed the Big Words Project for multisyllabic decoding instruction, with online professional development for educators.
• Juego!majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJuego! created Fraction Ball, a basketball-inspired game to help students learn fractions, developed alongside learners and educators with EF+Math support. Juego! is partnering with schools to bring Fraction Ball to 225 courts in 2025.
• MIND EducationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMIND Education developed MathFluency+ and InsightMath through EF+Math program, using online game-based learning to improve math fluency alongside executive functions for grades 3-5.
• Center for Whole-Child Education (CWCE) at ASUmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCWCE at ASU developed Whole-Child Design Inventories (WCDIs), measurement tools supporting healthy whole-child development in educational settings.
• EmpowerK12majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmpowerK12 developed the Wellbeing Survey and BOLD portal with George Washington University, investigating how social and emotional wellbeing of students ages 8-13 influences learning.
• LiberatEDmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLiberatED co-developed an inventory of liberatory practices (ILP) with hope of cultivating conditions for liberation in classrooms throughout the U.S.
• MindCatcher EducationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMindCatcher developed ASELA (Adult Social-emotional Learning Assessment) to help reframe challenges through an assets-based lens and support educator strengths in learning environments.
• Throughline LearningmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThroughline Learning developed the Student Experience Survey (SES) to quantify and analyze learning experiences across grades 3-12, providing holistic understanding of students as learners.
• Vanderbilt University (Measuring Inclusive Constructs of Mathematics Identity)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVanderbilt University and Embraced Wisdom Resource Group created MICMI providing actionable insights for girls navigating race, girlhood, and mathematics identities.
• Village of WisdommajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVillage of Wisdom developed the Culturally Affirming Climate Survey (CACS) providing ecological assessment of learning environments for schools and communities.
• Penn State, Tucson Unified, NC State, Stanford (Momentary Assessment)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-organization team explored momentary assessment to deliver information on activation of intersecting identities across settings to learners and educators.
• Magpie Literacy (Learning Commons)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLearning Commons partnered with Magpie Literacy to build shared infrastructure, such as a Knowledge Graph, that maps academic standards to learning science to help AI systems understand how concepts relate and how learning progresses.
• Playlab AI and Teach for AmericamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAugmentED collaborated with Playlab and Teach for America to host interactive workshops about the future of teaching and learning in the age of AI at ISTE+ASCD.
• UC Irvine (Dr. Andres Bustamante team)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Andres Bustamante and team at UC Irvine collaborated on the design of Fraction Ball at the suggestion of teachers at El Sol Academy.
• CueThink (Acquired by Imagine Learning)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCueThinkEF+ problem-solving program was developed with EF+Math support and subsequently acquired by Imagine Learning for commercial scaling.
• KnowledgeWorks (Strategic Foresight)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssessment for Good partnered with KnowledgeWorks' Strategic Foresight team to create the 'Futures of Assessment' forecast exploring new approaches to assessment at the intersection of AI and school success.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Digital Promise: National nonprofit focused on accelerating innovation in education through R&D, working with districts, researchers, and edtech developers. Directly comparable to AERDF as a non-governmental hub funding and coordinating education R&D with co-design principles.
• NewSchools Venture Fund: Nonprofit that funds and supports innovative education ventures and R&D, with a focus on equity and underserved students. Comparable to AERDF in mission, funding model (philanthropic capital), and portfolio approach to education innovation.
• XQ Institute: Education nonprofit funded by Laurene Powell Jobs focused on rethinking high school through R&D and pilot programs. Comparable to AERDF as a well-funded, foundation-backed education R&D hub pursuing systemic K-12 transformation.
• WestEd: Nonprofit research, development, and service agency focused on education and human development. Comparable to AERDF as a multi-program education R&D organization conducting applied research with school districts and publishing practitioner-facing outputs.
• KnowledgeWorks: Education nonprofit providing strategic foresight, R&D, and policy analysis on the future of learning. AERDF directly partnered with KnowledgeWorks on the 'Futures of Assessment' forecast, and the two share a focus on long-horizon education R&D.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: Large, established nonprofit research institution conducting policy and education research with major federal and foundation contracts. Comparable to AERDF in mission but operates at far larger scale and across broader policy domains, not specialized in K-12 R&D infrastructure.
• NWEA: Nonprofit research organization behind MAP Growth, one of the most widely used K-12 adaptive assessments in U.S. schools. Comparable to AERDF's assessment R&D work (ROAR, Assessment for Good) but operates a commercial assessment business at much larger scale.
• Curriculum Associates: For-profit publisher of i-Ready diagnostic and instruction, serving a large share of U.S. K-12 districts. Comparable to AERDF in the assessment and instruction space but operates as a commercial vendor at national scale.

Others

• Institute of Education Sciences (IES): The U.S. Department of Education's statistics, research, and evaluation arm — the principal federal channel for education R&D. Comparable to AERDF as the public-sector counterpart whose chronic underfunding (<0.2% of federal R&D) is the structural gap AERDF exists to fill.

Emerging players

• Khan Academy: Nonprofit education platform that built Khanmigo, an AI-powered tutor, and pursues R&D on AI-augmented learning. Comparable to AERDF's AugmentED program as a nonprofit exploring AI in teaching, but with a consumer/teacher product focus rather than R&D infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aerdf
• Xx.com/aerdf

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about AERDF