Next Generation Learning Challenges

What Next Generation Learning Challenges does

Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) is a U.S. nonprofit organization founded in 2011 and based in San Francisco that promotes equitable, student-centered transformation in K-12 education. It serves K-12 educators, schools, and districts through a portfolio of challenges, toolkits, and frameworks organized around eight challenge areas (Why Schools Need to Change, Designing for Equity, New Designs for School, Building Community, Reimagining Assessment, Professional Learning, Technology Tools, and Enabling Change). Core intellectual property includes the MyWays Success Framework, Transformation Design approach, Designing for Equity Toolkit, Full Spectrum of Evidence Toolkit, Portrait of a Graduate in Practice, and the more recent Student-Centered AI Toolkit and Collective Shift initiative (a coalition of 7 organizations building no-cost AI tools for educators).

The organization operates as a community-led platform rather than a vendor. Its technology surface is primarily content and frameworks distributed via the nextgenlearning.org website, the myways.nextgenlearning.org subdomain, and the studentcenteredevidence.org resource, supplemented by learning excursions, webinars, podcasts, newsletters, and grant programs. There is no proprietary AI model or paid software product; AI is delivered as guidance, toolkits, and curated partnerships with third-party model providers. The revenue model is nonprofit: grant funding (including the Assessment for Learning Project and Grant Opportunities programs) and donations, with no publicly disclosed pricing or commercial contracts. Customer segments are K-12 educators (persona), K-12 schools and districts (business unit), and the broader school community (persona), all served free of charge.

On March 2, 2026, NGLC announced a merger with LEAP Innovations (founded 2014) to form a unified organization retaining the LEAP Innovations name, combining NGLC's frameworks and national partner-school network with LEAP's school-based co-design, piloting, and scaling practice. Post-merger, the combined entity is described as "powered by LEAP Innovations" and targets broader national impact across K-12 transformation challenges including human-centered AI integration and inclusive systems change.

Name

Next Generation Learning Challenges

Legal name

Next Generation Learning Challenges

Website

https://nextgenlearning.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Education Transformation Services

NAICS

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

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Curriculum, Lesson Planning & Instructional Content Platforms (EDAJAMAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Career & College Readiness Platforms (Guidance, Planning, Scholarships) (EDAJAMAO), K–12 Digital Curriculum & Interactive Lessons (EDAGAEAA)

Keywords

• K-12 education transformation
• Student-centered learning
• Educational toolkits
• Teacher professional development
• Education grant programs

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: NGLC invests in educator ideas through grant programs funding bold ideas in educational transformation. The organization operates grant opportunities for schools and districts working on next generation learning initiatives.
2. Donations: The organization accepts donations to support school communities with their work creating more equitable next gen learning for students.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NGLC supports K-12 schools and districts in transforming education toward equitable, student-centered models through research-backed frameworks (e.g., MyWays, Transformation Design), practical toolkits (e.g., Designing for Equity, Student-Centered AI, Full Spectrum of Evidence), grant funding programs, learning excursions, content series, and a national partner school community. Following its March 2026 merger with LEAP Innovations, it is now powered by LEAP Innovations while retaining the NGLC brand.

Product overview

Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), powered by LEAP Innovations, offers a comprehensive platform of challenges, initiatives, toolkits, and content series designed to support K-12 educational transformation. The core framework consists of eight challenge areas (Why Schools Need to Change, Designing for Equity, New Designs for School, Building Community, Reimagining Assessment, Professional Learning, Technology Tools, and Enabling Change) that guide schools through transformation. NGLC's portfolio includes specialized initiatives such as the Portrait of a Graduate in Practice, Transformation Design framework, Student-Centered AI Toolkit, MyWays Success Framework, Assessment for Learning Project, Full Spectrum of Evidence Toolkit, and Bravely. The organization also publishes multiple content series including Next Gen Learning Spaces, Next Gen Tools for Transforming Learning, Practitioner Guides for Educational Transformation, School Profiles: Innovation in Action, and Wisdom Road. Grant funding opportunities support educators implementing bold ideas. Following the March 2026 merger with LEAP Innovations, the combined entity leverages over a decade of experience in student-centered learning to help schools integrate emerging technologies including generative AI.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• NGLC: Next Generation Learning Challenges abbreviation used as the primary brand name for the organization.

Products and services

• Designing for Equity Toolkit A collection of tools developed by next generation educators to develop an equity lens in professional learning, organizational growth, school culture, and next generation learning design, targeted at K-12 schools and districts.
• Student-Centered AI Toolkit A toolkit that helps K-12 schools move from viewing AI as a cheating threat to harnessing generative AI to transform learning, drive engagement, redefine student success, and change school design.
• Full Spectrum of Evidence Toolkit A framework and toolkit for student-centered evidence that validates quantitative metrics of personalized learning while building a complete evidence base through student stories, for K-12 educators and schools.
• MyWays Success Framework A research-based framework providing tools and community resources for launching school-change initiatives and reimagining learning and assessment designs, catalyzing collaborative culture-building within districts.
• Transformation Design An approach to educational systems change that is more inclusive, iterative, and imaginative than traditional K-12 methods, reflecting next generation learning principles in the transformation process itself.
• Grant Opportunities Funding opportunities and grant programs for K-12 educators and schools with bold ideas solving urgent education challenges.
• Partner Schools Network A national network of partner schools implementing next generation learning approaches with NGLC support, forming the core community of practice.
• Learning Excursions Immersive experiences at innovative schools where participants discover what next generation learning looks like and how innovation happens, with direct input from students, teachers, and administrators.
• Portrait of a Graduate in Practice A multimedia resource exploring how districts move from conceptualizing graduate portraits to implementing them in practice, featuring student work, narratives, podcasts, and teacher tools.
• Bravely A program bringing a new vision for student success to life in partnership with LEAP Innovations, focused on equitable student-centered learning.
• Assessment for Learning Project A national partnership with a community of practice and grant program funding bold ideas to fundamentally rethink K-12 assessment.
• Mass IDEAS The Innovating Design in Education for All Students (IDEAS) initiative helping Massachusetts communities create great public schools through cross-district innovation.
• Networks for Learning A resource that brings together voices to generate collective understanding about creating healthy, equitable connections that help learning networks thrive.
• Measures that Matter Most Educator-developed approaches to measuring the success of K-12 educational innovation, measuring broader and deeper student learning and growth beyond traditional metrics.
• What Made Them So Prepared? (Prepared Project) A research project examining what public K-12 schools and districts with innovative learning models prepared for COVID-era challenges can teach about shaping public education.
• Collective Shift An initiative led by NGLC and 7 partner organizations to build, test, and improve simple, no-cost AI tools that transform K-12 learning in human-centered ways.

Quantifiable outcome

• National network of schools implementing student-centered approaches

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• LEAP InnovationsflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 March 2026LEAP Innovations and Next Generation Learning Challenges announced their merger on March 2, 2026 to form a unified organization dedicated to transforming K-12 education across the United States. The combined entity retains the LEAP Innovations name and brings together NGLC's decade of work defining next-generation learning since 2011 and LEAP's practice of co-designing, piloting, and scaling strategies since 2014. The merger aims to help schools address challenges including integrating human-centered AI, shifting educator practice, and leading inclusive systems change.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Carnegie Foundation is a major education philanthropy working to improve teaching and learning across K-12 and higher education. It funds systemic education improvement initiatives comparable to NGLC's grant programs and transformation frameworks.
• Jobs for the Future: Jobs for the Future works to drive transformation in education and workforce systems, including K-12 pathways. Its work on career-connected learning and Portrait of a Graduate-style outcomes aligns with NGLC's Career & College Readiness and Bravely programs.

Direct peers

• Digital Promise: Digital Promise is a nonprofit that works with communities, educators, and entrepreneurs to shape innovation in K-12 education. Like NGLC, it develops frameworks, tools, and partnerships to support equitable, student-centered learning and addresses similar challenges in EdTech adoption.
• Getting Smart: Getting Smart is an advocacy and media organization focused on innovation in K-12 education. It publishes content on personalized learning, AI in education, and school transformation, directly comparable to NGLC's blog, resource library, and content series.
• NewSchools Venture Fund: NewSchools is a nonprofit venture fund that supports innovative education entrepreneurs and school leaders. Its focus on funding and scaling transformative K-12 school models aligns with NGLC's grant funding model and transformation design approach.
• XQ Institute: XQ Institute is a nonprofit focused on rethinking the American high school to better prepare students for the future. Its mission and approach of redesigning school models aligns closely with NGLC's New Designs for School challenge area and Portrait of a Graduate initiative.
• LEAP Innovations: LEAP Innovations is now the merged parent organization with NGLC, but historically operated as a direct peer in K-12 educational transformation. Both organizations focus on student-centered learning, with LEAP specializing in co-designing, piloting, and scaling innovative strategies in Chicago and nationally.
• KnowledgeWorks: KnowledgeWorks is a national nonprofit focused on transforming K-12 education through personalized learning approaches. It produces forecasts, frameworks, and resources similar to NGLC's transformation design and equity toolkits, serving school districts nationwide.
• Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL): Aurora Institute is a nonprofit advocating for student-centered, competency-based K-12 education. It advances policy, research, and field building around personalized learning, closely paralleling NGLC's Reimagining Assessment and Professional Learning challenge areas.

Emerging players

• EdSurge: EdSurge is an independent information resource and community for K-12 education technology. While more focused on EdTech product reviews and news, it overlaps with NGLC's Technology Tools challenge area and serves similar educator audiences.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/nextgenlc
• Facebookfacebook.com/nextgenlearning
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/next-generation-learning-challenges

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Next Generation Learning Challenges